Why Doesn't The Ozark Have Smallies As Big As Elsewhere?

[cwc87]

Ok, I have caught some huge smallies from this spot also. But nothing over the 5.5 range. Only way I will ever see or catch a 7lb plus smallie from a river in Missouri these things need to change: Water retention, too much water runs off after each rain and no structure in the rivers to slow it up Stabilized banks, boulders, logs. More of this stuff will narrow the stream beds down, scour out holes, create better structure for fish to hide in so it is harder for the fisherman to catch them. And, regulations 3 fish 15 inches statewide may work. I have witnessed on the John Day in oregon(the river AL mentioned) that their were so many 1-2 inch smallmouth from excellent habitat(boulders) that smallmouth were in fact eating one another. I.E. they were burping them up as I was unhooking them. Laslty, along the banks I could see hundreds of fingerling smallmouth (a image that was the most impressing memory of the entire week fishing trip). Been busy at work and been away for awhile It is the best time of year to fish.

[taxidermist]

Tournaments I feel have a lot to do with fish size Yo much stress on the fish, I have not seen near as many 5 lb spotted bass, not hardly any honest 5lb smallies in the past ten years as I saw back in the late 1970 through 1988. dont know if the virus wiped out the larger strains in the lakes but the size of largemouth has fallen too.

[Gavin]

Were is this huge smallie honey hole? LOL....

I figure that a 6lbs river smallie would have to be close to 24" long. Possible, but I find that 18" (3lb) fish are uncommon, 20" (4lb) fish are rare, and I've never caught one that I'd say was a 5lb fish (22") in Missouri. Cheers.

[Smalliebigs]

Gavin, the spot I am talikng about where my brother was shocking fish for the MDC is at the confluence of the Big and the Meramec.There is I said it, I told myself I wouldn't but I did.I'm not sure if that is where the other guys are talking about.I have several pics of Smallies in the 20 to 22 range I just can't post them on here because they are to big of a file.If someone can show me how to condence these images down so this site will allow me to post them I will.Most of the 20's I have caught weighed in the 4 pound range, they are out there you just really need to know the area you are fishing and be lucky.I am lucky I get to fish 3 to 4 days a week, so you get to know sections of the river you are fishing pretty well.Back to the huge smallie that was allegedly shocked up by my brother, the water depths in this area are great it's just in the summer the water temps get extremely high for smallies so you wouldn't think of it beeing a huge smallie producing area.The water clarity is also bad with a lot dung comming down the river but they are there, I have caught several trophies in this area.Now I expect fully to see a ton OAF fisherman there, oh well I get a kick out of seeing other people catch smallies as much as catching them.

[eric1978]

No stretch of the Bourbeuse, Big or Meramec is any secret, so I wouldn't worry about your spot being taken over now that you spilled the beans. Besides, any similar stretch of river 20 miles upstream from that spot will produce the same kind of fish. It's not like they're locked up in one pool right there at the confluence.

As far as the state record-sized fish you mention...I'll believe it when I see it. I don't doubt there are some big fish in the Meramec, and it's certainly possible that a state record could come out of there, but I haven't seen any that big personally or in pictures. I'm with Gavin on his ranking of 18"+ fish...that's pretty much how I see it, too.

I use imageshack to resize my images and post them here. It's free.

http://imageshack.us/

[Gavin]

No worries.......The location of where it was 2 summers ago doesnt mean much. Hope you catch it if its still there...sounds like you have the time to do it. I'd love to have 3-4 days a month to fish....but 3-4 day a week...I envy you!

[Al Agnew]

I love talking about big river smallies...

Genetics surely plays a large part in limiting the top end size of Ozark river smallmouth, but in reality our smallies aren't THAT much smaller than those in most rivers. No matter where you fish, a 20 inch stream smallmouth is a big fish. The New River in Virginia is probably known as producing some of the biggest river smallmouth in the eastern U.S., and the record from it is 8 pounds 2 ounces. And unless you're talking about a big river system with large impoundments like the Tennessee River, there are few streams across the country where legitimate 6 pound river fish are common.

