I caught this big head this morning. Unusual, because our fish are usually pretty blocky. Fish weighed 8.0 on a boca, but I got to wondering how big she would have been in Jan/Feb. Any guesses?

typical is 7-12% body weight....so you might get 8-10 extra OZs with this fish. Most people think that it's 1-2 pounds but that's not the case. An extra pound wouldn't be bad though

Eggs can weigh up to 10% of body mass. This does not account for improved physical condition and weight gain from post-spawn through the fall. So a fishing weighing 8 pounds right now, with ideal water quality, habitat and forage could weigh close to nine pre-spawn and around 9.5 MAX just before dropping eggs.

Fishbreeder on here is a real fisheries biologist. What I wrote above is just what I've learned from personal research.

Not near as much as guys seem to think. I see all the time someone posting a 10 that they believe will be 12-13 during the spawn.

exactly! just like any pregnant woman, they will gain weight besides their eggs...but anything over 1.5 pounds is really a far stretch.

I watched this show on NatGeo where these biologist would catch the fish, slowly squeeze/extract the fish eggs....the fish were weighed prior to and after....almost every time the fish weight dropped around a pound. The fish were Walleye...so might be a bit different but can't believe it would be any different.