Until about an hour ago I had never caught a big fish.  Caught tons of bass in my lifetime growing up on lakes but never pulled in anything over 5 pounds.  So a few months back I finally started fishing again and have been on a mission ever since to catch the big one.

Well it finally happened...

Been dropping a canoe in a lake by my house about 3 dozen times over the past few months trying to locate this big guy.  Caught some great fish so far out of there and seen some good ones moving but just hadn't been able to land one.  So today about 3:30 I decide to head out.  Hot as heck but figured may as well fish from 3:30 till dark.  First part of the day was windy as heck and that isn't much fun in a canoe so I hit the backside of this lake where you can only reach with a canoe.  It was much calmer back there and very heavy cover.  Tons of lilly pads.  So I park the canoe up in the thick stuff and throw to the open spots and then move to the nest open spot "parking" the canoe up in the thick stuff.  

Threw out a watermelon trick worm with a chaurtreuse tail and noticed a big fish come out of the water (his back end).  I wasn't even sure what it was because it was a very slow movement.  I feel a decent tug and give it a yank.  It felt very heavy and knew he was a good one but there was NO fight at all.  I was in extreme heavy cover and my first thought was "there is no way I am going to boat this sucker" because he was sure to get caught up or buried.  Well NO fight at all and just rolled over a bit.  As I pulled him in I still wasn't sure what it was until he showed me that bucket mouth and it was BIG!!!!

I grabbed the net, almost fell in the d**n water, and got him in the canoe.  I was FREAKING OUT.  Keep in mind, I had never caught a big fish and I am looking at what was surely a 10+.  

Now here is where it gets good.  I am about 20 minutes from the boatramp in the middle of about 1000 feet of heavy cover and lilly pads.  In a canoe.  My digital camera which lives in my tackle box was.....  taken by my wife to see her friend in Missouri.  Great.  I am sitting here with my trophy bass and knew I was going to be throwing him right back in the water without a picture.....

I tried to string him and paddle back in but there was no way I could pull him through what I had to paddle.  I held him one last time, said "son of a %^%" and tossed the big guy back in.

I took measurements all over the place and wanted to throw them at you guys for a guess on the weight.  I did not have a tape measure so I place him on top of my tackle box which he was much longer than.  I moved the tackle box over to where his mouth was on one end and his tail touched the side of the boat.  I also measured him out on the paddle.  I also marked his top to bottom.

25 INCHES LONG

10 1/2 INCHES TOP TO BOTTOM

The guy on the boat ramp who runs it said he was definitely over 10 and those who I have talked to in the last hour say the same.  

Did I finally land my big one????

d**n it felt good.  Been waiting for that a long time....

Just found this.  Man, this site covers all the bases.  Also cross referenced some of the pictures on the message boards and probably does check in around 7 pounds.  I can't even imagine boating a true 10 pounder.  

http://www.bassresource.com/bassfishing/fishcalculator.html

Congrats!!!!  Sounds like a real trophy!!

You might check again or at least clarify your measurements..... girth is circumference, not the "height" of the fish.  If you took your "height" and doubled it, you caught a monster!  Plug in the numbers... and then go buy a dedicated camera and scale to take fishing.  Neither cost enough that people should be without them!!  

I put him on top of my tacklebox and measured his "height" and from the top of him to the bottom was 10-10.5.  Are you saying the girth to enter is times 2????

Assuming the girth is twice (or at least twice now I think about it) the height then it calculates as a 12+.  The guy on the boat ramp swore it was a definite 10+ based on the marks I had.  It was a HUGE fish and if that sucker wasn't over 10, I just can't imagine a bass that is 10+.

Well all I know is I caught somewhere between a 7 and 12 and it was quite the memory.  I wasn't about to spend 20 minutes to paddle ashore to weight the sucker while he layed in the bottom of the canoe and died so hopefully we will meet again!!!

Yup, girth is the distance all the way around... which is the height of both sides and width across the back and belly, depending on how much you flattened it out, the girth could be 2 times, or 2 times plus a little more to account for the thickness of the body (if you didn't "roll" it any when measuring)

No kidding, you caught a real trophy!! I'll be expecting your camera and scale thread to be posted tomorrow! ;D

Yeah I hear ya.  The sad part is I will probably spend the next many decades of my life and never catch what I just pulled in the boat a few hours ago.  Oh well.  Life is good...

The crazy thing is he just rolled over and layed there.  No fight at all.  Or maybe I was so jacked up it all happened in slow motion.  It was seriously different from anything I have ever boated before.  

Congrats! You'll never forget it, I promise!

That fish weight calculator is very inaccurate. Don't count on that.

It's really tough to tell, even with a picture.

Maybe it's time to buy a scale.  :

My brother has a wall full of bass tournament trophies.  We were fishing the other day and I caught some nice ones. He estimated them at close to 10, 7, and 5. We had no scales and no camera.  He and I will always remember the fish though. Don't worry about not having the camera. You know what the fish looked like and you have some measurements. Nobody can ever change your mind on what you did and what you saw. It will be something to think about for a long time! Go get some more!

What a shame , you set out to catch the one big bass of your life and when you did , you didn't have the tools to photo or weigh it.

How did you measure the heigth? Was her top fin up or flat against her back. It is difficult to guess with such little info but It was probably a little over 10.

BTW I commend you for releasing the fish unharmed. You could have killed it and weighed it but you did the honerable thing and released it. Good on you!

Don't bother guessing, it's a waste of time. Simply put, you caught a fish that you were very happy with: leave it at that.

That fish weight calculator is very inaccurate.  Don't count on that.

It's really tough to tell, even with a picture.

Maybe it's time to buy a scale. :

I agree with everything Brokeju said.

Plugging the numbers in for the bass in my avatar @ 24.5 and say 20" for girth (my hand length is 8" long and probably still wouldn't cover the side of that honey) and that calculator comes out to 11.7 pounds. Now I weighed it on a spring scale from Wally World at 8.1 pounds and it may be off a little but 3 lbs?! Nope. You can see my fish is really healthy. Given your measurements I'd guess about 9 lbs maybe 10 lbs.

Nice catch. Go buy a cellphone with a camera on it so you can at least have a camera in your pocket all the time.

When are we finally going to get tacklebox cameras?

I caught a PB today and all i have is my dad gum cell phone camera.  My dad turned off texting so i cant send it to the internet, at least i can show ppl in person.  Anyways I'll meet you at the store, im getting a disposable camera and scale too.  

congrats on the big un. Ill never get to catch anything that big unless i go back to texas. Iowa sucks. My phone has a camera and i love it. It takes amazing pictures. Every picture i have put on here was taken with it.

Don't matter Sunshine, It was a giant and CONGRATS to ya.....And thank you from all of us for giving priority to the health of your trophy above all else.  

We all enjoyed the story as this is what bass fishing memories are all about.

Big O