Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Show off your catch Flames' big bass Jan 2019

Flame says this is his most recent lake record bass. 18 inches and 5-1/4lb! 160%wr. He caught this on a Zebco 202 on a beetle spin (yellow). Awesome fish, as a reminder, he stocked these on May 14, 2016. 100% Florida strain. He says the combo of this monster on the 202 "was a blast".
May I be the first to send congratulations and express my deepest envy.

Way to go James! Beautiful fish

Wow, what a fish! Congratulations!

Nice fish. The coloration is interesting. My NLMB are green with a distinct lateral stripe. Are FLMB always that color?

Mine (NLM) are pale when the water is muddy or visibility is low.

Nice one Flame. She's a fatty!

Well done !!!!

Some FLMB look like that and some have the lateral head stripes.

You can tell that is a young fish due to head size in comparison to body size. Still growing very well.

Thank you everyone for the nice words and especially thank you to CMM for posting the photos!! Yes my 2 acre pond has been muddy looking for several months with only about 10-12 in visibility. She was certainly FULL of eggs.No telling how big she would be if she could see better to get around in my pond!! Hah. I really hated to lay her down on the carpet for the photo but was by myself and had already weighed her on digital scale and had to have a couple of pictures before I released her. She darted out of my hand almost immediately when placed back in the water. I think she will be fine and hopefully pull off a good spawn!! Water temp was 55 and cnbg were feeding good still for late January.

That thing is a TUNA!!!!!

You are doing a fantastic job of growing some dandy largemouth bass. Keep us advised as to their growth progress. It will be very interesting to see how big they will get in your 2 acre pond.

Don’t forget his dinner plate CNBG

Flame, she's a brute. Congrats on a job well done.

Pat, I guess I still have some really big cnbg in there but the smaller 8-9 inch 1/2 -3/4 pounder always get my bait first!! This year I will fish the whole pond better and try to catch a record bluegill. Years back already had 10 inch res so would Love to catch one of those again and check their progress! Thanks again everyone for the kind words. With all these rains I am still at full pool and the water is way up in my sawgrass making some excellent places in and behind it for lmb to spawn and for me to be able to see them. I know we are a ways off from spawn but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I have yet to catch a "small" bass. Every one seems to be one of my original stockers. Kind of strange but in the past I don't think I have had successful spawns.I dipped up a few fry in a dip net last year and that was the first time.

Lack of or decreased spawns have likely benefited the predator food competition factor in your pond. This could be a big plus for growing big bass by providing more than abundant density of forage foods. Your management task now is to to keep those bass from "hitting the wall" food wise.

Mr. Cody, That may be a challenge for sure. I only stocked 50 lmb. I drove and picked them up myself from Todd Overton's place. I am very pleased with results. I wonder what the largest lmb anyone has raised in a 2 acre pond is? Over 10 pounds I'm sure. I know someone that has raised some over 8 pounds in the same amount of time as mine and also in a 2 acre body of water. I personally saw the fish weighed myself!!

The original FLMB will continue to do well but growth rate will slow over time assuming good forage.
The hard part is managing the hoard of offspring over time.
TPWD grew FLMB to well over 10 lbs in small ponds over a 16 year period.

Keep up the great work ! !

Wow.......he/she hasn't missed a meal.

Dining at the all you can eat buffet 24/7… !

That thing is built like a football. Very nice.

That is a very exceptional BG management device!

I like that shorty!! Thanks

Flame is On Fire!! Thanks for posting and great job! This normally does not happen by accident. Keep em growing and keep us posted...