Your first "big" smallmouth?

[trythisonemv]

no photo to accompany the story but my biggest to date was a bout eighteen inches out of the Niangua above Bennett springs. Fishing with dad as always wading with night crawlers tied around my neck in a sour cream container my father had rigged up for me and my brother. Four pound test and size 8 bait holder hook. I was very excited to pull it out from under a brush pile. Still fails in comparison to Dads 23 incher from the same place. I have never seen a smallmouth that big since then. He kissed it then returned it to the water saying" it is your lucky day mister fish." He stills talks about how he should've had it mounted. I always had visions of returning there and catching that same fish but never happened. Before cell phones had cameras there we great memories that still have the same imagery that a picture provides. Great thread as always AL.

Alex

[rps]

In 1965 or 66 I was with my father on his annual trip to Canada. That year we were on Rainy Lake.  During his afternoon naps, I was allowed to take the boat out near the camp. One cloudy afternoon I caught a huge (to me) Smallmouth. In reality, it was probably 17 or 18 inches. Shannon twin spin.

[Johnsfolly]

May largest smallmouth in Missouri for a long time was 17.75". I caught it in a small river/large creek south of Columbia (actually still my go to smallmouth fishery). I was wading well upstream from the access and came to a deep bluff pool. At that time I almost exclusively fished walk-the-dog (WTD) topwater or a fluke style jerkbait. I actually caguth a couple of bass off o the boulders/chunk rock at the tail of this hole. At the head of the hole, the majority of the water comes in along tight to the bank then hits the bluff and makes almost a 90 deg turn into the deep part of the hole. There was a 12 to 15' long log that was at least 18" in diameter wedged into that corner. I was using a chartreuse shad Gulp jerkbait. I made the long cast right inot the water upstream of that log. Jerked twice maybe three times and got bit. That bass jumped, went deep, ran upstream, etc. Finally got her lipped, measured against my rod and released. I don't have a photo of that one, but two years later caught it's twin in the same spot (log was no longer there) with an Excalibur spit-N-Image WTD bait. That was in 2007. Today that fish would not have left the water or would never touched that gravel.

[TroutRinger]

My biggest was in July 2010 on the very first cast in the very first hole below Alley Springs on the Jack's Fork. I was fishing with a mustard colored bitsy tube as I usually do. When I set the hook, it did not feel very big. Then he took off down stream like crazy, jumped around a bit, and I finally pulled him on the gravel bar a couple minutes later.

Measured 19". I have a somewhat poor quality pic from a disposable camera somewhere at the house. Will try to dig it up tonight.

[Greasy B]

My first big Smallmouth was the summer of 1981 (I think), on the upper Gasconade between Adams Ford and Black. At that time I was making the transition from ultralight rods with 4lb line to fishing heavier lines and bigger baits. I think the bait was called a funky chicken, basically a black curly tailed worm with a couple of wings. I remember the cast like it was yesterday, I was being swept down tight right hand bend. The left bank was undercut with a partly submerged tree. I made a couple of draw strokes to keep from hitting the tree and tossed the funk chicken just above the tree. I didn’t have time to feed slack to the bait so a passed the rod to my left hand and tried to keep the rod tip in the same place as long as possible. I was reaching as far back as I could when the line came tight. I don’t remember what happened next but I imagine it was chaos. I do remember eating that fish on a gravel bar later that day. It might have been the last Smallmouth I ever ate. A couple of weeks ago I was rummaging around in an old Plano box and found a black funky chicken, the bait that changed my life.

[Smalliebigs]

2 hours ago, Greasy B said:

My first big Smallmouth was the summer of 1981 (I think), on the upper Gasconade between Adams Ford and Black. At that time I was making the transition from ultralight rods with 4lb line to fishing heavier lines and bigger baits. I think the bait was called a funky chicken, basically a black curly tailed worm with a couple of wings. I remember the cast like it was yesterday, I was being swept down tight right hand bend. The left bank was undercut with a partly submerged tree. I made a couple of draw strokes to keep from hitting the tree and tossed the funk chicken just above the tree. I didn’t have time to feed slack to the bait so a passed the rod to my left hand and tried to keep the rod tip in the same place as long as possible. I was reaching as far back as I could when the line came tight. I don’t remember what happened next but I imagine it was chaos. I do remember eating that fish on a gravel bar later that day. It might have been the last Smallmouth I ever ate. A couple of weeks ago I was rummaging around in an old Plano box and found a black funky chicken, the bait that changed my life.

