i went fishing on memorial day with a few buddys down at the neighbors pond, its about an acre and a half. for the past year ive seen these 2 huge bass swimming around together, and i also did on monday. i cast my 6 inch rubber lizard out there to them and BAM! finally had a big one. i wasnt expecting it to be anything major, although bigger than my biggest fish of MAYBE 2 pounds. i was expecting maybe 3 pounds. but when i got the fish to the bank i almost fainted. it was huge! i pulled out out and its bottom lip felt like a 1/2 inch piece of tube steel! i had no way to weigh or measure it but i would asume it was 20 inches and at least 5 pounds. this was confirmed by my buddy who had caught a 4.5 pounder and he said this was a good bit heavier. i always had said that if i could fit my fat hand in a bass' mouth, id get it mounted. well i could, but i just didnt have the heart to take such a beautiful fish.

does a 5 pound fish have a mouth opening similar to my hand size of ~11 inches circumfrence? the fish wasnt overly fat, but was no skiinny fish. im still pumped on this big a fish from such a small pond in PA!

A 5 lb bass is generally 21" long. Each additional inch adds approximately 1 lb.

If you want a true weight, you'll need to weigh the fish on calibrated scales. Don't assume WalleyWorld digital scales are accurate until you test them, inexpensive spring scales tend to be just as reliable. Boga Grips are probably the best and can be certified, but they are expensive.

There is a formula that you can use that is cheaper than going and buying scales.  I have found it to be pretty accurate.  It's not 100% accurate of course but it is very close.

P.S. - This formula is used for largemouth.  I don't know if it works for smallies and spots or not.

Here is the formula.

Length * Girth * Girth / 800 = Wieght

If your fish was about 14.5 inches around it would have been a 5 pounder.

i would assume at least 14.5 inches, the body was definately bigger than the mouth. as i look at other pictures of bass i have a feeling it was more than 5 pounds, but i cant tell forsure. ill try and get camera phone pictures up tonight

15 in bass is basically a smallmouth..

15 in bass is basically a smallmouth..

what do you mean by that?