Ever See a 10# smallmouth?

[nomolites]

34 minutes ago, Al Agnew said:

 

It is always a good idea for the partner in the boat to have a rod ready with a fluke or some other slow-sinking bait, to cast to fish following a hooked bass.  

a.k.a. “mooching”...or so I’ve heard it referred to and works with salmon and most other predatory fish as well.

Mike

[timinmo]

Not directly related to the above stories, but I fished Dale Hollow with a guide several years ago.  No, did not catch or see a ten pound fish but the boat dock/tackle store did have a replica of the worlds record.  It was obviously huge and dwarfed any smallie I have ever seen.

We had a good trip and caught several "good" fish but nothing like that mount.

[kjackson]

22 hours ago, nomolites said:

a.k.a. “mooching”...or so I’ve heard it referred to and works with salmon and most other predatory fish as well.

Mike

Not to pick nits, but the term mooching as used in salmon fishing is a totally different type of fishing.  It involves bait (usually a cut herring) fished close to the bottom where 60 feet is shallow. I wouldn't add this, but it's what I grew up doing in the PNW. It also is a term used by old-school fly fishermen in the Pacific Northwest and B.C. for slowly drifting with a fly on a sinking line...

As for 10-pound smallies, a friend also saw what he claimed was one over 10. He worked for Luhr Jensen before it was sold to Rapala. While he mainly fished for trout in mountain lakes in the Cascades, he also fished for anything that would bite.  

Along that stretch of the lower Columbia near Hood River, Oregon, are a number of backwater areas that are connected to the river by culverts and small channels. He said that he was fishing in one such on the Washington side when he spotted the big female on a bed but couldn't get her to bite. He tried several times, as I recall, but with no joy. He said that he went back to the same bedding area several years in a row and saw the same big fish in that area, but again, she wouldn't hit. He'd caught enough smallies to be able to guess how big she was...