A 10 lb. Largemouth???

[acabtp]

Originally Posted by thmyorke1

I never understood why folk weighed fish instead of measuring. Weighing varies so much and nothing represents health and age better than length.

because the weight is the best indication of the health/hardiness of the fish.
length is correlated to age class but weight is a much better indication of the health of the fish because unlike people, fish can't get big and fat just sitting around, they have to get out there and hunt their dinner, and dinner has to be there to be caught.

bass especially get like this. you fish in a pond without much forage and there will still be bass but they'll be skinny and the widest point will be their heads. but if you fish a better ecosystem with a good forage base, like one of the watershed lakes, the bass look like footballs and are widest at their bellies. comparing one fish of the same length from each water, the stunted pond fish won't weigh nearly as much as the well fed lake fish. even from the same water, with two fish of the same length, the heavier one is the more successful/healthier one. weight is the better indication of fish quality.

i've got a picture around somewhere from a few years back that really shows this difference between two identical length bass from different waters. will try to find it.