big Ozark river smallmouths

[Al Agnew]

We were talking about big smallmouths on a thread in the Current River forum, and I decided that I'd move it over to here.

As I said in the other forum, there ARE big smallmouths in all the Ozark streams. However, due to many factors, including illegal gigging, fishing pressure, and genetics, there just aren't all that many of them. To qualify for a Missouri Master Angler Award, catch and release, it only takes a 17 inch smallie. While that figure is probably too low, it does give a pretty good measure of what constitutes a big Ozark river smallmouth.

Lots of people, used to catching the 10-14 inch smallies that are so common on most Ozark streams, far overestimate how big one is when they catch one bigger than 16 inches. I've seen a lot of people call 17 and 18 inchers 4 pounders. A 17 inch river smallmouth, on average, will weigh around 2.5 pounds. An 18 incher will weigh around 3 pounds. It usually takes at least a 20 incher to beat 4 pounds.

Thing is, weight really doesn't matter to me. That same 20 incher that weighs well over 4 pounds when caught in early spring might weigh 3.5 in mid-summer. And if you happen to catch it right after it spent the last few days eating well, it might weigh at least a quarter pound more than it might if you caught it after a few days of inaction. Is it a better catch when it weighs more? It's the same fish. Length, to me, is a much better measure of bragging rights.

Back in the 1970s I kept careful records of all my river trips, and back then I didn't know nearly as much about catching bigger fish as I do now, but 20 inchers came fairly regularly back then. It wasn't every trip that I caught one, but if I was on good water, like lower Big River or the middle Meramec, I pretty much expected to score a 20 incher sometime during the day. But the fishing went downhill in the mid to late 1980s on those rivers, with the advent of jetboats and the resulting greatly increased gigging and fishing pressure. I didn't keep records during that time period, but I started keeping them again in the 1990s. My statistics probably give a pretty good idea of how easy it is to catch 17 inch plus smallmouths. I'm not on the water as much as some guys I know, so I don't catch as many as they do, but during the last 10 years I've averaged 25 days per year specifically targeting Ozark river smallmouths. Here are my totals of fish over 17 inches during that time:

17-18 inches--73 fish

18-19 inches--47 fish

19-20 inches--18 fish

20-21 inches--4 fish

21 inches plus--4 fish

So, 250 days of fishing, 146 fish over 17 inches, averages out to one Master Angler Award fish for every 1.7 or so trips. That average has been trending generally upwards for me, because in 1997 I only caught 3 fish over 17 in 23 trips, and in 1998, it was 7 in 22 trips. My best year was 2001, when I caught 25 in 27 trips.

During that time, none of those 21 inch plus fish were much over 21 inches. I doubt if any of them weighed more than about 4.5 pounds.

There were a lot of days when I caught more than one big one. In 2001, there was one day in August when I caught two 17s, an 18, and a 20, and another day in November when I caught an 18, two 19s, and a 20. In 2003, I caught two 19s on a July day. Did the same thing in August the next year. In 2005 I caught 3 17s, an 18, and a 19 on the second day of a three day float in August...after catching a 17 the first day, and before catching a 17 and an 18 the third day (and nope, I ain't saying which river!)

I didn't start seriously winter fishing until 2004, so my monthly totals were mainly during warm weather months. Keep in mind also that these totals don't include 2007 at all, though I've already had a couple of good trips this year.

January--4 trips, 1 MAA fish

February--5 trips, 3 fish

March--6 trips, 0 fish

April--17 trips, 8 fish

May--31 trips, 13 fish

June--35 trips, 31 fish

July--40 trips, 24 fish

August--39 trips, 36 fish

September--23 trips, 12 fish

October--11 trips, 4 fish

November--14 trips, 8 fish

December--6 trips, 4 fish

The March totals may seem a bit surprising, but I just haven't fished all that much in March. It's a transition month when the fish seem to be scattered and difficult to find. Note that the mid-summer months have been the most consistent, although now that I'm learning winter fishing, the winter months are becoming pretty consistent as well.

Enough statistics for now...hope to get a discussion going here and add more later.

[creek wader]

My largest was also a 19 incher but, I too am happy with many in the 12 to 15 in. range. I mainly wade or use a canoe and can only cover so much water. I'm catch and releaser only, and try to leave the stream in better shape, when I leave. Kind of a self imposed stream tream concept. I love these streams and you boys living within driving distance of these great waters are very fortunate. When I make a trip to one of the Ozark streams, it's a special occasion for me, and I look forward to it for weeks. Hopefully after my trip in May, I'll have a "big" one to brag on. ... Good fishing to all...

[Gavin]

I dont keep detailed records, but my biggest Missouri smallie was around 19" and I've only caught a handful in the 17-18" range in the past couple years. I use fly tackle most of the time, which may limit the size of the bass I'm catching, but our streams dont seem to hold the numbers of big fish like you find in the great lakes region.

Not that I'm complaining...I'm happy if I catch enough fish to keep it interesting, and its a good day when I land one over 15". Cheers.

