I'm in state where there is potential to catch some really nice bass, I don't turn my nose up at 2 or 3 pounder.  Quite often I'm fishing ul or light power even those 18-20" fish put up a nice fight.  Contrary to that catching that same 20" fish with a heavy rod and heavy line then skimming on top of the water in warp speed, that's reducing that nice fish to a dink, the fish has little chance to win.  The strike and the fight is what matters, that is if fun is the objective. 

I think the answer is quite area dependent. The bass down south grow faster than the ones up here and thus we rarely ever see a fish over 8lbs, with anything 4lbs and up being considered a trophy and definitely not a common occurrence. 

 

Personally, I consider dinks to be anything 12 inches or less, but that's only because I rarely  catch a frog fish smaller than that (huge fan of frog fishing here!). Once I get into the 14-15 inch range it gets dependent on girth; a fat 15 incher is a good fish in my books. Once we get up into the 20 inch and over range, then we're talking.

 

Then again, the guys down south would be laughing at these standards, so it really depends.

I'm in state where there is potential to catch some really nice bass, I don't turn my nose up at 2 or 3 pounder.  Quite often I'm fishing ul or light power even those 18-20" fish put up a nice fight.  Contrary to that catching that same 20" fish with a heavy rod and heavy line then skimming on top of the water in warp speed, that's reducing that nice fish to a dink, the fish has little chance to win.  The strike and the fight is what matters, that is if fun is the objective. 

 

Definitely agree with that. I was using a 5' ultralight early in the season when not expecting anything to really happen and hooked 3 bass all in the 14-15 inch range on a rooster tail. They bent the rod tip right down to the cork, and one even managed to pull me under the dock. Way more fun than catching those same fish on my heavy action frogging setup.

Well I think the biggest discrepancy is that there is a personal definition for dink, and the literal definition.

If I recall, the word was used to denote particularly small fish when the word "small" was not sufficient to classify it small enough.

For example, a near (above or below) 12 inch fish, whether it keeps or not, is generally small as far as bass go. But add only a couple more inches, and you start getting significantly larger bass (with each inch). So I need a word to call a fish that is small, yet even smaller than the 12 inch fish I already called small all the way down to just a couple inch bass. Hence, a dink.

The word "dink" I don't think was meant to replace the word "small" but to use to describe fish a significant less size than what was already considered small.

Around here it's anything under a pound or under 12".

I'm in state where there is potential to catch some really nice bass, I don't turn my nose up at 2 or 3 pounder.  Quite often I'm fishing ul or light power even those 18-20" fish put up a nice fight.  Contrary to that catching that same 20" fish with a heavy rod and heavy line then skimming on top of the water in warp speed, that's reducing that nice fish to a dink, the fish has little chance to win.  The strike and the fight is what matters, that is if fun is the objective. 

 

That's what it's all about for me. 

Well said.

I'm glad I live in a state where I can appreciate a 15" bass

I'm glad I live in a state where I can appreciate a 15" bass

i appreciate everything on the end of my line. Except maybe  the 8 billion sheephead on lake erie.

 

Well I think the biggest discrepancy is that there is a personal definition for dink, and the literal definition.

 

I'll drink to that

 

Actually, 'dink' and 'toad' are relatively new terms, which in my time were called 'runts' & 'lunkers'.

Our own personal definition of 'dink' can run the gamut, but the most significant delineation

is the legal minimum length for the lake in question.

 

Roger

Hello,

I keep hearing the term "quality bass."

In another thread, someone referred to a "quality bass" as, "say, 15 inches".

I was under the impression that they had to be lots bigger to be considered not-dinks.

What's a dink, anyway?

Keeping in mind that I live in Northern Indiana, the bass I generally catch are 12" to 15" (both large and smallmouth, 3-5 years old).

Maybe I'm doing better than I thought.

What's a "quality bass"? What's a "dink"?

Josh

A dink is a small bass . on your terms.