While I'd love nothing more than to believe that there are 10-lb bass out there swimming around......I believe the majority of bass around here die of old age without ever reaching 8-lbs.

Some simply lack the genetics to ever be huge bass, but... just like people, some very small percentage live a lot longer than the average expected lifespan.

Even the picture Arlow put up is of an fatter than average bass. I don't know how long it is but I'd bet we'd all over guess the length of that bass. It is however thick in the shoulders and fat starting right at the tail. If they were all built like that, we'd be seeing more 9's.

There can be a few out there, no doubt, but in my opinion, it's a very very small number that most bass will never reach. Over 8-lbs, a bass can eat large meals so it's not going to be a matter of available food supply since they can feed on the largest of panfish, trout, other bass and anything that swims for that matter. It's going to come down to old age and genetics, two things that a fish has no control over.

Lake Saltonstall bass had the water quality, the forage base and genetics to grow huge bass and keep in mind that it was also closed to fishing for some 30+ years too and still...without fishing pressure and the possible negative genetic impacts of large bass harvest, it did not produce a bunch of huge bass when it was finally opened to fishing again. Some 8's even one 9's that I know of, but I never heard of a 10. If there was ever a place and time for it to happen in my lifetime....that was it.