Tagged Mille Lacs Smallmouth

My sister caught a 20 3/8″ smallmouth on Mille Lacs that was tagged.

It was originally caught by electro-fishing on May 31, 2017 and was 15.9″ long.
It was next caught by a boat angler on May 30, 2018 and was 17.3 inches long.
My sister caught it on October 8, 2023 and it was 20.3 inches long.

All catches were in the NW section of the lake.
Does anyone know how long smallmouth live in Mille Lacs? I’m guessing the fish may have been about 4 years old when caught by the DNR in 2017 which would now make it about 10 years old.

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1. Debs-Tagged-Smallmouth-2023_10_08.pdf

No clue to your question but cool catch and that things a toad!!

Great catch!

I haven’t seen studies done on Mille Lacs specifically, but in Ontario, fisheries scientist have found that smallmouth bass can live for 20-22 years. That finding may or may not translate to Mille Lacs.

While not a smallmouth, a buddy caught a 51 1/2 inch musky in the back of my boat years ago – about a 15 year old fish. That fish had very unique markings. She was caught again 7 years later by a local guide very close to where we caught her. Her unique markings were unmistakable. Fish live a lot longer than folks realize!

I caught a tagged largemouth on Mule Lake in Cass County a few years ago. Contacted the DNR and they said it had been caught a couple times before and it was 19 years old! It was 19 1/4 inches long, about 4 pounds.

I spoke with a biologist at Mille Lacs back in 2016 during the Bassmaster Elite AOY event. He told me that bass (both largemouth and smallmouth) take approximately 10 years this far north to reach 20 inches/5 pounds.

I agree with the others. Probably 10-12 years old. Up north it would be much older to reach that size.

They’re definitely home bodies. They don’t migrate distances like the walleyes. I caught a tagged smallmouth a couple years ago near doe island that was tagged and had been caught and reported a couple other times all in the same section of the lake.
I caught a tagged walleye that year also that was tagged a week prior to me catching it. Crazy thing is that it was tagged on the west shoreline and I caught it on the east shoreline. That is quite the distance to cover in a week.

That’s awesome! No idea on Smallie’s but I know a few years back someone caught a tagged walleye on ML that was 25 years old!

A friend caught a 20-inch smallie on Rainy Lake many years ago. The resort owner said biologists were taking scale samples during the bass tournament and a 20-inch smallie was 20-years old. My friend was 18 at the time so he caught a fish that was older than he was.