In trying to come up with ways to improve the fishing for big fish on Ozark streams, the Smallmouth Alliance is shooting more for increasing the numbers of fish over 18 inches, not trying to increase the top end size of the fish.

Smalliebigs, I don't doubt that there are a few fish in Ozark streams that are capable of reaching that 7 pound mark--if caught at the right time. But the chances of catching one, given the very limited number of them and probably the small window of time (pre-spawn and/or when they've been eating very well for a long time) is very, very low. I've seen two fish in all the years I've been on Ozark streams that could have been that big. Both were at least 24 inches. And I'd be willing to bet that in any given year, the number of legitimate 6 pound Ozark stream smallies caught can be counted on the fingers of one hand. And that's with a lot of fishing pressure on relatively small streams where the fish really have few places to avoid the pressure. The biggest, by weight, stream smallmouth I've ever seen weighed 5.25 pounds. I've caught two that were right at five pounds, give or take a couple of ounces (they weren't weighed on certified scales but I checked the De-liars I used to weigh them and the scales were pretty accurate). I agree with you on it taking a 20 inch fish to weigh four pounds.

Again, it's all a matter of timing and condition how much the fish weighs, anyway, which is why I prefer to go by length. My biggest by length was a bit over 22 inches. But any fish that makes 20 inches is a very big fish. I figured up one time that I averaged one that size for about every 10-15 days spent fishing Ozark streams over a 15 year period, though it varied from year to year. Since I seem to average about one day per week of fishing the streams during the summer the last few years, and less than that during the other seasons of the year, that doesn't allow for me to catch many that size. I envy you the ability to fish three or four days a week!

[Smalliebigs]

eric1978, thanks for the advice on imagestick I am in the process of condencing a ton of images soon to be posted on OAF and I didn't catch one of them off a bed as far as I know.I'm not trying to brag about the amout of river time it's just if the employees can handle the work load the boss is going to play!!!For anyone questioning me about a 6 plus from the Gasconade go to Troutt&Sons website and go to images and you will find the dad has three images of a smallie that is 24 inches long.I talked with him about it and he said it weighed 6+, he also caught another smallie from the same log pile that was 22 inches two cast later.Now thats a nice day on the river. Al I wasn't trying to give you trouble, I truly think you are the real GURU and look forward to every post you do on here.Also anyone coming on to my property on the Meramec in the Smallie trophy area will be in harms way, I hate to be so harsh but I had two canoes and a kayak stolen and I am fed up.I am going to shoot first and bury you later.The lack of repect in this country is out of control we have morons raising morons.I wish there was a little more survival of the fittest going with our society today.I do appologize it's just I saw three different boats this weekend with smallies on stringers, none of which were bigger than 12 inches...it truly pisses me off!!! not to mention they were in a trophy area.

[Greg]

Eight or nine years ago while floating the gasconade with my family I caught a smallmouth that was right at 21". I knew it was a big fish. I didn't realize it was that unusual though.

Interesting discussion.

Greg

[KCRIVERRAT]

The world record smallmouth was caught in Dale Hollow Reservoir, Kentucky just a hop, skip and a jump from the Ozarks. They are consistantly catching huge smallies over there.

What makes that lake any different from lakes like Bull Shoals, Norfork, Table Rock or any other Ozark reservoir?

Are there humungous sized smallies swimming in Ozark lakes as they are in Dale Hollow? I think they are and nobody has figured them out like they have over on Dale Hollow. There very well could be a 10 pound smallie swimming in any one of the Ozark lakes that just hasn't been caught yet.

Maybe Ozark bass are just smarter than Bluegrass bass.

Dale Hollow is in Tennessee. But close enough to Kentucky. Had to cancel a trip in 2004 because of health issues. Lookin' forward to a trip there...