Correct way to hold larger Bass....

[Tony Livingston]

This made the rounds over at PondBoss, thought it might serve us as well over here. Beware the one handed grip! Broken jaws may not be apparent to the angler, but the damage to the bass can be terminal.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=4...

[Jim Gronaw]

And then here I am with Ole Swooptail about a month later, fishing for gills at the same pond. I think this remains my biggest largemouth to date on 2 pound test, so she's somewhat of a 'personal best' to me as well. The easy ID is the top of the tail , caudal, fin that looks like it was cut off with scissors. She's about 22 inches.

[JBplusThuy]

Well, I'm in no danger of catching anything like that :-) My two biggest bass were 15" and 17.5", both accidentally caught while bluegill fishing. The 17.5 incher was on a 5-wt fly rod, taken while wading a local lake. It put up quite a fight, with me standing in water about as deep as could without it washing over the top of my waders. Both of those went to the pan, so hold  wasn't a concern, but for bass to be released, the ideal is probably something like what flyrodders do for wild trout: not even removing the fish from the water if you can help it. I know that's probably impossible in a bass boat...

[Andy is OptiMystic]

My biggest on a fly rod is ~5# but not sure. A little over 20 years ago when I didn't have a camera with me 24/7 I worked at a place that had a couple of ponds, one of which was secluded. I took my fly rod back there at lunch one day and caught a nice bass on what was essentially a super sized brown wooly bugger. That is one of the few big ones I can say that I treated well without a doubt. There was no point in lifting it out of the water; I had no camera and no one around to show it to. It is also possibly the largest fish I have ever caught on a fly I tied. But no picture, never happened...

[jim cosgrove]

never been good about taking pics.most fish pics i have with me in them someone else took.i was fishing a little marina area with my 3wt last summer at a club my son belongs to.my phone was in my tackle bag.i was catching nice gills one after the other.nice 7-8 inch gills under the floating docks.then i cast into a patch of pads and hooked the biggest gill i have seen in years.looked like a small hubcap with finshumpy battle scarred.there are big pike in this lake.1.5 ?2?i never even took him out of the water when i knew there was no way i could get to my phone and still release this monster.may in this lake is gonna be epic.i know i caught and released him un harmed.do i wish i had a pic yes.

[Slip Sinker]

Nice fish especially on fly rod... my largest on a fly rod was 19" I could appreciate what you went thru

[Andy is OptiMystic]

Not as bad as you might think. Bass was what I was after. 6 wt with 8# mono leader. So I wasn't badly overmatched. I was shaking afterwards from adrenaline just the same..

[jim cosgrove]

[jim cosgrove]

this hybrid is probably the best gill pic i ever got.he/she was around 9 inches.these were stocked this size at a place that is a preserve that allows us to fish for a yearly fee.if this place was not close to home i would probably golf 

[Slip Sinker]

     i know im taking a small bend in the direction of this topic but it should be addressed.  using simple logic and statistics available i compiled a list of some simple logical rules to follow which i believe would be a successful catch and release. Of course these are just my beliefs and or opinions compiled from years of my fishing.

[Andy is OptiMystic]

The tray has gotten really popular as the way to document size of a released fish. Someone should make one that drains so you scoop the fish with it and use whatever material/composition would have the least effect on slime.

[Slip Sinker]

whats the tray?

[David, aka, "McScruff"]

I've seen people cut out the flange in crappie trays, so the fish can be led into it while still in the water.