funny catch story with pic

[mww24]

last nite i hit a local lake for a few hours i had caught 3 bass and lost a real nice one. then i cast out my spinnerbait out. in the proccess i got a small backlash. it took me about 20 seconds to pick it out. as i start reeling i feel a nice pull followed by a nice run. whoo hoo. fish on. heres what i drug up. biggest of my life. im thinking in the 5 pound range

[KTapper]

Nice catch!

[S.D. Ice Angular]

Sweet!!!

[grab the net]

We call those big fish casts. Longer it takes to pick out the professional over run, the bigger the fish. Congrats on the personal best. Fall is a great time to get those.

[mww24]

when i look at this picture now that its big and not on my cell. i noticed where im holding the bass by his mouth it looks like his jaw is hanging. is this not a good way to hold the bigguns. I'm just curious up until now ive only got 3 pounders maybe one or two pushing 4. i dont want to damage any fish. thanks for any replies. definetly dont want to wreck the fisheries i fish. especially because this is a very small lake. and i lost another one that was probably close to this size so i know theres more in there.

[Craigums]

I dont think that way is too rough on the fish, if you wanted you could support the fish more with your free hand. What really can cause damage is when people try to hold the fish horizontal without any support putting all the fishes weight on it bottom jaw that can fracture or break the jaw.

nice catch.

[blakjack23]

I hope you started fishing deeper after that one. Nice catch!