Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Show off your catch A First for me!!

Decided to do some Fishing this weekend. Went Sat. about 10:30 with an ultra light (4 lb test) and a jointed Rapala floater. First decent fish I caught. Just under 22" No weight.



Second Bass about 21"



Third Bass. Looks to be a Male 21"



Hears where the "First for me" Comes in. Got about half way around and had what felt and looked to be a descent Bass break my line. Had a good couple of hours of fishing and no extra tackle on me so I hung it up for the day. Decided to give it another whirl Sunday with 10 lb test and a brush hog plastic worm. Caught this one with my jointed Rapala still hanging on!! Couldnt believe it. Had to share. Thanks.

Very Nice Northern Bass. They were likely females looking for food energy items for egg development. Keep in mind that as these bass get larger you should not hold them solely by the jaw because the full weight can disjoint or damage the mandible hinges of the jaw. A big bass with a broken or damaged jaw is almost always a later mortality due to being hampered in capturing food. No use injuring or killing your biggest bass needlessly. Improper handling will result in premature death of the numbers of bigger bass per acre.

Previous discussions of correct way to handle large bass
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=402580

Examples of Bad Handling
http://www.laperlaranchresort.com/fishing1.html

Examples of correctly holding big bass to reduce broken jaw problems
http://bigbluegill.com/forum/topics/correct-way-to-hold-larger-bass?commentId=2036984%3AComment%3A589403&xg_source=activity


Bob Lusk Says About Handling Trophy Fish.
Do Not, under any circumstances, hold a true trophy bass by its lower jaw without supporting its body with your other hand under the rear part of its stomach. By no means, with any bass of any size, ever pull back on the jaw of your fish, as it can become quickly fractured or dislocated. That's usually a death sentence to a big fish. If you don't believe me, ask those who run the ShareLunker program at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Several great specimens were donated to that program last year to spawn and help stock public lakes around the state. But, those gorgeous girls didn't get past angler handling to do what they could do to help many other lakes. They died from bad handling.
From: https://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/hold-a-fish.html

Congrats on some gorgeous fish! Those are some of the best looking northern LMB I've seen in years.

Just don't let out the location of that pond!

What are you doing with forage to get such healthy LMB?

Fine looking fish

Awesome LMB! Can you share with the forum your management program? I always learn something new when another pondmeister talks about how they grow their fish...

R&R,
Very impressive.....how large is your pond to sustain that many fish of that size?

R&R said the bass came from a 10 acre pond/small lake.

Thanks Bill...I missed that...

Very Nice! Assume it was the 10AC pond he mentions by his forum name, not sure it was stated in the report....

Wherever it is, very nice lake/ pond.

Does it get much fishing pressure? Seems like a really good day/days either way.

Thank God ya caught that one with the Rapala in it's lip. ALMOST made ya smile. The first 3 pics had me a little concerned about traveling through Wash Co. Did you ever ride with the Outlaws?

Those are beautiful fish especially for up north!! Is your main forage bluegill? How old would you say those bass are?

OUTSTANDING!!!

Nice work - glad you got your lure back.

Thanks to all. Especailly POND BOSS in general. I cannot Take full credit for those nice fish because I understand what a delicate balance it is.

Bill Thanks for the reminder on fish handling I do try to be gentle but bigger Bass and selfies are tough

As far as "Managing" we've owned it going on 7 years now. Was chock full of nothing buy Hybrid Bluegill and Green Sunfish first couple of years. I put about 25 Bass from another pond we had at the house we sold in it along with 50 Black Crappie in spring 2011. (I know, Not a popular decision).I added 30 Grass Carp in 2013 to take care of major Southern Niad. and boy did they. Visibility is terrible in that you can see bottom in 10' of water. So here is my amateur un-professional opinion. The Bass are Thriving(I do remove most anything under 15-16") and keeping the crappie in check because they literally have no place to hide. Don't catch a lot of bluegill but when their on the nest they come out of nowhere. I do believe I need to remove some of most of the Grass Carp. to try and get some cover outside of cattails re-established. Relative weight on the Bass run at or slightly above 100% . Crappie run at or slightly below. This is the best Crappie I've pulled out to date.(Bob-O That lure does have some sentimental feeling attached )

Nice Crappie as well! Doing something right in the management of your lake/pond...

Might want to consider adding some adult BG, as an insurance policy in case the Crappie don't spawn successfully...it sounds like the Crappie could be the backbone right now of your forage.