Somebody in the other thread asked for it so here it is! I got this from calfishing.com and respected trophy fisherman Rob Belloni.

Trophy Bass Care and Handling

By Rob Belloni February 9, 2006



Introduction: We all dream about it; catching the biggest bass you’ve ever seen and holding it in your hands, up close and personal with gaping jaws and bugged out eyeballs. The adrenaline rush when a fish like that goes in the net is huge, and it can turn definitely your brain to jelly. With your heart still pumping from the battle and your hands still shaking, it’s easy to start forgetting things and it’s easy to make bad decisions that you might later kick yourself about. This article is going to cover some of the things you can do to make your experience with the biggest bass of your life 100% positive for both you and the bass.

Equipment Preparation: The first and most important step in a successful big bass trip is to make sure you have the right equipment walking out the door. We’ve all heard the stories of, “I forgot the camera” and the always popular “I forgot the scale”. Hey, sometimes it happens that you just plain forget something, but it’s not hard to train yourself to be prepared for each and every trip you make. Some of the items you should always bring are as follows:

Camera: Most people now are using digital cameras to record their catches. Let’s face it, digital is quick and easy and allows you to take lots of extra pictures in case some come out poorly. At the time of this article (2006) the price vs. quality on digital cameras has gotten to the point where a high quality camera is very reasonable. Some reputable online shops for digital cameras include www.bhphotovideo.com or www.costco.com if you have a membership there. A camera in the 4 megapixel and up range will be more than adequate for getting nice 4x6” prints. If you want to print large format images, the options are almost limitless as you go up in price. If you’re still using a standard film camera, consider that many photo processing shops now offer digital image processing for a very reasonable price and your 4x6’s or 5x7’ will look like film quality when printed on those professional machines.

Spare Batteries: With digital, the main problem you’re likely to have with your camera is running out of batteries. Always carry a spare set, you’ll be happy you did when you hit the shutter and that annoying red battery light starts flashing.

Spare Camera: When you get the fish of a lifetime, it never hurts to have a backup camera handy just in case the unthinkable happens and your main camera takes a dump or the pictures don’t turn out. A cheap disposable camera with flash can typically be had for less than $10. They come foil wrapped and should last a few years in your boat or tackle bag. If you do stick a high teener or a 20+, you won’t think twice about asking someone to empty that camera for you on the fish for 10 bucks.

Measuring Tape: For any fish record to be IGFA certified, a clear photograph of the length and girth must accompany the record submission. You can pick up a cheap soft measuring tape for sewing from Wal-Mart or Target or wherever. Make sure that the numbers on the tape are large and legible! It might be worth your time to take some sample photos ahead of time and see if the numbers can be seen clearly. Better to do this than find out later that they can’t be read. Make sure that your tape is soft enough to be wrapped smoothly around the belly of the fish. Using a metalmeasuring a trophy bass measuring tape won’t do you any good trying to measure girth. Even if you aren’t going for the record, it can be fun to measure length and girth for your own records. You’ll find that a 10lb bass can vary greatly in length and girth!

Pliers: Getting the hook out of a bass is pretty simple 99% of the time. But every so often you’ll get a fish that’s hooked through the bone in the mouth or hooked around a gill. It pays to have a pair of long nose pliers for these situations, and as a backup it can be good to carry a heavy duty pair of cutting dikes in case you need to cut a hook in half to remove it. Watching a big bass bleed to death when you want to release it is a terrible feeling so spend the 10 bucks for a good pair of pliers and remember to bring them with you.


Net: An easy way to damage a bass is to net it with a nylon landing net that has large gaps in the mesh, like 1.5 inches or more. When the bass’ tail and fins are pushed up against the mesh, they can split and tear all the way to the base of the fin. These type of tears do heal but if you want to give the bass it’s best chance to survive, a finer mesh will help ensure that you don’t slice up the fish’s fins. Another option is to use a rubberized landing net where the mesh is coated with rubber. Unfortunately these nets are on the small side for trophy bass fishing but they do usually keep the bass’ fins from getting torn. After going through several landing nets myself, I settled on a Pro Mar brand net that has ¼” nylon mesh. This is a fine enough mesh that it doesn’t tear up the fins, and the particular model (Grande Halibut/Salmon release net with black mesh) is very large which I like for big bass fishing. If you do use a nylon landing net with large mesh, get the bass in the boat and onto the floor as quickly as possible, don’t let it thrash and twist around in the net, it just really has potential to damage the fish.

Livewell Additives: There are several companies that produce livewell additives to help keep the fish’s slime coat intact and general keep the fish from getting stressed during handling. If you use a livewell to store your bass temporarily, definitely pick some additive up. This is most important during warm weather months. Some well known brands include Bass Medics Rejuvenade and Please Release Me.

