If Maine Fisheries and Wildlife is right that less than 1% of Maine's largemouth bass are 19" or larger, then I'm a big bass lmb Maine angler. I'm closing in on 1,000 bass for 2026. At least a third of my bass are smb, but for the sake of easy math, let's assume that all my 2026 bass are lmb. So, if 1% of Maine's largemouth bass are 19" or bigger, I would expect to have caught about ten lmb in 2026 so far that are 19" or bigger. I haven't caught ten. I've caught dozens. I've even caught four or five that size in a couple individual trips.

So, whereas I've considered myself to be a quantity angler, Maine Fisheries and Wildlife's net surveys and electrofishing suggest that I'm a quality (for Maine) angler. For FFS anglers on OH Ivie, of course, I'm a dink angler, but we can only catch the bass that swim near us.

Again, this is based upon the opening "If."

Does this take into account bass that are too small to be taken often by hook and line?

I imagine healthy, fertile waters will have a higher percentage of large bass than waters with greater resource competition.

A few years ago, I did the math on what percentage of my bass were over 19” and over 20” and don’t quite remember the numbers but the percentage was quite high. I actually believe it was a response to a post, possibly one of yours. I’ll have to go back and find it.

19 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Does this take into account bass that are too small to be taken often by hook and line?

I imagine healthy, fertile waters will have a higher percentage of large bass than waters with greater resource competition.

A few years ago, I did the math on what percentage of my bass were over 19” and over 20” and don’t quite remember the numbers but the percentage was quite high. I actually believe it was a response to a post, possibly one of yours. I’ll have to go back and find it.

Well, golly, you sure blew my "if" out of the water:

25 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

A few years ago, I did the math on what percentage of my bass were over 19” and over 20” and don’t quite remember the numbers but the percentage was quite high.

You're like me, fishing beautiful lakes chockfull of healthy bass.

1 hour ago, Jar11591 said:

I did the math on what percentage of my bass were over 19” and over 20”

I keep track of how many bass (both lgm and sml) of 20+ inches I catch each season. I don't keep track of my total catch so I can't tell you what percentage it represents though.

Last year I caught 7 of them. 3 smallmouth and 4 largemouth. A 20 inch/5 pound bass is a very big bass here in MN. It takes about 10 years for a bass here to reach that size. I've only got one so far this season, a smallmouth on May 16.

In a typical season, my count ranges anywhere from zero to 13. 13 is my record.

I never measure my bass, so I have no idea how big of fish I get. My estimations are likely close, but ultimately...I'd rather just get them back in quick. I rarely post sizes due to no true verification and photos don't always show size due to angles, angler size etc.

You're both a quantity and quality angler based on your pics and posts. My only debbie downer comment / question is could some of those big girls be repeat catches?

I think @Jar11591 is right that the 1% figure probably includes many bass that were sampled from standard survey methods, but would generally be too small to be caught on hook and line.

My experience in MI (which has about the same average growth rate as the other nothern states for LM), is that individual waters vary widely in both the % of fish over 19" and how catchable they are.