Record

[Gavin]

A 25" smallie would probably be a contender for the state record...World record was reported to be 27" long with a Girth of 21.66 from Dale hollow...Second biggest on record was reported to be 26.25" long with a girth of 21.5"....and allot of state record fish run in the 22-23" range....You just dont see many reports of smallmouth bass over the 24" mark.

[Wayne SW/MO]

River fish have always been leaner and meaner. I suppose it's the environment and the physical strain. It's not confined to smallies, trout exhibit the same tendencies.

[Mitch f]

A 25" smallie would probably be a contender for the state record...World record was reported to be 27" long with a Girth of 21.66 from Dale hollow...Second biggest on record was reported to be 26.25" long with a girth of 21.5"....and allot of state record fish run in the 22-23" range....You just dont see many reports of smallmouth bass over the 24" mark.

Yep, you're right Gavin, 25" would be close to a state record. I'm usually pretty skeptical of any Smallie over 23" in Missouri, but I think I actually saw one last year. Stood right next to Joe Thomas from the Outdoor Channel as he held a 24" Smallie from the Detroit river as it was being weighed in at 7.09 lbs in 2003, biggest Smallie I've ever seen.

[Al Agnew]

Yep, Mitch, it was Rick Bruder. As I remember, he had photos of that one, and it did have an exceptionally big, long tail. He also had pictures of another one he'd caught years ago that was really heavy...I don't remember for sure but I think it was around six pounds.

I once went to Algonquin National Park up in central Ontario, and fished a lake up there one day. I caught an 18.5 inch smallie, VERY fat, probably weighed at least 3.5 pounds, maybe even close to 4 pounds it was so fat. When I got back to the place that had rented us the canoes, I told them about that fish, and I don't think they believed me (and this was before digital cameras so I couldn't show them the pictures). They said the park record was only 3 pounds 14 ounces!

Lake fish very often weigh considerably more than river fish, but unless the fish was actually weighed, and I believe the angler telling it, I always take weights of smallies with a large grain of salt. I've seen a lot of fish, and pictures of fish, that the angler said weighed four pounds or five pounds, that I KNOW didn't weigh over three pounds. In Ozark streams, a VERY healthy 20 inch fish will weigh four pounds, most 20 inchers don't. In a lot of lakes, a 20 incher might weigh 4.5, possibly 5 pounds, seldom any more than that. As I remember, one of the five pounders I caught was 21.5 inches, the other was 22 inches. I think I've seen maybe two or three smallies in Ozark streams that would have weighed significantly more than five pounds...

It's been several years now, so I'm sure the biggest one I ever saw is dead by now, so I'll even tell the stream where I saw it. It was on Huzzah Creek, and I got a very good look at it in very clear water, and I'd already caught a 20 incher that day that I could compare this fish to in my memory. I'm certain it was at least 24 inches, maybe 25. The second biggest one I ever saw was on the Meramec below Blue Springs Creek many, many years ago. It came out from under a log to follow around a big largemouth that my partner had hooked, and I cast to it with a spinnerbait and it hit the bait but I was so excited I tried to set the hooks before the fish actually got the bait. It was only about ten feet away and in shallow, fairly clear water, and I'm fairly certain it was close to 24 inches and very thick.

[Dan Kreher]

They get big in Maine, I've seen Lake smallies around 5 lbs caught pretty routinely, I personally stuck a 3 + lbr on the Kennebec river on the 6w fly rod. I'm not much of a fisherman either.

I've taken 20 SMB trips to Canada since the late 1980s doing both wilderness canoe trips to Quetico as well as fly-in outpost cabin trips to areas north of there. Avg. SMB size in Quetico is about 15-16 inches with fish going about 2 lbs (thick lake fish). Better ones are 17-18 inches and you can catch lots of those on a good day. Fish of 19 inches are relatively common but a 20-incher is still considered a really nice fish up there. Biggest I've caught is probably 21 or so. Fish in the outpost cabins might average a little smaller but that depends on the particular lake. A 5-pound smallmouth is a real good fish anywhere and not too common in most regions. Perhaps with the long growing season and huge forage base of shad at Pickwick, 5 pounders are caugtht every day - but 5 lbs in most other areas is a really old fish.

As verified by the MDC - MO stream smallmouth bass generally take about 10 years to reach 18 inches in length and a 20 incher might be as old as 15 years here. Up North in Canada and Boundary Waters, fish grow even more slowly with verified reports from fisheries biologists of 20+inch SMB being 16-18 years old. That is why, even in these wilderness fisheries, anglers much practice C&R on these larger fish. The days of guys going to Canada to take home stringers of bass, walleyes, etc. are essentially over. Not because the fish are no longer there -- they are. But, because Ontario and other provincial fisheries managers have placed very restrictive length and creel limits on all the desirable sportfish species. They protect SMB during the spawn only allowing 2 fish UNDER 14 inches to be kept prior to June 30th. On walleyes, the fish that many used to head to Canada to fill their freezers, anglers can only keep 4 fish per day (and possession) in NW Ontario and only one of them can be LARGER than 18 inches. Northern Pike are managed with a restrictive slot; Lake Trout are protected seasonally.