Livewells: If you plan on storing your bass in a livewell, consider the following fact: A truly large bass may measure as long as 32”. Your livewell should accordingly have a minimum length greater than or equal to the length of the bass in it. Most bass boat livewells meet this criteria, but only with the divider out! If you’re fishing from a jon boat, a 75 quart cooler is typically as small as you want to go. A 100 quart cooler will fit any bass you’ll ever catch with ease (that is what I use in my 15’ jon). If you’re fishing from a kickboat with an out of water livewell, getting something with a 30” or100qt cooler rigged as a bass livewell larger diagonal distance is ideal. If in any of these scenarios you put a bass in your livewell and you see that the bass’ tail is bent, the clock is ticking and you need to either weight that bass yourself and release it on the spot or take it to the local marina and weigh it. Continuing to fish with a bass curled up in your livewell is greedy and can very easily kill the fish.

Stringers: For float tubing, often time your only option for transporting a fish is to put it on a stringer. Let me offer some very specific advice on stringers. First of all, get a long stringer, like 8 to 10 feet and get one that uses a heavy cord. Second, if you are going to use metal clips to attach the bass’ lower jaw, get the strongest ones you can because bass will absolutely twist free from a standard metal trout stringer clip. If you are really worried about a fish coming off a stringer, use two metal clips through the same hole or get a stringer with a metal spike and a ring on the other end. Sharpen the spike and put that through the lower jaw of the bass and back through the metal ring.


If you do stringer a fish, tie a knot with at least 6 wraps to your boat to keep it from unraveling, and stringer the fish for as little time as possible. The only times I have ever stringered bass was to give myself time to kick to shore to take a photo when the shore was far away. I’m talking 5 minutes max on the stringer. The small hole in the bass’ lower jaw will heal quickly but dragging a bass around on a stringer for long periods of time will cause water to be forced down the bass’ throat into its stomach potentially killing the bass or causing its belly to become distended. Just because a bass lives underwater doesn't mean that it's body is designed to swallow large quantities of H20. If you are going somewhere with the fish (like to the marina because you caught the lake record) go very slowly allowing the bass to swim naturally behind you. And please, use your best judgment when using a stringer. If the bass exhibits any signs of distress, just take a pic of the bass in your hand or in your lap and release it, you will feel much better when you get home.

Handling: So you’re all set with your equipment and ready to rock. You’re on the water and you put the hooks into the biggest bug eyed beast you’ve ever seen. Let’s talk fish handling and steps to ensure a clean healthy release.

The first thing to do is set the bass down inside the boat, preferably at the lowest point in the boat so there’s no chance of it flopping out. If you keep a slight tension on the net, most fish will simply lay there not moving. If you relax the tension on the net, that’s when they are likely to start flopping. So get the bass in the boat, keep some tension on the net, then grab the bass firmly by the lower jaw. Use your thumb inside the lip and your other four fingers (curled up to a half fist) outside the jaw to get a firm grasp. Never grab a big bass using only your thumb and forefinger, they will flop and you’ll be left with a scraped up hand and possibly a wounded bass. Get your pliers out if need be and get the hook out of the bass. If the hook is around the gills, it may be better to cut the line and pull the hook out from the back. Use your best judgment.

Now is the best time to weigh the bass. After the fight, the bass is tired and will usually be pretty docile. If you put the bass in the livewell and take it out later, it will have rested and will probably go berserk. On some scales, the hook on the scale is large enough to place it between the jaw and the first gill raker. On other scales the hook is too small and you’ll need to poke a hole right inside the lower jaw bone at its center point. If you use that method, consider sharpening the hook on your scale for easy insertion without tearing. When I used to use a Stren 50lb scale, that is what I did to make things smooth and not tear the jaw unnecessarily. Continue to hold thehandling trophy bass bass firmly with one hand while you put the hook in place. Then, hold the bass out no more than a foot or two above the ground and slowly gently release your grip on the fish. If you let go quickly, the bass is probably going to start flopping. If you take it nice and slow it will usually just hang there. If the fish starts flopping, either grip the lip again quickly or lower the bass immediately toward the deck. The worst thing you can do is relax your grip with the fish dangling 4 or 5 feet in the air and drop it!

