My big girl today. 22" and built like an offensive lineman or Octomom in her third trimester. She could have swallowed my fist. 

 

I am afraid of the fish that @T-Billy lost.

 

Dang Katy that thing looks super duper huge.  What did it weigh?

Heck yeah @ol'crickety.
 

It appears those Yankees are coming at us now with a vengeance. Stay strong my Southern kinfolk. We have a lot of months before dreadful August. 

I didn't get a weight, Pat. I left my scale at my waterfront lot. My length to weight chart says she's about 6.5 pounds being a tad over 22", but with her belly, she might be seven. What do you think? You know big bass more than I do. 

 

I like her tail. Yeah, I'm weird, but it's so wide and perfect.

 

2 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

Heck yeah @ol'crickety.
 

It appears those Yankees are coming at us now with a vengeance. Stay strong my Southern kinfolk. We have a lot of months before dreadful August. 

 

Ha! To be frank, I wouldn't be surprised if she's my biggest bass of 2024. I expect I'll hook bass as big or bigger than her, but I hooked her in open water, which gave me wiggle room to play her. Most of the biggest bass I hook are in summer weeds atop weeds and they use those weeds to wrench free. 

I think that bass is over 7lbs, which is insane 

30 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

My big girl today. 22" and built like an offensive lineman or Octomom in her third trimester. She could have swallowed my fist. 

 

I am afraid of the fish that @T-Billy lost.

 

 

Boom!  I might agree with @LrgmouthShad here -- if 22", that bass looks easily over 6, very possibly 7.

32 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I am afraid of the fish that @T-Billy lost

Nah. You've caught bigger. It was a big fish for sure, but the bent handle is the result of me having the rod pointed the wrong direction when the strike happened. I know better but... stuff happens.

Congrats on that toad Katie!!! That's a dandy!!!

I'm in the definitely over 7 camp for this one.  She is very tall and very thick.  What a dang horse.

29 minutes ago, LrgmouthShad said:

It appears those Yankees are coming at us now with a vengeance. ...

 

Better look out -- me and my phalanx of 2lbers should be on the march after this week...

52 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

My big girl today. 22" and built like an offensive lineman or Octomom in her third trimester. She could have swallowed my fist. 

 

I am afraid of the fish that @T-Billy lost.

 

Dang!! That's a tank! Great work

ol'crickety she's a great fish and looks to be 7 or better with that build.

AN ABSOLUTE G-G-G-G-G-G-GIANT BASS.......BOOM SHAKALAKA 

 

So proud of you Katie, that's an exceptional fish/catch in every way, but seeing her belly, and overall health makes me smile ear to ear!

 

Give me some more details, I want the juice......where did she come from, and what did you catch her on?    Really hate to hear about the scale, I won't keep fishing if I don't have a camera or scale.    High possibility that's your new PB......fish is a freak.  

 

From our PMs........wish I could say I'm surprised, but I already knew the future 😁

 

" It's hard to exceed your level of big girls last year, but I have zero doubt you'll do that."

 

"You landed a ton, and you'll land even more this year......I promise that!!!"

 

"You're a few months behind me because you're forced off the water, but your results this spring and summer will be ridiculous.   You had a blockbuster year last one with regards to big fish, but you're going to catch even more this year!"

 

"I seriously have zero doubts that this is going to be your best year thus far, said the same thing last winter about you catching the big girls, and sure enough you make me look like a prophet "

I was fighting the wind, Alex, so I ducked into a cove to call home and dropped my cell phone in the water, losing it. So, I was distracted and sad coming out of the cove into the main lake, which is only 49 acres. I think being distracted and sad actually helped me land her, as I was calm through the fight.

 

She hit a trolled shad-colored Keitech on an Owner underspin shortly after I exited the cove. My rod went back and stayed back. I paddled hard for about four strokes to set the hook and buy me a couple seconds to switch from my paddle to the rod. As I reeled, for a second, I thought I might have hooked a floating log. She was heavy, but not angry. I slowly worked her to the canoe and then she stayed put under the canoe. I worked her up until I could barely see her, confident my long-handled net would reach her, which it did. Only then did I realize how big she was. I snapped a quick photo, but she was flopping, and then remembered I'd left my bump board and scale at my waterfront lot, so I laid her on the tape measure on the floor of my canoe to get her length.

