Ed,
I'm pretty sure calicos are slower to grow than largemouth. I think it's about an inch a year on L-mouth or so. Don't hold me to that though, cause I don't think it takes 11 years for a fish to reach 12 inches. Maybe closer to 2"/year??? Relatively fast I'd imagine, it probably takes 5 years or so for a bass to get 12 inches. It probably depends on food availability too. A tip on hook removal, if you don't have any pliers, what you can do is cut the line, and then push the hook forward, all the way out, so that you don't have to pull the barb out, just push it forward, over the eye, and since you cut the line, it's out. Also, when they swallow it and you can just see it in the swallowing mechanism thing, you can turn the hook so that the eye is poking out of it's gills (carefully) and then stick your finger under it's gill plate and push up on the hook (be sure not to gouge any red though...). Sometimes nothin seems to work, and it's better just to get the fish back in the water. I think you're having way too much fun with these FRESHWATER bass...
-Brian