How hardy are LMB?

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Could have been a large raccoon or a bird, though I doubt that given the size of the fish. Terrestrial predators often just eat the lower half of the fish.
Yeah, it was 20" long and like 16-18" around - big fish, way too big for something like that to have eaten it. And trust me, due to the shape of the pond a raccoon couldn't have gotten that fish, especially a fish that size. A bird might have gotten it but I don't think it would have left it in the pond. Probably age or something
 
I doubt it, unfortunately that would mean my biggest bass I've ever caught is dead :(
I hope not but I'm thinking the stress of capture and transport was too much for the bass to endure.
 
I hope not but I'm thinking the stress of capture and transport was too much for the bass to endure.

I dunno mate, OP put the fish in his pond in late may and said the fish died yesterday. That's about 3 months time for the fish to acclimate, if it had died within a week of capture there would be little (if anything) left by now.
 
I hope not but I'm thinking the stress of capture and transport was too much for the bass to endure.
Yeah, Chub_by has a good point. I think it was mid-late May when I moved the big guy in, no way it was the stress of acclimation that got to him
 
Oh yeah wow,I did not notice the date that this thread was started.I thought it was new so yes that bass had plenty of time to settle in.
 
where did you hook him, O Oompa Loompa ???
In another pond, right down the street from my house. There's a no fishing sign on there, but nobody cares if you fish it (nobody else does though, so lots of unpressured fish). Anyways, there's a ton of big panfish in there (talking bluegill in almost the one-pound range), so I went fishing for them one day, standing off of this big concrete drain pipe. I hooked like a 6 or 7 incher, and that big bass darted out of nowhere and got the fish, I played tug of war for a bit and he let it go. I didn't even remember it for another year, then it happened again so I went back out the next day with a fresh live bait, dropped it right down in front of the pipe, he took it and shot down all the way back into the pipe, if I didn't have 15 pound braid on that setup he would've easily broken me off. I got him up after a bit of a fight, he really didn't want to come though. Shame I didn't hook him in open water so I could've seen him jump.

I think bass around that size are the best to catch. They're still insanely strong, so they put up a good fight, but they're not so big that they tire themselves out too quickly.

There's another pond down the street from that one (they actually enforce the no fishing rule there, I've been kicked out plenty of times :D) with a few big fish in it (possibly even bigger fish), so I need to go out late at night one time and take a few from there.
 
In another pond, right down the street from my house. There's a no fishing sign on there, but nobody cares if you fish it (nobody else does though, so lots of unpressured fish). Anyways, there's a ton of big panfish in there (talking bluegill in almost the one-pound range), so I went fishing for them one day, standing off of this big concrete drain pipe. I hooked like a 6 or 7 incher, and that big bass darted out of nowhere and got the fish, I played tug of war for a bit and he let it go. I didn't even remember it for another year, then it happened again so I went back out the next day with a fresh live bait, dropped it right down in front of the pipe, he took it and shot down all the way back into the pipe, if I didn't have 15 pound braid on that setup he would've easily broken me off. I got him up after a bit of a fight, he really didn't want to come though. Shame I didn't hook him in open water so I could've seen him jump.

I think bass around that size are the best to catch. They're still insanely strong, so they put up a good fight, but they're not so big that they tire themselves out too quickly.

There's another pond down the street from that one (they actually enforce the no fishing rule there, I've been kicked out plenty of times :D) with a few big fish in it (possibly even bigger fish), so I need to go out late at night one time and take a few from there.
I meant where ON HIS BODY LMAO
 
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