Tourism dollars from US anglers represent the lifeblood of many rural Canadian areas. Anglers want to catch lots of big fish for their enjoyment and are willing to release the vast majority of them in exchange for that priviledge. Good to see that far-sighted managers are ensuring that quality fishing will continue by preventing unsustainable harvest. I'd like to see our MDC guys adopt a similar stance with regards to quality fishing -- particularly in our easily depleted streams. We'll keep pushing for that day.

Sorry to get all preachy on this topic, but it simply pisses me off that our stream smallmouth fisheries continue to be primarily managed for the benefit of consumptive anglers while populations of our larger adult SMB are getting raped by unscrupulous giggers in certain areas. But that's another topic already.

[burninworm]

I've taken 20 SMB trips to Canada since the late 1980s doing both wilderness canoe trips to Quetico as well as fly-in outpost cabin trips to areas north of there. Avg. SMB size in Quetico is about 15-16 inches with fish going about 2 lbs (thick lake fish). Better ones are 17-18 inches and you can catch lots of those on a good day. Fish of 19 inches are relatively common but a 20-incher is still considered a really nice fish up there. Biggest I've caught is probably 21 or so. Fish in the outpost cabins might average a little smaller but that depends on the particular lake. A 5-pound smallmouth is a real good fish anywhere and not too common in most regions. Perhaps with the long growing season and huge forage base of shad at Pickwick, 5 pounders are caugtht every day - but 5 lbs in most other areas is a really old fish.

As verified by the MDC - MO stream smallmouth bass generally take about 10 years to reach 18 inches in length and a 20 incher might be as old as 15 years here. Up North in Canada and Boundary Waters, fish grow even more slowly with verified reports from fisheries biologists of 20+inch SMB being 16-18 years old. That is why, even in these wilderness fisheries, anglers much practice C&R on these larger fish. The days of guys going to Canada to take home stringers of bass, walleyes, etc. are essentially over. Not because the fish are no longer there -- they are. But, because Ontario and other provincial fisheries managers have placed very restrictive length and creel limits on all the desirable sportfish species. They protect SMB during the spawn only allowing 2 fish UNDER 14 inches to be kept prior to June 30th. On walleyes, the fish that many used to head to Canada to fill their freezers, anglers can only keep 4 fish per day (and possession) in NW Ontario and only one of them can be LARGER than 18 inches. Northern Pike are managed with a restrictive slot; Lake Trout are protected seasonally.

Tourism dollars from US anglers represent the lifeblood of many rural Canadian areas. Anglers want to catch lots of big fish for their enjoyment and are willing to release the vast majority of them in exchange for that priviledge. Good to see that far-sighted managers are ensuring that quality fishing will continue by preventing unsustainable harvest. I'd like to see our MDC guys adopt a similar stance with regards to quality fishing -- particularly in our easily depleted streams. We'll keep pushing for that day.

Sorry to get all preachy on this topic, but it simply pisses me off that our stream smallmouth fisheries continue to be primarily managed for the benefit of consumptive anglers while populations of our larger adult SMB are getting raped by unscrupulous giggers in certain areas. But that's another topic already.

Preach on Brother!

I feel your pain - I haven't kept any fish in years and I've never kept any freshwater fish period. It seems like they don't care much about smallmouth here in Missouri. I forgot what the regulations were in Maine as far as Smallmouth, but I think they were pretty strict. Missouri does feel like a giant put and take sometimes....

[exiledguide]

I Fished Dale Hollow twice. I agree with Ron. If you fish Smallmouth you need to fish Dale Hollow If you don't you are cheating yourself. Along with NW Ontario the restrictive limits have improved the average size of smallmouth. But I believe Table Rock just might be about to become one of the top smallmouth lakes. The drawback of fishing Table Rock is too many boats and thats the draw of Ontario a lot less boats and cleaner water.

[StevePMo]

My heaviest smallie came from Quetico Park in Ontario Canada in June of '83

My longest came from the upper Meramec sometime in the 90s ( can't remember exactly when ) caught in July on a weightless Culprit 6" worm. i was surprised how chubby it was for that time of year...

i'm much more proud of my Ozark smallie, took a few photos, and slipped her back into the river...

[Mitch f]

Nice fish Steve!

[405z06]

I've never been to Canada (to fish) but in 2009 I spend 3 days in April fishing the Susquehanna at Harrisburg, Pa. I am not exagerating when I say that that I caught more smallmouth over 15" in those 3 days that I have on Missouri rivers/streams in the last 5 years combined, in just a tiny micro-fraction of time, comparably speaking.

The biggest fish of the whole trip (and biggest smallie of my life) was the first fish caught on the first morning. My dad was using my digital camera for the first time and didn't quite know what he was doing and the pictures didnt come out, but here are a couple of pics from other fish on that trip.