Som'ere On The Meramec

[Al Agnew]

Well over four pounds, maybe five pounds, no way six pounds. I've caught two five pounders from Ozark streams that I actually weighed, and though they weren't weighed on certified scales the scales were accurate to within a couple of ounces. The first one was about the same body shape as your fish and was 21.5 inches. The other was leaner, and 22 inches.

And Mitch was posting at the same time...he's right. 21+ inches is the key figure. Not many Ozark smallies make it to 21 inches, and a lot of avid river anglers (myself included) will go for many years without catching a 21 incher.

Edited again to add...there probably haven't been more than a small handful of true six pound river smallies caught in the Ozarks in the last 50 years. I know of one, though I only saw the pictures, and I've been fishing Ozark streams for 50 years.

[hank franklin]

Don't get me wrong, I could care less about the weight, just wonderin. It makes for good fish talk. I really didn't think it was much over 5 lbs, if that. However the talk of some others got me thinking that it was possible, possible, to get into that vaunted 6 lb category. I have an old catfish scale that wasn't in my box that day; it is now! For now I am calling him 5 lbs., if nothing else to measure up to the Robert Earl Keen song.

I have caught a 20-incher before and when I first got this one to the bank I really didn't think it would be 20. My 20 was a bit fatter, caught earlier in the year if that makes any difference. However this guy measured right at 21 and if anything maybe a touch more, 21-1/4 from true tip of nose to tip of tail pushed together. I was surprised and really shaking frankly when I saw that measurement. For me a 20-incher is the holy grail, a 21 is just beyond. Yes I was lucky.

Three important decisions helped make the catch:

1. I went fishing. Well, duh. But as we all know, sometimes easier said than done.

2. I respooled my line. In the rush of things it would have been easier to say, aw, heck with it. But I knew I was getting close to the bottom and the way this thing ran it might have run me out of line and snapped me.

3. I pulled the canoe over to fish this spot on foot. I felt the vibe. Rather than float on through I beached and made a few throws. Ka-boom!

[Al Agnew]

Sometimes you do everything right, and you don't even have to think about it much. It's like being in the zone. When you just know, without knowing how you know, that there is a big fish in a certain spot, and you make the perfect cast with the right lure, one you may have chosen for no apparent reason but that it felt right, and you catch the fish.

Of course, other times you catch big fish and it surpises the heck out of you.

And still other times you miss the fish, you lose it somehow, or you never figure anything out the whole day.

But the zone's a beautiful thing when you're in it.

[Mitch f]

Went out with Zipstick last month and we pulled up to a spot and I told him someone was going to catch a big fish here. He blew it off and 3 casts later he caught a 21" largemouth. It's weird, I hardly ever make a prediction like that.

[hank franklin]

There was a big fish vibe going on all day. Right off the bat I had a fat spotted bass jump and spit me. Then not long after I dropped the fluke just under a log in a brush-choked channel. Boom! Something hit hard and in an instant snapped me. This was a what the...? moment. I had fresh line, a tight knot, and I got snapped, and hard! Da-yam!

So I got into some quiet water and hurriedly re-tied. Immediately after we were flowing through the chute where I caught my biggun, and just below I had another hard hit and a fightin 13 or so on. That's when I told my boy, we're getting out! We came up the eddy and beached it. Moments later I had the biggest fish I ever caught. Biggest smallmouth that is.....

The fish that snapped me earlier, in my gut I think it was a catfish. It was so strong and such a hard turn downward and snap!, felt like a catfish. It might've been a big honkin smallie; if it was it was fearsome. I didn't feel that strength in the one I actually landed. Whatever it was that broke me was not messing around!

[Smalliebigs]

What a beast Hank!!!! awsome!!!! it's good to know there are a few that make it past the giggers every year.