Minimizing time out of water is one of the number one keys to keeping the bass healthy, so once you have the weight, get your firm grip on the jaw again and dip the fish over the side in the water or in to the livewell so that it can breathe. If you’re having scale problems, keep the bass wet while you figure things out. Once that is done you’re ready for some photographs. If you’re with someone, have them take the pics. If you’re by yourself you’re ready to get set up and use the self timer feature on your camera. If you don’t know how to use the self timer, it’s a good thing you’re reading this article because when you’re done reading it the first thing you’re going to do is go learn how it works and take some practice shots :). Self timers are easy to use … once you know how to use them. Take time to practice and you’ll be happy you did when you get that big bass in the boat.

Now comes the part that I always forget which is measuring the bass. Put the camera and scale away and lay the tape measure down and get a length, then get a girth. Keep your hands around the bass while getting girth in case it starts flopping, and always release your grip on the bass slowly and gently.

90% of the time when I’m not fishing tournaments I release fish immediately after weighing and photographing. The entire process should only take a few minutes when you have your system down. Occasionally if I’m fishing cooler water (like less than 65 degrees) I will keep fish in the livewell for a short period. I’ll do that if I’m in the middle of a hot bite or if I’m concerned about spooking school fish by releasing a hooked fish. If you are keeping fish in your livewell just remember the basics which are fresh water and oxygenation. Running fresh water from the lake is always best for the fish. Running water on recirculate is also good because it helps oxygenate but is not as good as fresh. When the water is 50 or below, adding fresh water every 15-30 minutes is fine. As the water gets warmer, you need to change or recirculate the water more often. If you’re in a tournament and the water is pushing 80 degrees, you need to run the water almost constantly.

This brings me to another point I would like to make about livewells. Many bass fishermen I’ve met seem to be under the impression that running the water 100% of the time is always best for the fish irregardless of water temperature. I do not prescribe to this theory. When water temps are cool, don’t run the livewell 100% of the time, all you are doing is shooting water on the fish and causing them more stress. You’ll know if you’re not putting enough fresh water or oxygenated water in the livewell when you look in because the bass will appear to be gasping. Bass that are running out of air also tend to jump and whack their heads on the roof of the livewell trying to get out of their unpleasant situation. If your bass is jumping around after being quiet for a long time, check on the fish to see what is happening. There is a balance between too much water and not enough and if you just pay attention to the fish and check them regularly, you’ll learn to read the signs of stress vs. healthy bass.

Deep Caught Bass: A common problem when fishing deep or for suspended bass that suddenly rush the surface for your lure is that they get bloated with air from the rapid pressure change. Needling fish is the commonly accepted method for returning fish to the depths but I have spoken with many people on this topic and I’ll tell you something… When you get a bass over 6lbs, it becomes VERY hard to needle them correctly. Needling 14” spotted bass is quite easy but needling 10lbers and doing it right is not. I would encourage everyone who is reading this article to spend a few dollars and make yourself a simple deep water release device for big bass. Here is what you do: Take a standard marker bouy and remove the stock lead weight. Replace that weight with a 6 to 8oz torpedo sinker. You can buy a sinker like that at any saltwater tackle store.

If you get a big bass that won’t go down, pay out 10-20 feet of line from the marker buoy, then hold the fish with the mouth pointing straight up at you and lower the torpedo sinker into its throat. It will go in very easily, there’s no need to force it. When the sinker is fully inside the bass, gently release the fish while paying out line from the marker buoy. The extra weight will allow the bass to swim down. Let the fish go as deep as it needs to go. What will happen is that the bass will go very slowly at first but when it hits a certain depth it will all of a sudden feel normal again and you’ll feel the fish come to life and start yanking on the string. Hold the string tight and the bass will cough out the weight and be on its way. This technique was taught to me by Rod and Todd Thigpin and it works really well. I’ve successfully released several big bass using this method and it’s a great feeling when they come alive and start yanking that string to get free.

Reviving the Bass: Sometimes I see guys swishing bass back and forth by the jaw to revive them or holding them by the tail and pulling them back and forth. This is a theory that I don’t buy in to and I really am not sure how this came to be accepted practice. Bass are not marlin, they don’t need to be revived. If the bass can swim off, even very slowly, let her swim away. If you’re worried that the bass is not OK, stay in the area for 5 minutes and make sure that she does not come to the surface. releasing a big bass Grabbing the bass by the tail and going back and forth is just more handling that the bass doesn’t need.

In Conclusion: I sincerely hope that with the right equipment and the right plan, each and every one of you out there fishing for big bass can experience the awesome feeling you get with a clean healthy release of a trophy bass. Up here in Northern California my friends and I catch and release the same bass so often that it barely raises an eyebrow any more when it happens to us. I’ve personally caught and released the same 10lb+ bass on two different occasions and it sure feels great when you see that same fish again and you know that you did things right the first time you released her. Like the saying goes, catch and release – it will grow on you!