Melones - new lake bass record - 18 lber

http://www.imhooked.com/cgi-bin/forumsyabb/YaBB.pl?num=1269393496

Wow.

Yeah, but that picture doesn't even do it justice.  Somewhere I saw a different picture of that thing and it is a PIG!!! 

Here is the report and nice picture of the BIG Bass!

http://www.wonews.com/t-NCFreshReport_eventsupdate_032310.aspx

Here is the report and nice picture of the BIG Bass!

Yeah, that is the photo I saw.  What a HOG!!!

Very nice! Glad it was released!

I hate to be a pain, but if your gonna release an 18lb bass don't hold the fish up by it's jaw.  Just my 2 cents.

Jim, I think the problem is pretty much everyone does it that way.  some support the belly but lots of others do not.

so the melones bass was 30" long and 29" in girth?  that seems strange considering that the recently certified world record was only 29" long with 26.7" in girth. 

either that measurement is overstating it or it had very little in the belly/eggs.

imagine how heavy that 30" bass could be with a similar length ratio to the recent WR..

What a PIG!

Clearly a case of fish abuse! Someone call an attorney!

...I heard someone took it home for dinner once, and it got up off the plate, smacked the fella across the face, and then took a taxi back to the lake...and that was when it was only 15 pounds...

Yeah, people mentioned the lip-holding controversy on Western Bass...basically, try not to do that.  But mostly avoid using the lip to leverage the fish in some way.  Holding the fish vertically is okay, but support the belly with the other if you can.

I heard that he caught it on a jig, sitting on the bottom while he was re-tying another rod.  He also took the fish and released her where she was caught.  Long live that record bass!

HB

no wonder there are no trout in that lake! Thanks John!

I hate to be a pain, but if your gonna release an 18lb bass don't hold the fish up by it's jaw.  Just my 2 cents.

I certainly wouldn't either, but that's only because of what I've read in the past 5 years or so. If one were only know catch and release techniques from watching the BASSCAR folks, you'd think that you'd need to put a deathgrip on the lower lip, yell like a banshee, and shake the everloving shiznit out of any fish over 5 pounds. Can I get a "Boohah!!"?

That said, as related by the WON story, the angler did seem to really take pretty good care of that fish. Good on him for that.

Scott