>You get the right fish at 25" and it can weigh 15lbs. I got
>one that was 25.5" and went 15.8. Terry did a great article
>on calculating big fish weights. It's on the site here:
>
>http://www.calfishing.com/freshwater/weight_estimation.html
>
>That 18.66 from Biwa had an amazing amount of fat behind its
>head :) It looks like a relative of the San Pablo breed of
>bass. There are not many lakes that produce fish that fat all
>around. Pretty cool.

Rob, I too have an amazing amount of fat behind my head, and you have never complimented me...
You are clever to pick up the increase of weight just behind the head. I call it "the dip" and the bass in the southern part of Biwako that posesses the dip, carry a lot of weight. They have relatively small heads before their body balloons up, similar the the early 90's Castaic fish.
I got a call from my friend just before this post, and he is grateful for all the info this board provided. Just for the record, he is going to "refer" to his PB bass as "my 25.5 inch fish that probably weighted over 10 pounds. He now has a good scale so he will not have to use "probably" in the future.
That fish ate a "S" MS Slammer in Nitro Purble, on the surface, right at his feet...he is now got the addiction in a bad way.
Capt. G

"Known as the person who introduced swimbait fishing to Japan"