I remember the Funky chicken

[timinmo]

Ok, enjoying everyone's stories.

My Father's family at one time lived at Tea on the Bourbeuse River.  When I was young we spent alot of time fishing it both at Tea and at Union where one of my uncles lived.  In 1969 I was getting ready to turn 16 but my older brother and cousin both were already driving and we did alot of exploring on our own.  This trip we were at Hartman's Bridge on the Bourbeuse at Union which was an old iron one lane bridge .On the downstream side the local farmer would let you camp after you put a dollar in his mail box.  I'm sure many of you have been to similar places, half dozen jon boats chained to trees on a mud bank.

Our plan was to paddle our canoes up the big hole of water and spend the night on the gravel bar at the riffle. Right below the riffle there were some big car size rocks in the water which when the water was high you could not see.  I was in a canoe by myself and got right up on one of the rocks before I knew it.  So instead of a cast I just flipped my lure the 20 feet or so past the rock.  Yes like almost everyone else I remember the lure. A yellow and black coach dog Arbogaster, I'm sure the reel was a Mitchell 300, probably six pound line, don't remember the rod.  Anyway I cranked a few times and hooked into a fish.  I didn't have much line out and he did not jump.  I would get him up by the boat and he would dive back down.  I finally lipped him and he was obviously the biggest smallie I had caught up to then.

At the time "Sports Afield" magazine had some kind of awards program where you had to catch fish of a certain size to be recognized.  You had to have your fish certified at certain locations and Ming's Store in Union was one of those places.  Ming's was one of those sporting goods/grocery stores, probably had some hardware too.  Anyway I can remember carrying the fish into the store, they weighted it on the grocery scale and also measured length and girth.  Three and a half pounds, twenty inches long and twelve inches around.  I always remember the measurements.  The dates I remember because several years ago my kids were going though a picture draw like we all have and found the certificate from "Sports Afield".  They framed it and put it on our bedroom wall.  Fun memories.  

 

[Gavin]

First one I remember was from the Meramec. My dad owned a lot with a trailer on it in the old Bluffs CG and we visited often to fish & hunt deer and turkey on the Corps of engineers property purchased for the Meramec dam. Ralph Brown shuttled us  that day. Don't remember the stretch. Dad made a nice cast to a small pocket of sparse willows with his brand new Lunker Lure buzzbait. The lure moved about a foot before the water cratered and the biggest bass I'd ever seen to date was on the end of his line. Bass measured at 19" and the smile on his face was priceless. He only had one Lunker Lure Buzzbait so we shared it for the rest of the float and had a wonderful time. Dad got me my first decent spinning setup, new tackle box, and a couple good lures for my birthday couple weeks later. Included was my own Lunker Lure Buzzbait. We wouldn't have to share anymore.

[fshndoug]

I caught a six lb smallie in pickwick lake,Florence Alabama on a homemade hair jig.Went down there after Thanksgiving.Went into several baitshops and could

not believe the pics of big smallies

[ozark trout fisher]

Good topic!

My first really memorable one came in a lake in the northern foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. He was 21 inches, actually measured, not estimated,  totally innocent, and succumbed to a Rooster Tail spinner. 

This is a tricky one, because I kept him. Please don't hate me! Because even my stupid 17 year old self had standards, and I really did do it for what I felt were the right reasons...he was in an extremely remote natural lake known to hold a very rare strain of brook trout, that had been illegally stocked with smallmouth bass about 15 years prior. They were having a deleterious effect on said rare brook trout. 

Anyway, it was a drop dead beautiful northwooods pond, without exaggeration, the kind of place you can feel semi-certain there is no one within ten miles except the people you brought. He fought like hell, and he sure as heck tasted better than the Ramen I was eating otherwise that night (it was a three day paddle with mutliple mile+ portages, and food that weighed more than three ounces was at a premium.) I still can't get that fish out of my head, and truth be told, all conservation logic aside, I wish I'd released him. But there you go.