I know, any fish is a trophy in the right person’s hand. I’m asking what you consider to be a trophy smallie for the pond. My standards for a walleye are 30 inches or 10lbs. What length or weight do you consider a “wall hanger”?? 
PS, this is informational only. I’ll likely never get a skin mounted fish again with today’s replicas. Even if I don’t have a camera along that day.
24 inches at least. If you catch one that big Release it. Fish are like people. Not every fish can grow to the trophy size, just like not every human grows to Shaq size. Let them all go folks.
Triton
Waterfowler, I’m probably the farthest thing from a Smallie Guru, (although I will be making my annual smallie trip this weekend to Pelican in Orr), but I think 24″ is anawful large, ok HUGE Smallie! I think I heard that Steve D’s largest is 22 and 3/4″ I know he fishes them a ton. I also believe he thought that fish was close to 7lbs. I would figure anything over 6 lbs or perhaps 22″ would be a Wall Hanger, but like I said I’m the farthest from a Smallie GURU!
I can’t believe I just posted in the Bass section! Please don’t tell anyone that I was even in this forum…. 
I wouldn’t throw back a 24″ smallie without getting it weighed on a certified scale and then filling out the paper work to submit it for the state record. If the fish survives the whole process I’d still put it on my wall.
But of course one man’s trophy may not compare to another man’s.
To me, any over 21″ would be considered a trophy fish.
In Minnesota, I’d say anthing over 6 lbs is trophy material. State record here is 8 pounds even. That record will go down to a Mille Lacs Smallie. Maybe this year.
18 to 20 inch fish are big, but not unusual. 22 inches is an exceptional fish. My personal best was 21.5 caught near Orr (I won’t say where ) and I haven’t come close to that since. A 24 inch fish has to be close to the State record. I don’t know what I’d do with a fish like that. I doubt I’ll ever have to face that decision but I think if you wanted to get credit for catching a state record you have to submit the fish to the DNR, which means you have to kill it.
I put a twenty one incher on my wall. At the time it was the biggest smallie I had ever seen by a couple inches. Since then, I have caught more than a dozen that were bigger. Now my trophy is a reminder that I killed a beautiful fish. I would only put one on the wall if it broke the state record.
In my book I say a 20″ smallie is a rare treat in my neck of the woods.I’ve caught them my whole life and still have not hit that mark.I’ve been close and my oldest boy has hit a 20″ fish.
A 24″ smallie would have to be damn close to our state record.
Ryan Hale
Just depends on the time of year and the condition of the fish. The state record Largemouth was 22 inches plus but not 23. I put a 24 incher in the boat a few weeks ago and it was 7lbs 5oz. The fish was not fat, just solid. I have a couple of smallies in the 22’s and they haven’t even hit 7lbs. I wouldn’t care about the record, let the fish go.
I was on Mille Lacs last week and the number of 18-20inch fish you catch there is amazing. I talked with a guide there and he said that his crew has put two smallies in the boat over 8lbs. They catch them walleye fishing in the spring. Both fish were caught before the bass season was open so back in the water they go.
I’d have to say that for smallies from MN and WI that 22″ and 6 pounds would be a trophy. I have caught and released two 10 pound Largemouth in CA, they were huge and true trophies for me, but they are not trophys for that area of CA. it is all relative for conditions and area. Jack … 
I’d have to agree with Ryan, I would consider anything over 20 Inches to be a trophy Smallmouth. I wish I would stop hearing how great fishing is on Mille Lacs, every rock pile on the south end gets pounded every weekend and the fishing isn’t near as good as it was 2 years ago. It will be interesting to see how many of these so called “easy” 20-22 inch fish are caught during the In-Depth Angling Get together.
Who said the 20″ – 22″ fish were easy? I want to talk to that guy?! 
My experiences up there have been loads of 18″ – 19.5″ fish and once you start counting the over 20″s they thin right out. We usually catch a couple true pigs in the 20″ – 21″ during a full day of fishing and I personally have never caught a 22″ smallie on mille lacs.
And about the fishing 2 years ago… 2 years ago you could catch 60 walleye before lunch and another 30 smallies before dark due to lack of forage. Personally I hope we NEVER see that again as the fish looked like poo and it skewed some people’s perceptions of what to expect from that fishery.
James-Your 100% right comparing walleye fishing now to 2 yrs ago, however the bass from 2 yrs ago didn’t appear thin like the walleyes were. When I went diving 2 yrs ago I saw roughly the same amount of crayfish in the rocks as I do this year. I don’t believe the smallies cycle with the perch and baitfish populations as dramatically as walleye. What has increased greatly is the fishing pressure on them,when I look out my front window at Wahkon Bay I see 4 times more people bass fishing now than then and I believe that’s a big part of what makes the fishing toughter.
There’s no doubt that intense fishing pressure in an area will impact the fishing in that area. I don’t have the experience with the smallie fishing up there that you obviously do but my impressions of the smallies on Mille Lacs has always been that they run big – huge and are much more aggressive than fish I’m used to dealing with here on the river. If it was better 2 years ago than it is now then I must say I’m simply amazed. 
B.A.S.S. will put your pic in the Lunker Page if you’re smallie reaches 6lbs. However, in this region, In-Fisherman’s “Master Angler” award considers anything over 5lbs a trophy. If it’s a deep bellied fish like the ones I’ve seen on Mille Lacs, 5lbs isn’t so difficult. But, like James pointed out, getting a 5lb. smallie on the ‘sippi is not only hard, it’s pretty darn rare. I have a Croix smallie from 2001(?) that crossed 5lbs. at 20.5″. It’s still my biggest to date but I haven’t seen any bigger than that since. Getting one over 20″ on the river is not too common. For most fisheries in this part of the world, a 5lber is actually pretty rare and I agree that it should be considered a trophy size.
How about a fish this size?
Hopefully we will see more of these this weekend.
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