He’s showing you that your eyes can play tricks on you and that bass size identification via photograph is not possible. These are the same fish - one is not bigger than the other - yet the photographs had you thinking that one was clearly longer than the other. The jaw jutting out on one was the literal same jaw as the other picture where it isn’t jutting out etc.

Photos don’t really work for weighing a bass etc. they’re just fun for memories!

7 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

He’s showing you that your eyes can play tricks on you and that bass size identification via photograph is not possible.

Sure, that's pretty well-established. Glenn has made the same point more than once, but to be clear, it's both @casts_by_fly and my eyes playing a trick on me.

I dunno - I just think it’s fun - if we can tell what’s what with photos - we should be able to tell these fish are the same fish! I think basically photos are fun to look at and we can get a general sense of big vs not big etc and even like you say - with established sense of scale - we can sometimes guess with astonishing accuracy - but the fact is a photo isn’t really enough to say one way or another what a bass weighs etc.

46 minutes ago, Pat Brown said:

we should be able to tell these fish are the same fish!

Seeing that they're the same bass might be doable if I hadn't assumed that @casts_by_fly had posed the question in good faith. The fish is also photographed forward and then aft, further muddling assessment, for that shifts the light. Anyway, I conceded long ago in this thread that my initial premise was wrong, so at this point, we're simply beating a dead bass.

It is easy for me. All my bass weigh 10lbs.

This smallmouth is my personal best. The length was 23.5”

I never got a weigh because I had no scales.

Anyone have an idea what it might weight.

Now I caught this fish on my trout rod on 4lb test and a 3” grub.

This was in current took about 10 minutes to get him in.

I believe almost as many fish have been killed with a camera as have been killed with a filet knife. I'm not saying don't take pictures of your hard earned catch, just be prepared, and careful when you do.

I have witnessed far to many healthy fish dropped on the bottom of a boat, squeezed so hard when they wiggle trying to get away, that placing them in a vice would have been more kind. I have also seen so many anglers have to change the angle to the sun, adjust their caps, take their sunglasses off, look at the picture, and do it all over again. A common mistake is to hand a camera to someone to take a photo that either doesn't know how to use the camera, then has to hand a phone back to the angler to put a password in, or change a setting. Many times I have been that technologically inept dummy. All of these examples takes time out of the water or damages the fish in some way.

Just because a fish swims away, doesn't mean it will live to be caught again.

I have personally been guilty of many of these mistakes, and have been involved with all of these and many more. I once had to change batteries in my scale, change scales, and almost have to reprogram a camera, just to turn it on, all while holding on to a ten pound bass. I was not able to revive the bass and gave it away to another angler to have for dinner.

I am now always prepared to measure weight, and take a picture without harm to the bass. It takes prior preparation, and planning to release a trophy.

Please don't be guilty of camera kill, and also be careful when you weigh your fish.

The story on that bass ,it was caught on the ramp. I held it up to my rod for a measurement. My son took a picture of it with his phone and it was back in the water. Probably in less than 2 minutes.

That was a personal best and there was no way I wasn’t getting a picture of it.

I'm one of those weird people that enjoys reading dry academic research papers and there has been a lot of research in this area. I'll offer one study. In this study they tested the effects of air exposure on catch and release bass. They kept the bass out of the water for different length of time up to 10 minutes. They found that "physiological disturbances and behavior impairments were evident with longer air exposure." So it matters how long you keep them out of water. That said, none of the bass in the study died during the 5 day monitoring period. So be a good person and do your best to get them back in the water as fast as possible but this study suggest it'll be okay if you take a minute or so to weight them and take a picture.

Size on bass is definitely tough from pics, but you can usually tell a solid fish, and definitely a big one. I think smallmouth are tougher to gauge for whatever reason.

I’ve never taken a selfie and stopped doing hero shots a few years ago. I decided it’s about the fish anyways, so I just take a shot of them and back they go usually 30 seconds to a minute or so. A minute of time is more than you think and you can unhook, admire, snap pic and release in one minute. Set your phone to “live” pictures and you can go back later and select the best frame, using that as your pic. It gets bass back quicker and you will 💯 find a choice shot. I love photography and no way am I not taking pics.