size?

I get the impression that most of the posters on this forum are from the northern states.What would be considered a high quality L.M. or S.M. from northern Wisconsin?

They are all high quality IMO!

Anything over 20″ for both is huge in my book.

Most of the fish of the SM and LM variety have all been very healthy fish in Northern WI. For smallies high quality would probably be anything over 18 for me and largies over 20.

I’d say 3 pounds is sort of the benchmark for a quality fish. Anything over 5 is huge

4+lbs is a nice fish
5+ is a monster
6+ is rare but possible, less rare for smallies I would guess

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Anything over 20″ for both is huge in my book.

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X2!

In Indiana there is a forum that you can submit Hall of Fame (HOF) fish. These are generally possible but rare for the state. For LM the HOF is 22″ for SM it is 20″. I would say that “High Quality” is 20″ for LM and 18″ for SM. Although I will take 16″ Footballs of either species all day long.

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They are all high quality IMO!

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I agree with Kevin…
The question is relative to the anglers ability, time on the water, experience and what his PB fish have been. I have clients from little fishing opportunities that will mount a 16″ Bass happily. My best Smallie is 8.3 lbs and Largie is 7.3 lbs…but I am on the water bassin 100+ days and have been at it for over 60 years
Many lakes in the Northern Midwest have Smallies up to 6lbs+ and Large Mouth Bass over 7…because they are not usually sought for table fare and do get released to mature fully. I have provided scale samples from several 5 & 6 lb bass to biologists over the years and they usually are over 20 years old! Our colder seasons keep bacteria and disease reduced, although slowing the growth average.
Any bass over 3lbs is sweet and any over 5 lbs are trophies in my book…no matter where you are fishing.

I fish MN and Northern WI and try to target waters where the smallmouth are at least 17 inches with the chances of bigger ones. I would rather catch a lower number of “footballs” than 100 two pounders.

20 inches+ is my goal for smallies and I have caught a fair amount but only a handful that were truly 21 inches. My goal is a 6 pounder (22 inches or so) and with that I would have a carbon replica made that I can stare at on the wall during these long, cold winters

I have three 21.5″ smallies… can’t break that 22″ mark. But thats the goal. I’ve seen them and the lakes that I have fished have kicked out two legit 23″ fish in the last two years so they’re in there. My biggest largemouth I estimated at around 23″. Unfortunately I didn’t have a tape so i measured it on my rod and then measured the rod later… not exact I know. It was the biggest bass I’ve ever seen anyway. The lake I caught that fish out of was a catch and release lake that fish killed last winter… bummer. Anyways… I consider any bass over 20″ as a true trophy up here. As Tom said, they are old fish and in lakes that receive lots of pressure those fish have seen lots of presentations so to fool one is pretty satisfying. Kind of like a booner whitetail.

I live in Nebraska, so I dont know if I qualify as north, but if I get a LM around 7 lbs and 21 inches that is a good one. The few lakes I do get to fish with SM once I get to 17-18 inches and 4 lbs I am pretty damn happy. But, as someone said earlier ANY fish is a good one.

Thanks everyone, my thoughts were 20″ forl.m. and 18″ for s.m.

18″+ nice fish
20″+ pig

3#+ Nice fish
4#+ pig
5#+ starting to hit trophy size

I got a 21″ SMB in the Metro and a few other 21″ as well over the years.

Has anyone ever seen my report of skinny water smallies?

Skinny Water Smallies

Nice fish HJakob. I have fished the upper Mississippi in the fall and can relate to your “hog”.

I just came a across a blog post of mine from 2007, where I copied this from a post I did on another message board. I’m from MN.

Here’s how I score em.
18″ Nice Bass
19″ Big Bass
20″ Hawg
21″ Trophy Size
22″ Huge Fish
23″ Get it weighed possible State Record
24″ This could be the magic 10, definitely get it weighed.

PS I’m going with legitimate length: mouth closed tail pinched nose against measuring board. To hold a fish next to a ruler can be deceiving if one isn’t careful.