my biggest smallmouth

  • tennispro
    Sterling, IL
    Posts: 375
    April 27, 2007 at 9:50 pm #1320618

    I caught this smallmouth last year. It was the biggest one I have ever caught. This fish was 20″ but skinny as a rail. It weighed in at 4.5 pounds. I had a guy that I work with do the mount. This was the 2nd smallmouth he has ever done.

    I normaly don’t keep bass, but a 20″ smallmouth in Illinois is huge.

    Jeremy

    justin_panno
    La Crosse, WI
    Posts: 172
    April 27, 2007 at 10:16 pm #565703

    that is pretty good for his 2nd smallie mount ever, and nice fish , too bad it isn’t chunky

    tom_gursky
    Michigan's Upper Peninsula(Iron Mountain)
    Posts: 4751
    April 27, 2007 at 11:42 pm #565708

    Quote:

    I normaly don’t keep bass, but a 20″ smallmouth in Illinois is huge.

    A 20″er is a great fish ANYWHERE!! In the northern latitudes a 20″ fish is definitely rare and probably well over 10 years old. Certain places (like the Mississippi) with phenomenal forage bases can do it faster but even there a 20″ Smallie is like a 30″ Walleye…maybe even tougher.
    My best was 21.25″ and 7 lbs…way back in 1969…my Dad caught a 22″ 8 lber back in the 1950s on a hair bug/fly… rod! This one was just a tad under 21″ and I guessed it at over 6 lbs… I CPRed this girl 3 years ago…

    rod-man
    Pine City, MN.
    Posts: 1279
    April 28, 2007 at 12:17 am #565713

    the two in my avator are 21″ 5.28 & 19.75″ 4.93
    both cought last July
    nice fish there a BLAST on light tackle

    catmando
    wis
    Posts: 1811
    April 28, 2007 at 1:16 am #565729

    Dang nice Bass and a real good mount.

    davebmork
    Hayfield Mn
    Posts: 108
    April 28, 2007 at 1:26 am #565735

    I caught a 21.5 incher last oct on a 10 inch Believer muskie lure. It was a tank of a fish. Never weighed it just released it to swim again. The thing jumped 3 or 4 times. I seem to catch a big one like that about once a year while miskie fishing.

    jldii
    Posts: 2294
    April 28, 2007 at 12:27 pm #565790

    Here is a friend of mine with a 22.5″er he caught during a walleye tournament on Mille Lacs.

    amfyoyo1
    Iowa
    Posts: 156
    May 8, 2007 at 3:02 pm #569055

    Thought you might want to show off your nice bass with an better picture. If you like it, save it to your file as I will be deleting the link within a week. Enjoy

    tennispro
    Sterling, IL
    Posts: 375
    May 9, 2007 at 3:11 pm #569556

    The really impressive part about this fish was it came from a river that is only 20 yards wide at most points. The year before I got this one I caught one that was 19 1/4″ and only weighed 3 pounds.

    I don’t know what it is about this river that the fish stay so skinny. It is an amazing smallmouth fishery though. It is nothing to wade this river with another person and land up to 100 fish a day but normaly the biggest fish will be only 14″ and most of them around 9″. but on light rods and topwater baits its a blast.

    Jeremy

    crinkle cut
    Posts: 35
    May 12, 2007 at 4:59 am #570595

    A few springs back, up here by Park Rapids, my dad caught a 21.25″ smallie, it literally pulled the boat around for about 10 minutes. While we were all high fiving over this unbelievable fish, I had casted back up to the same spot and got a bite. I set the hook and couldn’t ever quite get a feel for what was on the line, I was using a 7″ Motor Oil power worm, so I figured a largemouth hung up in some cabbage, but when she got up to the surface it was a 30″ walleye!! To this day, we’ve never caught another walleye on that lake, but that was one hell of a 5 minute span of fishing. That’s why we keep going I suppose…

    amfyoyo1
    Iowa
    Posts: 156
    May 12, 2007 at 5:33 am #570599

    I’ve got a 25″ smallie on the wall….it didn’t pull me around for that long but it did make my knees shake.

    dylan_w.
    La Crosse, WI
    Posts: 399
    May 12, 2007 at 7:24 pm #570651

    caught a 21 1/2″ 6.5lbs smallie on the 9th of this month

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