Went out to a well known lake today, about a 2.5 hr drive from my house. > but oh well, caught a few decent sized fish and then this 4.5 lber CRUSHED my Stike King Zero. A near 5 lb fish in Illinois is like catching a 10 lber in Cali or FL, few and far between lol... It had a few strange marks on it, probably from fighting during the spawn.

great fish and i know what you mean in delaware anything 4 an up is huge. BTW if that black patch on the top of her is one of the strange marks you mention it may have been from a bird such as an osprey or herrin if you have them in your area tryin to make a meal of him when he was smaller

I live in California and still consider a 4.5 a very nice fish. If I catch a 4.5 largemouth I consider my fishing trip to be a good one. Great fish.

lol, no actually the marks are on the other side of the fish. It seems like there was some damage to its scales or something. My phone ran outta battery after I snapped this and another pic, but my dad got a pic in on his phone of the other side. What luck huh?

I have caught several fish just under 5lbs in upper michigan. Actually, a 4.5 just last week  ;D

Nice Bass!