Quality Bass? Dinks? 2024
Josh Smith reply :
Hello,
I keep hearing the term "quality bass."
In another thread, someone referred to a "quality bass" as, "say, 15 inches".
I was under the impression that they had to be lots bigger to be considered not-dinks.
What's a dink, anyway?
Keeping in mind that I live in Northern Indiana, the bass I generally catch are 12" to 15" (both large and smallmouth, 3-5 years old).
Maybe I'm doing better than I thought.
What's a "quality bass"? What's a "dink"?
Josh
Jrob78 reply :
I consider a quality bass anything over about 3 lbs or so. A dink would be a fish in the 14" or less category (roughly).
Crappiebasser reply :
If I'm fishing with someone it's a dink. If there's no one there to see it it's a quality bass.
OkeechobeeAngler reply :
To me, a dink is anything under 5 lbs.
gobig reply :
You can't really give a general answer to your question. The body of water that you are fishing is going to determine what a quality fish is. I would consider a quality fish to be one that would be part of a good tournament bag for that body of water. For instance if it takes 20lbs to win. A 3lber would be a good quality fish. If it takes 12lbs to win a 2lber would be a good quality fish. Something along those lines.
KayakBasser reply :
Dink=less than 18 inches, quality= 4 pound plus.
einscodek reply :
We been thru this.. its a matter o opinion.. everyones different and different lakes.. those big ole bass in cali and florida will have another measure altogether..
up here in my area.. I'd say quality is big.. 19"+ but even an 18" is quite a sight
Josh Smith reply :
One thing I notice is the health of the bass I catch.
The small lake bass are beautiful and extremely healthy.
The reservoire is about average.
Those bass we have here in Northern Indiana do not compare in size to, say, Okeechobee bass unless they are twice as old.
Guess it matters what latitude you're at?
Josh
Dwight Hottle reply :
It all depends on the quality of water you are fishing and your expertise. Any fish over 3 lbs is considered to be a quality fish to most guys. On a really good fishery it could be 4 lbs and up. On a great fishery it could be 6 or 7 lbs before you even take a picture. To me a dink is any fish under 3 lbs.
Mccallister25 reply :
Depends on the area your in and the body of water specifically. What may be "decent" in Florida could be a "quality" fish here in NC.
Beauty's in the eye of the beholder anyway.. Who cares, just go have fun.
corn-on-the-rob reply :
Dink = not a keeper
Small = less than 2lbs
Decent = greater than 2lbs
Good = close to 3lbs to about 3.75
Big = 3.75 to 5lbs
Whale = over 5lbs
That's my scale based on Ohio fishing.
MIbassyaker reply :
To me, the definition depends entirely on expectations. Quality is whatever size I'm content to be catching at the moment. A Dink is anything less than that.
HoosierHawgs reply :
Quality is a fish I would still have in my tourney livewell at the end of a good day on that particular body of water. Dink is a bass that's not a keeper or scoreable bass. Obviously this is different in different places but I'll go off the MLF rules and say 12"
hoosierbass07 reply :
3 pounds is a dink? lol. Here in Indiana I would consider a 2 pound + a big bass!
Team9nine reply :
We've pretty much already established that a "dink" is any bass under 12". See the following thread: http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/148117-what-do-you-consider-a-dink-in-terms-of-largemouth-bass/?hl=dink
As for a "quality" bass, I believe Indiana DNR defines that as any bass over 18," which for this area I would tend to agree with.
-T9
gobig reply :
A dink is anything you could eat on cheese and crackers.
Josh Smith reply :
See, in Indiana, the keeper thing depends on the type of waterway.
For lakes, they have to be 14+".
For rivers and streams, bass must be under 12" or over 15" to be kept.
Josh
Paul Roberts reply :
Varies with latitude, water body, and angler's expectations for the day. For me, where I've fished, it's run the gamut from 10inches to 6lbs. I tend to view it from a biological perspective which converts to the "mature" fish -those that have survived long enough to reach maturity. That can cover quite a range depending on the water body. For most of the waters I now regularly fish, it's in the 13" to 15" (and up) range.
In many of my waters, an 18"er is a "big bass". A 20"er is a "BIG bass". And a 22"+ is a "huge bass". Then there are the "Leviathans". I haven't seen one of those, but I know they are out there. 
Frog Turds reply :
a dink is a fish under a tourney limit keeper is how many in general refer to it in discussion Josh...dink and/or short fish, is under that limit size for keeper...i don't go by special regs for waters per se...for northern strain fish, anything 3#'s or better is a quality fish to me...
HoosierHawgs reply :
Where are you fishing? Its not big until at least 4+ and its not a trophy until 6+On 5/27/2015 at 10:18 AM, hoosierbass07 said:3 pounds is a dink? lol. Here in Indiana I would consider a 2 pound + a big bass!
A-Jay reply :
On 5/27/2015 at 9:06 AM, Dwight Hottle said:It all depends on the quality of water you are fishing and your expertise. Any fish over 3 lbs is considered to be a quality fish to most guys. On a really good fishery it could be 4 lbs and up. On a great fishery it could be 6 or 7 lbs before you even take a picture. To me a dink is any fish under 3 lbs.
I agree with this guy . . . .
A-Jay
roadwarrior reply :
I think the broad definition of a dink is a fish below the legal minimum length.
stkbassn reply :
I consider all bass fun to catch but to me a quality fish is anything 2 pounds and up.
WRB reply :
If you tournament bass fish a dink is any bass under the minimum legal length, me it's any bass under 12".
Quality bass, again using the tournament angler as a baseline, any bass between 3 to 4 lb is a money bass, therefor good quality.
Where I fish:
Big bass (LMB) any bass over 5 lbs is a big bass.
