http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/6706-image1376.jpg

My American friend caught an nice Slammer fish a couple of nights ago, and accurately measured it, mouth closed, flat, at 25.5 inches.
He forgot his scale, and did not want to keep the fish on a stringer while he went to get one. He was much more concerned with her safe release. He asked me to ask around, and this is the most knowledgeble forum around. The fish was full of spawn, and unusually fat. He is going to refer to it as his 25.5 inch catch, but is curious about how much it might weigh.
He has only been bass fishing for three years, but I think the did the righ thing by taking the snap, and quickly releasing her...
:-)

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

Attachment #1, (.jpg file)

whoa that looks like a toad!

Length X Girth X Girth divided by 800. If you can come up with the girth guess, there you go.....

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/4392-ranger_boats.gif

>Length X Girth X Girth divided by 800. If you can come up
>with the girth guess, there you go.....


I have read that it is Length X Girth X Girth divided by 1200.
He measured the length, mouth closed, flat and got the 25.5 inches.
He also took a piece of line, and wraped it around the fish, and got 23 inches, but he is not sure if he measured the fish at it's widest point.
25.5 X 23 X 23 divided by 1200 would give 11.24 pounds which does not sound unreasonable.

Thank you for the comments--my friend just wanted to know if the fish MIGHT be over 10 pounds, and he appreciats your positive comments.

I looked at the data for 13 fish caught last week at Biwako. The fish are ready to spawn, and are heavy now. The average weight on a 25 inch fish is 10.5 pounds.

What would a prespawn 25 inch weigh in Cali?:P

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

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.

>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"

I found a web site www.fishdreams.com/calculator.all_species.html and it said the fish would weigh 16.8.

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/4392-ranger_boats.gif

Hey Greg - what is an "S" Slammer?

I wish they had night fishing at Margarita and Lopez so I could do some night time slammer chuckin :(

>Hey Greg - what is an "S" Slammer?
>
>I wish they had night fishing at Margarita and Lopez so I
>could do some night time slammer chuckin :(

Rob--are you making fun of my English again?

Jus jokin'.
In Japan we call the M.S. Slammer made by the King, Mike Shaw, simply a "Slammer". They come in "Small" "Medium" and "Large", so I assumed, incorrectlty, that an "S" Slammer would sufficiently express the fact that the fish was caught on a "Small" MS Slammer.
Sorry for the confusion...
BTW, on the package is printed "SM" "Md" and "Lg".
"SM" has a sexual meaning here in Japan, so the magazines we advertise in asked us to drop the "M" of "SM".
I guess it just became stuck in my head.
BBTW, I have sold thousands of Mike's lures here in Japan, and I personally would not part with the several "M", thick body, noisy Slammers that Mike made for me around 2001. Smallmouth luv em too.
Fish on...:P

http://www.calfishing.com/dc/user_files/6720-1_deadstick_salad_smallmouth.JPG

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

Attachment #1, (.JPG file)

Whoa, that thing looks huge. But its impossible to get a good estimate based on that photo. One of the things I look at when judging photos is the size of the maxillary bone in relation to the anglers hand. I know people have different sized hands, but the hand and bone are always in perspective to each other regardless of how far out the angler is holding fish. That bone is very big compared to the anglers hand, and IMHO that is a very big bass. My guess is at leat 13 pounds.