No this isn't one of those stereotypical kind of things.
But i was watching some crossmen lot videos (amazing bass line this year), and a girl played bass four.And it inspired me.Because this girl didn't look like she normally carried 30 odd pounds around.And i figured i would show it to my line.
Just in case they start saying "it's too heavy!".

Does anyone on your line play a unusual size for their build?

At Raiders the smallest (in body size, not height) played bass 5.

at a school near mine there were two girls on the bassline and they played 4 and 5

Hey now. Us top bass ladies are cool too =P

Anyways, I haven't seen many lines at all that put girls on the lower basses. I don't know if it's because of the players' chops or because of their height and build.

I carried the bottom bass my first year in high school. I was about five feet even and not much more than 100 pounds. (Thank God for the growth spurt I had the following year!)

It was pretty obvious our instructor set the line strictly by hands without considering body size. There was little ol' me on the bottom, but our #2 bass might've been the biggest guy on the football team's offensive line.

we've had girls play 3 (of 4) for like 3 years running

That's an amazing feat.

I applaud you.

I have the best hands out of our entire bassline, but since our instructor didn't set the bassline in any paticular way, I ended up on fourth. At first I didn't like it much, but now I'm digging being a 5'4 110 pound girl on a 24 inch drum. I've found that you get a lot more respect from guys when you march a larger drum.

yea its pretty cool, we have 2 girls on our bass line at my college, I wish I was on it though, I got stuck playing my primary insturment, the mellophone

hehe.....this was our tenor captain for 4 years.

http://www.msstate.edu/org/drumline/photo_albums/UAB2007/Drum%20Line_075.html

Weird i saw her in a youtube video.

take a look at pacifica high school's centor tenor from the past like 3 years
but then a gain shes like 6'4"

yeah...she was a beast!

There's nothing I like more than going to competitions and seeing all girl basslines that totally throw it down. If only I could get my all-boy bassline to see these girls and realize that they need to get their crap together.

This year in REVOLUTIONS BASS LINE we had a japanese girl who was 5'1 play bass 1 you can see her in this video
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=41711509
its a video of our drum break let it run till the middle that is when the break starts

The best bass drummer I ever taught was Aricelli Hernandez at Bakersfield High School in the early 90's. She played bottom for a year and then third bass the next three. Our top bass was cut for "problems" outside of drumming and she covered the parts for the remainder of the season. Drum judge never mentioned the bassline the entire year.

Oh, and she set the district record in the shot-put and was just as likely to kick a person's a$$ as anyone I've ever marched with.

for real!

i played a 24 in a college band for a couple weeks. not too bad. actually felt kinda good :]

it is aesthetically pleasing when a bass line is set in height order, but i don't necessarily think that height or size should be the defining factor at all.

I think the best bass drummer was cadets #1 bass from 2007 and before, (I dont know when she joined cadets) but her chops were godly.

I don't really see girls on the bottom basses though, When I see a girl on the bass line they seem to be on top bass. Glassmen and Bluedevils both had a female top bass in 2008. I know I've seen more, sadly I can't remember right now.

I marched a set of big-block Dynasty quints my senior year at 5'4" and 150lbs. I marched a 22" bass this year in college and while not as bad as the tenors, it was a bit of an adventure not being able to see over it.