 

Then I set her free. I thought I'd hold her by the lip for a sec and let her catch her breath, but wasn't having any of that and scooted. 

 

Today's pond is a very good pond for four-to-five pound bass. I caught five four-plus-pounders one morning there last fall, including two on consecutive casts So, I'm thrilled that this pond grows them bigger than the fine bass I've caught there. 

 

She might be my biggest ever. She was long and fat and was hard for me to hold. 

 

However, the support of the BR crew means as much to me as catching her, and to be frank, you lead BR in being supportive of all of us, Alex, and in catching the most big bass too. 

 

Did you notice the Catchall lure in the first bass's mouth?

 

Quote

overall health makes me smile ear to ear!

 

You're right about her health, Alex. I don't think she's ever been caught. Not a nick or mark on her. 

You're a dang hammer Katy!  Well done!  Sorry to hear about the phone!  🤣🤣🤣 

 

Also you clearly gotta fish this pond a whole heckuva lot more now!  Jeeze Louise!  And bring your scale!  I hate to be that guy but you miiiiiight have been pushing 8 with her 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

 

Only one way to find out.  Gotta catch her again 😌😌😌

Wow what a fish! Great job Katy, please bring the scale next time you're torturing us  

Found a couple dinky LM at roberts before I committed dum dum and high sticked my tac40 to death. Sucks because I can't replace it, they don't make these anymore. So I got an Abu Vendetta as a replacement, it's similar but not the same. At least it's lightweight and feels similar to the old one. Oh I also yoinked this crawdad off the ripraps last night. Yall think I should throw a Z craw up there?

 

1 minute ago, thediscochef said:

Yall think I should throw a Z craw up there?

 

Here's a better pic showing her length.

 

14 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

Also you clearly gotta fish this pond a whole heckuva lot more now! 

 

I don't even consider this pond to be in my top three for big bass potential, but the other three are bogs, which you know I'm avoiding until it gets a little warmer. T-Billy is my life advisor, as in stay-alive advising and he thinks I should play it safe until the water's safe. 

 

16 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

hate to be that guy but you miiiiiight have been pushing 8 with her 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

 

You would know better than me, Pat. I just know that she was ridiculously fat. Even now, she makes me laugh. 

37 minutes ago, ol'crickety said:

I was fighting the wind, Alex, so I ducked into a cove to call home and dropped my cell phone in the water, losing it. So, I was distracted and sad coming out of the cove into the main lake, which is only 49 acres. I think being distracted and sad actually helped me land her, as I was calm through the fight.

 

She hit a trolled shad-colored Keitech on an Owner underspin shortly after I exited the cove. My rod went back and stayed back. I paddled hard for about four strokes to set the hook and buy me a couple seconds to switch from my paddle to the rod. As I reeled, for a second, I thought I might have hooked a floating log. She was heavy, but not angry. I slowly worked her to the canoe and then she stayed put under the canoe. I worked her up until I could barely see her, confident my long-handled net would reach her, which it did. Only then did I realize how big she was. I snapped a quick photo, but she was flopping, and then remembered I'd left my bump board and scale at my waterfront lot, so I laid her on the tape measure on the floor of my canoe to get her length.

 

Then I set her free. I thought I'd hold her by the lip for a sec and let her catch her breath, but wasn't having any of that and scooted. 

 

Today's pond is a very good pond for four-to-five pound bass. I caught five four-plus-pounders one morning there last fall, including two on consecutive casts So, I'm thrilled that this pond grows them bigger than the fine bass I've caught there. 

 

She might be my biggest ever. She was long and fat and was hard for me to hold. 

 

However, the support of the BR crew means as much to me as catching her, and to be frank, you lead BR in being supportive of all of us, Alex, and in catching the most big bass too. 

 

Did you notice the Catchall lure in the first bass's mouth?

 

 

You're right about her health, Alex. I don't think she's ever been caught. Not a nick or mark on her. 

