28 minutes ago, fishballer06 said:

Looks like you have a pretty nice setup with some money invested. Looks like you have everything a guy needs except a ruler board or electronic scale.

Actually I had a measuring board behind me in a crate.  I had him out of the water a while and was afraid of killing him.  Also I was in shock as I have never caught anything over probably 2.5 lbs.  Also generally bass are measured by weight and I had no way of doing that so I wasn't really thinking about length.    

15 hours ago, Ohnooze said:

Actually I had a measuring board behind me in a crate.  I had him out of the water a while and was afraid of killing him.  Also I was in shock as I have never caught anything over probably 2.5 lbs.  Also generally bass are measured by weight and I had no way of doing that so I wasn't really thinking about length.    

Dip them back in the water for a few seconds while still holding that lower lip. Let them keep their gills wet. Estimating a weight is much easier to do whenever you have a length than it is from taking an awkward selfie with the fish. 

 

Personal bests are made to be broken. Here's to hoping it happens again soon. 

It's between five and six pounds. I watch fishing videos and am very good at guessing what the weights of the bass they catch before they weigh them. 

Agreed with everyone else, you're looking at a 5 plus pounder, less than 6  pounds I would say.

Grats

If the OP puts his bump measuring board in his lap where the bass laying then we can make a better guess at the bass length. I based the bass length based on a kayak inside gunnel width is 24”, the sitting on the OP’s  lap adds height making it look longer then the kayak inside width.

WAG = wild arsh guess, 

Length X Length X Girth divide by 1200 = weight in pounds. Need accurate length then ball park Girth to average 75% of length 

Tom

PS, always can use your line cut to length another piece cut to width!

Also, get yourself a fish grip 

and tether it to your kayak handle.  Then, you can put the fish in the grips and toss it back in the water while you get your board and camera ready.  That way, the fish will still be there when you go back for her.

Next time get your stuff ready before hand.  Your pliers, bump board, camera, etc.  So you're prepared when the moment happens, not fumbling and digging around for these items while a sizable fish is suffocating out of water.

 

Lots of people use length instead of weight.  Yak events certainly do, and if I'm not mistaken, you're fishing in a yak.

Get yourself a luggage scale. They’re inexpensive, easy to store and accurate. No more guessing

On 9/10/2024 at 4:17 PM, gimruis said:

Lots of people use length instead of weight. 

 

Length is faster, for sure, and like gimruis, I too am accutely aware that should I fiddle, the bass is drowning in air.