[Griffster]

Ditto gavin...My biggest was about 19 too..I guess around 3lbs it was a fat one too. I don't keep records either. Al does some serious fishing.

yea.. any day on the stream is a good one. I'm not half the fisherman Al or you are... but still fun to go and try.

I would like a ride in Al's new jet boat sometime.. hint....hint...

Cg

[Crippled Caddis]

Griffster wrote:

<My biggest was about 19 too..I guess around 3lbs it was a fat one too. I don't keep records either.>

Like you and Gavin I don't keep records. Nor do I carry a tape measure onstream. From reading this and the other thread I now know I've caught and released some fish that were a lot better than I thought they were at the time. But not recently.( The stream I live on isn't what it was before the canoe rental/campground a quarter mile upriver came into being. Within a year or two several big brownies who were 'old buddies' no longer came out to play with me. I mourn their loss like that of a favorite old hunting dog that has gone to the 'fields in the sky'. CC

[Kicknbass]

Missouri Master Angler Award, catch and release, it only takes a 17 inch smallie.

Al, Just a technical note. The minimum regs for the MMA for a SMB is 18" or 3 lbs. This can be found on the MDC website on the 2nd page of the PDF registation form.

I love fishing for SMB. The locations that I regularly fish seam to have a little better size fish than say 10 years ago. I'm not sure why, but that is my observations. I fish for SMB about 10 trips per year, and typically catch 2-3 MMA fish annually, but the fish 15+ are caught on most trips.

I have'nt been out this year. Turkey season normally starts my SMB fishing. This is my favorite time of year. Spring gobblers and SMB.

http://www.mdc.mo.gov/documents/fish/records/fishawrd.pdf

[Crippled Caddis]

Kicknbass wrote:

<The locations that I regularly fish seam to have a little better size fish than say 10 years ago.>

Or perhaps you are a better fisherman than you were 10 years ago. Yeah---that's the ticket! Like wine and violins you're getting better as you age.;o)

[Kicknbass]

Yea maybe... But I think the fishing is better.

[Al Agnew]

Kickin...I haven't looked at the MAA stuff in a long time. It used to be that the catch and keep minimum was 3 pounds, but catch and release was 17 inches. Guess they finally wised up and changed it to reflect the length it generally takes to weigh 3 pounds. Since I've been going on the assumption that it was still 17 inches, and 17 inches IS a decent fish, I won't bother to change my statistics from the last 10 years to reflect that.

Here's a few more statistics from my records:

Number of 17+ inchers caught from streams large enough to see jetboats at least part of the year--21

Number caught from streams that are canoeable more or less year-round, but not big enough for jetboats--47

Number caught from streams I call marginally canoeable; you can get a canoe down them year-round if you don't mind walking a lot of riffles and dragging bottom in most of them--65

Number caught on streams that are wading only; we're talking creeks where you can cross the riffles in two or three steps without getting your feet wet above your tennies--13

Number of different streams in which I caught 17+ inchers--17

Total numbers by river...but I'm not naming the smaller, lesser known rivers. And also it MIGHT be that some of these were caught near the headwaters of some streams that I've named:

Big River--60 (keep in mind that I grew up on Big River and still fish it more than any other stream, since it's the closest floatable stream to where I live)

Meramec River--18

Unnamed stream, marginally canoeable--14

Huzzah Creek--11

Big Piney River--8

Unnamed stream, strictly wading water--8

Gasconade River--6

Unnamed stream, marginally canoeable--5

Unnamed stream, wading only--3

Buffalo River--3

Bourbeuse River--2

Niangua River--2

Unnamed stream, wading only--2

St. Francis River--1

Courtois Creek--1

And one each from two more streams, one wading, one marginally canoeable.

Number caught by lure:

My own homemade spinnerbait--48

Other spinnerbaits--1

Walk the dog type topwater lures--40

Popper type topwaters--2

Buzzbaits--3

My homemade crankbait--35

Other crankbaits--2

Jerkbaits--6

Jig and pig--2

Soft plastic jerkbaits--2

Other soft plastics--4

I've been using versions of my own homemade spinnerbait and crankbait for MANY years, and I'm almost never without one of them tied to one of my rods, but they have always been consistent producers, so much so that I don't often use other spinnerbaits or crankbaits. As for the walk-the-dog topwaters, they have been very good in the last 5 years or so. The popper types, like a modified Pop-R, were magic for a couple of years about 12 years ago, but haven't been so good since. However, that may be partly because I got to fishing the walk-the-dog topwaters instead of the poppers. The relatively small number of big ones caught on jigs and slowly fished soft plastics reflect the fact that I don't often fish that way.

More statistics and thoughts to follow...

[ollie]

So much detail to digest Al, wish I had kept better records of my trips. The biggest smallie for me would be a true 20" caught out of a small stream I won't mention either. It did not weigh over 3-3 1/2 pounds I'm sure. That was about 10 years ago and since then I haven't caught another that big. Caught a few 18", but most of the time I catch dinks or fish in the 12-14" range. I have no doubt that the size limit put on the creek for keeping smallies has something to do with the growth of them. It's sad to see a guy walking up a bank with legal size smallies. All you can do is try and talk him into C&R next time.