 

So the formula is:

(1) Troll Keitech underspin.

(2) Enter, then exit cove.

(3) Drop phone in water.

 

Got it!

 

 

#patternfishing

What's a catchall lure Katie, and I only saw one pic you posted with an absolute freakzilla in it 😁

 

I honestly try to emulate you Katie in terms of being supportive of our fellow members and anglers in general, I'm far from your level but I appreciate that! 

 

I hate to hear about your phone, but it made the catch and story more compelling.  That's a very special fish, and equally special day.   Money can't buy that, or I'd be living in a cardboard box by the river.   I honestly couldn't put a dollar figure on catching fish like that.    On your own, in a canoe, in Maine, less than two years of hardcore green fish chasing, on and on and on......I call you the unicorn for a reason.        

 

Lastly on the fish's weight/ultimate size, the girth/belly/eggs on her tell the story for me.    Since I've been a member here, only a handful of fish were posted with similar visually off the chart girths.    

 

Never caught a fish built like that didn't go over 7lbs.   The real guessing game in my eyes is where does she fall b/t 7 and 8lbs.   I feel she just as easily could be a 7lb 14oz fish as a 7lb 6oz fish.     

 

You have to highly discount the Relative Weight chart when you catch a lottery PEAK pre spawn female.    There are no metrics short of a weight that capture such rare outlier fish during pre spawn.    

 

Bottom line, that fish 100% is an outlier, lottery, .01% fish....I don't need a scale to tell me that.   

 

 

ETA:  For those that don't know, this time last year Katie committed to slimming down all the lakes she was fishing the previous year, and focused on fewer ones where she caught the larger Bass.   She had to make the choice b/t quality or quantity. That lead to a ridiculously good year for her in terms of 5+ fish.  

 

So now when she says she caught this fish in one of those lakes she chose to focus on last year and learn with lots of 4-5lb fish in it.......well, it's just flat out awesome to see that level of diligence, effort, and angler growth rewarded.   

 

@PhishLI   I know my brother wholeheartedly agrees with that last part.  

Thanks for all that info, Alex. You have caught so many big bass that when you talk, I listen and try to learn. 

 

What's funny for me is looking at her head. It looks comically small, but I grabbed her lip. Her head is big. So is her mouth. It's just the rest of her that makes her head look small. She'll soon lay about a bluhzillion eggs, all with her genetics and that's a beautiful thing, huh?

 

19 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

On your own, in a canoe, in Maine, less than two years of hardcore green fish chasing, on and on and on......I call you the unicorn for a reason. 

 

So kind of you to say, Alex, but I have canoed for half a century, so I'm at home in those little boats. And I have caught thousands and thousands of brown bass. So, I didn't start from zero. Still, I get your point, but BR helps a LOT. I didn't understand half of what you guys posted for my first few months. I still Google terms and names regularly. And I still ask a lot of questions too. 

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

My length to weight chart says she's about 6.5 pounds being a tad over 22", but with her belly, she might be seven. What do you think?

 

Using your measurements, taking the time of year into account, along with known high end/max GSI's, I'd say your guess is very close. Running the calcs, I come up with either side of 7.25 lbs., but would bracket the range between 7.1-7.5 lbs., bumping the high end with an outlier. Great fish regardless - congrats!

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Here's a better pic showing her length.

 

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

Freakin' TOAD 👊

 

2 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I ducked into a cove to call home and dropped my cell phone in the water, losing it.

That's the worst. 4 times for me. Once when I dumped my yak, and the other times bumbling the phone with wet hands. When I'm way out on the flats by myself I won't risk a picture for anything but a monster.

@ol'crickety all the above guesses are wrong, its cleary a 8lb bass if you factor in those poor 3 bluegills it had for lunch! About time us northern anglers start catching up to those guys down south

North, South, East, West...doesn't matter. That fish would make anyone, anywhere ecstatic @ol'crickety!

 

That's a great fish even in lakes like Okeechobee, Guntersville, Toledo Bend, OH Ivie, Menderchuck, Baccarac, or Biwa! You caught it in Maine!