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[Mitch f]

Here’s mine 

[Ham]

You got pretty excited over the BIG crappie on Big Cypress and on the creature of the deep that got away

[Crooked Creek Angler]

My biggest was 21 1/2" on the lower Buffalo, but this picture was handier.  A solidly built 19 3/4" also from the lower Buffalo 2 years ago I think.  Early fall on a spinnerbait.  Put up a great fight.

Had another over 20" on the Buffalo and one on Crooked Creek as well.  But of course the ones that have gotten away were EVEN BIGGER! 😇

 

[moguy1973]

I guess I never posted mine up in this old thread.  21 1/2" out of a river not far from St Louis.  Weighed 4lbs 7oz.

[drew03cmc]

17 hours ago, moguy1973 said:

I guess I never posted mine up in this old thread.  21 1/2" out of a river not far from St Louis.  Weighed 4lbs 7oz.

Knowing where that was caught is still awesome. Nice fish!

[Gavin]

Caught my best under a Hwy bridge too, LOL. You could probably see my Travel Trailer in the storage lot across the bridge.

[Johnsfolly]

On 11/30/2020 at 10:51 PM, Crooked Creek Angler said:

But of course the ones that have gotten away were EVEN BIGGER! 😇

They always are . I have heard that memory adds 2 to 3 inches and 8 ozs to the weight of every lost fish !

[tjm]

Memory can add to even the ones released or eaten.

Or in my case only recall that many have put a bend in my fly rod and a smile on my face, I weighed one or three over 4# but don't recall exactly and I measured several over 18" but .. . I also caught a few that were ~5" and watched a pony-tailed heron eat what looked like a 17"er.

I hope my personal  best is the next one I catch. It will at least be fresh in the memory.

[Al Agnew]

Been thinking about this a lot these days...it's been something like 40 years since I caught my personal best Ozark river smallmouth.  You'd think that in all that time I would have finally caught one bigger than 22 inches and 5 pounds (give or take a quarter inch and a couple ounces).  Other people have caught slightly bigger ones.  I don't know that I've actually seen, let alone hooked and lost, more than two or three that I would be fairly certain were bigger than that personal best.  Heck, I know more now than I did then.  I have better equipment.  I fish waters that COULD hold a bigger one more often.  Just goes to show you how rare those 21 plus inchers are.