The 10-pound bass is to fishermen what the 140-inch buck or the 22-pound gobbler is to hunters. It’s nowhere near the top of the record books, but it’s still a really big deal.

You won’t build on a room for it, but you will add dramatic lighting to the room it’s in so everyone can get the full effect.

The majority of deer hunters will never see a 140-class buck in their hunting lifetime. The same is true about landing a 10-pound lunker.

A 10-pound bass is going to be at least two feet long and probably 10 years old. It will have a mouth big enough to hold about half a dozen Whoppers. It is going to take two hands to hold it up for the camera. You will think it weighs at least 14 pounds, then hold your breath until the scale hits 10.

One big difference between the big buck and the big bass is that you can document your catch and release it. Take pictures, weigh and measure it and then turn it loose for the next guy. Nobody is ever going to know that fish on your wall is a replica … unless you tell them.

If you really set your sights on catching one, do your homework ahead of time so you’ll know exactly what a replica maker needs to re-create your catch.

Like that big buck holed up in the brushy corner of an abandoned feed lot, your 10-pounder may be swimming in an out-of-the-way place. It might be a farm pond, in a lake or in the backwaters of the Mississippi River.