DD is any bass over 10 lbs.
Giant bass is over 15 lbs.
Tom
Canyon explorer reply :
I think a reasonable definition of a " Dink" could be all fish less than the minimum length major tournament association clubs impose on the lakes in the state your fishing.
I fish in the Mid West and most bass clubs in the area associate with BASS or FLW and set a 15" minimum on Black bass and a 12" limit on spotted bass. This definition "DINK" can also serve on hook up to advise your partner the net is not needed.
Raul reply :
On 5/27/2015 at 8:37 AM, Josh Smith said:Hello,
I keep hearing the term "quality bass."
In another thread, someone referred to a "quality bass" as, "say, 15 inches".
I was under the impression that they had to be lots bigger to be considered not-dinks.
What's a dink, anyway?
Keeping in mind that I live in Northern Indiana, the bass I generally catch are 12" to 15" (both large and smallmouth, 3-5 years old).
Maybe I'm doing better than I thought.
What's a "quality bass"? What's a "dink"?
Josh
Anything under 5 lbs is a dink, 
, actually, I have lowered the standard, it used to be 7 lbs, but people thought it was too cocky.
Dink is anything under 12 inches.
I´ve caught a really big bunch of 5lbs+ fish throughout the years, but still, my average size fish is around 1 lbs, nothing to brag about.
SirSnookalot reply :
I'm in state where there is potential to catch some really nice bass, I don't turn my nose up at 2 or 3 pounder. Quite often I'm fishing ul or light power even those 18-20" fish put up a nice fight. Contrary to that catching that same 20" fish with a heavy rod and heavy line then skimming on top of the water in warp speed, that's reducing that nice fish to a dink, the fish has little chance to win. The strike and the fight is what matters, that is if fun is the objective.
BooyahMan reply :
I think the answer is quite area dependent. The bass down south grow faster than the ones up here and thus we rarely ever see a fish over 8lbs, with anything 4lbs and up being considered a trophy and definitely not a common occurrence.
Personally, I consider dinks to be anything 12 inches or less, but that's only because I rarely catch a frog fish smaller than that (huge fan of frog fishing here!). Once I get into the 14-15 inch range it gets dependent on girth; a fat 15 incher is a good fish in my books. Once we get up into the 20 inch and over range, then we're talking.
Then again, the guys down south would be laughing at these standards, so it really depends.
BooyahMan reply :
On 5/28/2015 at 2:55 AM, SirSnookalot said:I'm in state where there is potential to catch some really nice bass, I don't turn my nose up at 2 or 3 pounder. Quite often I'm fishing ul or light power even those 18-20" fish put up a nice fight. Contrary to that catching that same 20" fish with a heavy rod and heavy line then skimming on top of the water in warp speed, that's reducing that nice fish to a dink, the fish has little chance to win. The strike and the fight is what matters, that is if fun is the objective.
Definitely agree with that. I was using a 5' ultralight early in the season when not expecting anything to really happen and hooked 3 bass all in the 14-15 inch range on a rooster tail. They bent the rod tip right down to the cork, and one even managed to pull me under the dock. Way more fun than catching those same fish on my heavy action frogging setup.
corn-on-the-rob reply :
Well I think the biggest discrepancy is that there is a personal definition for dink, and the literal definition.
If I recall, the word was used to denote particularly small fish when the word "small" was not sufficient to classify it small enough.
For example, a near (above or below) 12 inch fish, whether it keeps or not, is generally small as far as bass go. But add only a couple more inches, and you start getting significantly larger bass (with each inch). So I need a word to call a fish that is small, yet even smaller than the 12 inch fish I already called small all the way down to just a couple inch bass. Hence, a dink.
The word "dink" I don't think was meant to replace the word "small" but to use to describe fish a significant less size than what was already considered small.
Bankbeater reply :
Around here it's anything under a pound or under 12".
CeeJay reply :
On 5/28/2015 at 2:55 AM, SirSnookalot said:I'm in state where there is potential to catch some really nice bass, I don't turn my nose up at 2 or 3 pounder. Quite often I'm fishing ul or light power even those 18-20" fish put up a nice fight. Contrary to that catching that same 20" fish with a heavy rod and heavy line then skimming on top of the water in warp speed, that's reducing that nice fish to a dink, the fish has little chance to win. The strike and the fight is what matters, that is if fun is the objective.
That's what it's all about for me.
Well said.
everythingthatswims reply :
I'm glad I live in a state where I can appreciate a 15" bass
corn-on-the-rob reply :
On 5/28/2015 at 10:55 AM, everythingthatswims said:I'm glad I live in a state where I can appreciate a 15" bass
i appreciate everything on the end of my line. Except maybe the 8 billion sheephead on lake erie.
RoLo reply :
On 5/28/2015 at 4:23 AM, corn-on-the-rob said:Well I think the biggest discrepancy is that there is a personal definition for dink, and the literal definition.
I'll drink to that
Actually, 'dink' and 'toad' are relatively new terms, which in my time were called 'runts' & 'lunkers'.
Our own personal definition of 'dink' can run the gamut, but the most significant delineation
is the legal minimum length for the lake in question.
Roger
rybobassmaster reply :
On 5/27/2015 at 8:37 AM, Josh Smith said:Hello,
I keep hearing the term "quality bass."
In another thread, someone referred to a "quality bass" as, "say, 15 inches".
I was under the impression that they had to be lots bigger to be considered not-dinks.
What's a dink, anyway?
Keeping in mind that I live in Northern Indiana, the bass I generally catch are 12" to 15" (both large and smallmouth, 3-5 years old).
Maybe I'm doing better than I thought.
What's a "quality bass"? What's a "dink"?
Josh
A dink is a small bass . on your terms.
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