Mitch f

There's something special about the way a largemouth takes a topwater bait, especially a stop and go bait after it has paused for a moment. I like to describe it as a giant sucking sound combined with someone dropping a baseball in the water from 50 feet high.

My business has been crazy lately but I would like to come down sometime and we could wet the line

Zipstick, That Ever Start hat your werin sho do look familier! Great Fish!!!

Smalliebigs, You're not part of that group playing bluegrass at the confluence of the Meramec and Big river are you? I was fishing for Mr big the other day and heard beautiful music coming up from the area just up stream of the Meramec on the Big river.

just at a glance it seems like it would be hard to hook up a fish with that big diameter of plastic, but I haven't tried it yet so I can't say. I do think it's a great idea though, maybe the Japanese will perfect it.

I'll say 21" Nice fish Nick! I'm not going to guess the weight because I know you don't carry a scale

All the guys are the same basic age, and they all are from Tennessee. I'm glad they got caught

It was in the trophy area, downstream of riddle bridge access about a mile

Smalliebigs, I'm curious how big that smallie is in your photo, it looks huge!

It was 30 seconds or so before we even saw the fish, we didn't have a net and so we let him fight for another 90 seconds. Caught on a brown 4" chomper

Eric, Unfortunately, I was the one taking the picture! I took my friend to my favorite hole and gave him first cast to a log jam. ...................I'll never do that again! ha ha

I know how this story is going to end, neither one of us can prove it, you'll get pissed at me and nothing will happen. I'm not trying to discredit anyone, especially Joe Troutt, whom I know and like. People just aren't very accurate when it comes to measuring or weighing their fish. I've seen 19" fish turn into 22" the next day. I've attached a 2 pics of 21.5" smallmouth, the first one out of the Gasconade that weighed within 2 ounces of 5 lbs., the second one weighed 5 lbs 3 oz. out of the Detroit river. I think it's Newtons 5th law that states holding a fish closer to the camera will not increase the size. It is a hell of a fish but there is a better chance of Mike Tyson being elected the next Pope than that fish weighing 6 pounds.

That fish on Troutt and sons website is not 6 lbs or 24"

Biggie, I know the spot you are referring to. That spot is known for big smallies and I too have fished the hell out of it. As far as huge smallies are concerned, I agree with Al. Table Rock has so many great tournament anglers pounding it that a big fish would have been caught by now. Pickwick and the other lakes in the Tennesse river system produce several 8 pound fish per year. As far as rivers in the Ozarks go, I can see a 6 pounder or maybe a 7, but highly doubtful an 8. It's possible but doubtful. I've never heard of anyone in Missouri stream catch one bigger than 24". I lot of stories, no actual documentation.

you crack me up man! I love it

There would be many more quality fish if it weren't for the illegal giggers.90% of the giggers are good, it's that 10% that can kill a stream.

I don't think you guys realize the magnitude of the illegal gigging problem. I know of first hand accounts of guys gigging 100 bass in one night. Some of them got busted, some didn't. These are the ones that got caught, Imagine how many don't get caught. I don't need to tell you what that can do to one stretch of river.

My post says" "Briefly, our results were not specific to reservoirs or rivers, they were obtained from reviewing tagging studies and creel survey data nationwide (included lakes, reservoirs, and rivers). It doesn't exclude or include any state or river. And I don't understand how a statewide change from 12" to 15" and reducing the creel form 6 to 3 doesn't help everybody in the state, not just the eastern smallie streams.

If you enjoy catching those giant 12" smallies keep on doing the same thing and it will never change. Statewide regs help everyone

Chief, I don't think anyone was led to believe the smallies were all but extinct. Zipstick knows how to catch big fish in the river and probably will catch fish when no one else can. I've been fishing up north several times and can attest to the fact that Missouri is in no way close to states like Wisconsin or Michigan in terms of quality smallmouth fishing. It is normal to catch 5-10 fish 18" or bigger every time you go out. We need tighter statewide regulations so we can make Missouri a better smallmouth fishery.

I emailed Michael Allen who was part of the group form Florida that performed a study on whether fishing during the spawn has impacted the fish population. He replied as follows: "Briefly, our results were not specific to reservoirs or rivers, they were obtained from reviewing tagging studies and creel survey data nationwide (included lakes, reservoirs, and rivers). We evaluate the proportion of the total fishing effort that occurred during spawning, and used tagging studies to evaluate what proportion of bass are caught during spawning. We put all this information into a computer model. The results indicated that in most cases spawning season closures would not improve the number of bass in lakes. However, in cases where fishing pressure is very high there could be impacts. That's the short take home message, hope this helps".

Everybody has their own version of what should and shouldn't be done to keep the bass population growing. Some say don't fish during the spawn, some say use barbless hooks, some say don't use live bait because it will deep hook a fish. There have been many studies showing that fishing during the spawn on bedding fish does nothing negative to the fish population. Check out this one. http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_171904.asp As long as you properly release the spawning bass I don't see a problem with it. The bigger problem is illegal gigging of bass, and the lack of a better statewide creel limit. The creel limit issue is being worked on right now by the SMA Blue ribbon panel.

zipstick, I will give the devil his due, I never fished an 1/8th or 1/16th oz jig until I fished with you. I did realize early on that the Eakins boys were on to something! I started fishing their jig 5 years ago and never looked back

Chief, I've noticed quite a few smallmouth on the Gasconade river in the special management area that had very a pronounced lower jaw, making them look deformed. I actually thought twice about removing them from the gene pool, but I released them anyway. I've also noticed Smallmouth with very large tails compared to their body on the same stretch of river. I believe every river has some degree of quirkiness of species. The question is; should we remove them from the river?

Was wondering what is your preferred method for tuning crank baits to make them run deeper and have better action at slow speeds?