Largemouth bass ?

[greybeard]

I do not carry a scale when fishing and have always considered that, in New York , a Largemouth Bass of 18" and over to be a trophy. I was speaking to another fisherman the other day who seemed to agree.

I realize most people judge by weight, but was just wondering what size( in inches) in other fishermen's minds was a Largemouth considered a trophy to them. It's just curiosity.

[Dom]

I myself consider all fish trophy's.Mst likely 12 to 18 inche's considered average size,and 18 to 36 are trophy's.

[bkln]

You mean like this one...??? :-) It was about 18

[oldkevin]

or one like this one

[Rev Ev]

Considering 11lb 4oz is the state record set over 20 years ago, I would say a trophy fish would be anything over 7, in NY. By record I mean something to hang on the wall when I normally catch and release (or get a repro made, which i personally would do). If you going to judge by size, I would say 20 inches would be the length; it could be just me but most of the LMB I have seen in NY have been long thin torpedos, not footballs.

I would add that the a fish is a trophy not only because of its size, but the context it was caught on. My first LMB I caught was 1lbs 4 oz. To me that is my greatest trophy.

Edited March 28, 2012 by Rev Ev

[greybeard]

Rev. Ed.. I agree, with you on what a trophy REALLY is, but I was just wondering what size fisherman considered trophy size.Twenty inches sounds good,

Dom.. I never thought of a largemouth 36 inches, I'd love to see one like that. The only 36 inch bass I get are stripers. I knew a guy some years back that caught a 27 inch Largemouth , but he was not from NY. It was caught in Texas.

The photo of that 18 inch bass is what I WAS talkin' about..

This winter I have caught more 18 inch and over Largemouth then I ever did before,( up to 22 inches) and I feel that I am in HAWG HEAVEN. I mostly fish alone so I was looking for kind of what you might call a reference point.

[ncountry]

I still remember in my early days of fishing ,I caught a 28" small mouth in the grass river. I thought I had a musky until I got him closer.It was a shame...Not knowing anything about trophy fish at the time I ate him.No pictures or anything.

[greybeard]

NCOUNTRY... Now that's a trophy !!!!!

[ncountry]

Yes,I know now.lol. I have fished for another 20 years and have only caught ......at most 10 Lmouth 20" or larger,with the largest being 23".