State Record rumor

[MoCarp]

7 hours ago, STLbassbuster said:

Their was some really nice SM weighed in the big bass tour, I was fortunate to weigh one in a little over 4 lb's. Pretty sure a 6 was the biggest weighed in. Definitely a state record swimming around in the rock, bull, and Stockton where the current record was caught....

The new spotted bass regulation might give an uptick in smallies size on Stockton, TR has more habitat than Stockton, but wind and less pressure might help....I would love to see some work done on stocking more smallmouths  

[Fish24/7]

9 hours ago, mixermarkb said:

Plenty of water in Missouri on Bull Shoals with smallmouth in it. Ask 24/7, the smallies get caught farther and farther up the Theodosia arm every year. Old Missouri record was from Bull, new one could easily come from there as well. 

My pb smallie was from Bull less than a mile from TMR.  Weighed 4.11. On a side note,  Before bull dozers ruined several of the creeks that flow into the theodosia arm, smallmouth creek fishing was crazy good 20 years ago! Now there's  hardly any brown bass and am lucky to catch 1 15" a year.  Holes that used to hold large numbers of fish are now 8" deep or less and little to  no current thanks to gravel excavation. All mighty dollar wins again 😡

 

[evilcatfish]

Call me crazy, but I think the next state record brown bass might come out of a river 🤷‍♂️

[Mitch f]

16 minutes ago, evilcatfish said:

Call me crazy, but I think the next state record brown bass might come out of a river 🤷‍♂️

I’m thinking Stockton is still the best bet

[Fish24/7]

evilcatfish I agree.  I know of a Winter time smallie honey hole on the Bourbeuse.yes,the Bourbeuse lol Haven't  fished it in 20+ years since I moved away. Maybe things have changed since then. Its where I caught my first  pb  smallie  a 4-9 on a slug o in the mid 80's

 There were some really big ones in there that got away. Could anchor the boat and fish one hole all day because  there were so many smallies and largemouth bass wintered in there. Very seldom ever kept a bass to eat.  Big goggle eye ,catfish and crappie were better eating imo . I hear the spotted bass are everywhere in the river  now. Back then we hardly ever caught one. 

[Seth]

1 hour ago, evilcatfish said:

Call me crazy, but I think the next state record brown bass might come out of a river 🤷‍♂️

It would have to be an absolute freak of a fish. A 4 pounder is a rare fish and I've yet to even see a 5 pounder since I started fishing the rivers a lot and doing tournaments in 2012. I've never heard of anybody catching a legit 6 pounder from any of the central MO rivers, but I'm sure it has happened at some point over the years. The two most impressive river smallies that I now of both came from the Gascoade. My buddy Tommy caught one back in 07 or 08 that was 23"+ and weighed like 5-11 or something in that area. @Mitch f's buddy caught one that looks like an absolute freak in the picture. I don't think they got any measurements on it though, but it looks like the closest thing I have seen to a 6 poung river smallmouth that I've ever seen. The river smallies just don't have the mass that lake smallmouth seem to get.

[Seth]

43 minutes ago, Fish24/7 said:

evilcatfish I agree.  I know of a Winter time smallie honey hole on the Bourbeuse.yes,the Bourbeuse lol Haven't  fished it in 20+ years since I moved away. Maybe things have changed since then. Its where I caught my first  pb  smallie  a 4-9 on a slug o in the mid 80's

 There were some really big ones in there that got away. Could anchor the boat and fish one hole all day because  there were so many smallies and largemouth bass wintered in there. Very seldom ever kept a bass to eat.  Big goggle eye ,catfish and crappie were better eating imo . I hear the spotted bass are everywhere in the river  now. Back then we hardly ever caught one. 

I floated the Bourbeuse last fall and the quality of fish that we caught really surprised me. A few others I know who have fished it in recent years have caught some extremely nice fish on it. There's not a ton of water, but the lack of pressure makes up for it. I'm about 15 minutes from the Bourbeuse and really need to start fishing it more often.

[moguy1973]

2 hours ago, evilcatfish said:

Call me crazy, but I think the next state record brown bass might come out of a river 🤷‍♂️

I think river smallies spend too much energy to get all that big.  You never really see the big fat football shaped smallies like you see in the record pictures from the Missouri lakes.  They are typically long and slender.

[Fish24/7]

Just now, Seth said:

I floated the Bourbeuse last fall and the quality of fish that we caught really surprised me. A few others I know who have fished it in recent years have caught some extremely nice fish on it. There's not a ton of water, but the lack of pressure makes up for it. I'm about 15 minutes from the Bourbeuse and really need to start fishing it more often.

Over the last 30 years or so a lot of the good spots have been silted in due to flooding and erosion. It was a big problem way back when. Probably still a factor today. 

Better always carry a chainsaw while floating the B. Never know when you'll have to saw your way through  a 80' tall Sickamore thats  blocking your path.

Fall Winter is the only time to fish it imo. Spring and Summer just isn't  as good of a bass bite from my experience. I fished it regularly  for over 20 years . Have seen every mile of it. You are right, not much water.  Summertime I've drug a jon across gravel 40yds in between holes . But was a lot younger and much more aggressive then ha. Glad to hear there's some still swimming around!

I have a buddy who lets me camp and launch on his farm. Miles in between public access makes it a great spot! It is,and will always be, my favorite MO stream. 😀 I used to cut class at Harvard on the Hill 😆aka ECC and fish right there under hwy 50 bridge in Union for red horse and channels.  

[Blazerman]

My wife caught this one out of the Meramec a few years ago and it is still the biggest smallmouth i have ever seen . We didn't weight it but is was 22".