How Big Was That Bass?

For years my buddy has been sending me messages proclaiming that he "almost" caught Bucketmouth. Bucketmouth is the mythical giant bass that haunts the frog pond behind his house. I call it a frog pond because when I was a kid I hunted the bullfrogs there for their tasty legs. But that's another story.

Last week he sent me this photo with his brother-in-law, Shawn, holding what may be the much-hunted beast. Nice fish. So, how big is Bucketmouth? Having a good idea of how big Shawn is (or was, he looks a bit...bloated in this photo), I estimated the fish to be around 3 lbs. My buddy doesn't have a scale but he has a tape measure and the fish was right at 19" long. I asked about the girth. The fish had already been set free but he estimated it to be between 10 and 12 inches in girth.

A quick google search tells me a handy equation for estimating weight for bass is length x length x girth ÷ 1200.

19 x 19 x 10 = 3610 divided by 1200 = 3.00833 lbs.

So, my guess was accurate if their low estimate was closer to the truth. Their high estimate puts the fish at 3.61 lbs.

This equation works only for bass.

For trout: length x girth x girth ÷ 800

For walleye: length x length x length ÷ 2700

For pike: length x length x length ÷ 3500

Grand Lake of My Youth

I heard from my old friend, Bret, this morning. It gives me joy to hear him report on the copious amounts of crappie being caught on the lake I grew up catching mostly bullhead but a few crappies on, Great Lake. For the past few years the lake has been in pretty serious trouble with blue/green algae blooms due to high phosphorus levels caused (probably) by run-off from the farms that surround the lake in all directions for miles. I think I got that right.

According to Bret, the crappie bite has been hot for the past week or so. He and a couple other anglers caught nearly 250 in a few short hours. Above is a nice sampling taken home to be turned into delicious fillets.