just wondering does any one know how old a bass can get

google knows.

"A bass's life expectancy is also affected by water temperature. The higher the average year-round temperature of a lake, the shorter the average life. A northern largemouth bass might normally reach an age of ten or eleven years if never hooked, while a deep-south bass would only average (if never caught) seven to eight years."

from "The Behavior and Habits of Largemouth Bass" by William K. Johnke.

A really good article I found free online you can google it I can't post the link cause I'm to newbie

thanks ill look it up

The numbers above are what I've read. There are some northern fish though that have broken 20 years but these were rare individuals.

The water temp thing is true. The way I know it is...a bass has "X" amount of days of growth. So up north a bass "hibernates" through the cold winter months. But a southern bass feeds and grows year round. A bass in Canada may feed and grow May through October (just for a compaison).

Well...that's not quite true.  Here, check out this video.  It explains it really well plus a whole lot more:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/bass-fishing-fish-biology.html

Cut it in half and count the rings......

Cut it in half and count the rings......

haha i know this was a joke but you actually can extract the otoliths from their head and cut them in half and count the rings to tell the age!

Loved the seminar. Thanks Glenn

Loved the seminar. Thanks Glenn

+1, thank you and agree with BL.

WRB

I've always just asked them, the big females get offended though ;D

Great video. Thanks Glenn.

J

My 2nd favorite video behind Paul Elias, 132 pounds, 8 ounces. 

Well Glenn, you officially killed this thread!  Guys could have gone on for days with each of their beliefs on the subject but you had to jump in right away and throw that video out there with basically all the info anyone could ask for on the subject and by a leading authority...

Great video!   8-)