The next WR Smallie?

[thebassman30]

Where will the next WR Smallie come from and how soon?

Dale or KY?

You know there's a few swimm'n around down there....though it will probably be caught by someone cheating with live bait. Don't get mad...I know you just want to boat a fish (hopefully something to eat like crappie, gills or anything but a smallie)...but it ought to be banned like in many National Parks. I may be a little old fashioned or maybe it's because I learn to fish in trout streams, but feeding fish is for kids at the zoo.

However, if I were a guide, I'd catch and use live bait just to help my clients. If I were a GOOD guide, I would stick to my guns and keep it artificial.

The Jawjacker

[dew32202]

NEXT WORLD RECORD SMALLIE KY LAKE OUT ON A DEEP LEDGE ON A CAROLINA RIG OR JERK BAIT IN MARCH OR EARLY APRIL

[FishHawk]

Hang in there I agree with you 100%. The only time I use live bate is for Crappie,Gil, and Cat's.
FishHawk

[gettingonefishin]

Ya know it doesnt matter to me how ya catch a record fish, Ya caught it and ya should get credit for it. It's quotes like that one that gets people upset with bass fisherman. Correct me if I am wrong but You are saying leave the big ones to us guys that fish for them. Some people actually rely on catshing fish to have a meal for their family, so we bass fisherman should take that big fish off someones dinner plate that may just be hungry. So my opinion I strongly disagree with you. If ya look at the record history the WR Largemouth was probably consumed by a hungry family and back then without the technology of today they could not actually proved the fish was a new record. However the people examining the fish was pretty sure it was. All they had was the head to go by. So there is no telling how many record fish have been eaten with the person catching it not even knowing they have a record fish. Should we stop all rough fishing? Are those sport fish strictly for us sport fisherman? That kind of goes along with hey you I am fishing a bass tournament so get off my bank so I can fish it.

[charlie1]

I'd like to catch it at Norris on a Super Spook, but a shiner would be just fine with me.

[stratosjoe]

At The mouth of Mitchell Creek on Dale Hollow on a silverbuddy on my spinning rod in my right hand. Oh what dream that is....

[elnutsmalljaws]

I fish both KY and Dale and personally fished with 2 of the best fishermen on KY (I have heard that one of them is the best Smallmouth fisherman on KY) and talked in depth or fished with 4 of the more prominent guides on Dale. Both sides say it is coming from both respective lakes. One particular guide on Dale Scuba dives the lake in the summer and said he personally saw a fish this past summer that he felt was an easy 12. Said it looked like a 4x12 board. He never go closer than about 15 feet but knew it was the record. The fact that Catch and Release has become so prominent and Smallmouth are not a highly sought after table food fish leads me to believe it will be caught. As far as what method, I really don't care about the method. I would think less of the record if some guy trolling for Stripers or Muskies caught it for he was not fishing for Smallmouth. I heard there was a story outlining the way Mr. Hayes caught the current record somewhere but I never read it. I heard he was trolling a bomber crankbait out behind his pontoon but don't know this is the truth. Heard he was fishin for muskie when he hooked the record. Either way he still caught it.

Most of my post have some reference to the record or the BIGUNS in them. It does get in your blood to catch a trophy Smallie and there is no cure. Just thinking about my next trip typing this makes me want to go put some new P Line in my reels just in case the big girl nibbles on my Duck Feather Jig. I have landed a 6-6 and 6-4 this winter which are my largest and several more over 20" in the past 3 years just waiting for the record. Can you imagine the fight that a 12 pounder would put up in April or May on a jerkbait or zara spook? I use 8 or 10 lb test on my rods in spring and have thought I may have a better chance of landing the record on 6lb test with my FNF rod in winter due to their metabolism and the rod taking a lot of the tension off the line. BRING ON THE BIGUNS.

Tight Lines

[plowboy]

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There isn't going to be a next world record smallie.... There will never be the conditions that lead to the large new impoundment fish that came out of Dale unless California decides to stock smallmouth in one of its lakes that have such a high growth rate for bass. As far as I know there have only been 2 or 3 ever caught over 10 lbs. Thats my opinion. And thebassman30 you seem a little narrow minded to think that using live bait is cheating, take offense if you want. People were fishing live bait before there was a flyrod, or a such thing as a bass boat, bass tourney, or the B.A.S.S. . You say a person in an aluminum boat with a bucket of live bait is cheating but another fellow with a $40,000 bass boat, few thousand dollars worth of rods and reels, electronics, fish attractors, underwater camera's is playing fair. Well it's hard to take you very seriously. There's room for all types of fishermen and sportmen out there. Some like live bait, some like aritficial, some hunt with a gun some with a bow. All are legal and all can be considered good sportsmen. I fish both ways and don't consider it cheating either way. The smallmouth wins more than I do most of the time. Your stepping on "alot" of toes when you call fishing live bait cheating.
And by the way I hope I'm wrong about there being another world record smallmouth but I haven't seen anything close in several years.

[thebassman30]

I'm sorry to offend anyone that fishes with live bait, but if you have to do that hopefully you're after a decent meal like walleye, crappie, sauger, etc. and not a bass.


gettinggone~
Don't lump me in with the bad tourney guys or someone who's totally against live bait fishing...specifically to put food on the table. If that's the case....there's a heck of a lot easier, cheaper and better tasting meals than a bass. Further, I don't fish a lot of tourney's specifically because economically it doesn't make sense. I can't understand the logic of someone who fishes professionally unless you're as talented as say KVD. Don't get me wrong...I love to fish and do so a couple weekends a month...any more and I'd be single.

If someone catches the WR Smallie on live bait, they've got my respect either way. However, I hope it's a serious Smallie angler.

[thebassman30]

El ~
I enjoyed your scuba story. Thanks for the hope brother!
Mark

[JoeB]

Plowboy, you're dead on. I think the WR smallmouth is the safest record in fishing, and I doubt that it will be broken in any of our lifetimes. As for the guy who said he liked his fishing the old fashioned way, with artificials,.....think about that. Long live Mr Hayes record.

[eatsleepfish]

I just dont think that this record will ever be broken. The largemouth record will be, thanks to the neverending stocking of non-native rainbows to the food chain. I promise that when I hear that the record has been broken from some small lake near SanFransissyko I will stand up and PUKE my guts out!

The smallie record has too many factors to take into consideration. The new record would have to have characteristics as follows:
1. At least 26" in length
2. 9lbs. at normall weight
3. 2lbs. of spawning eggs
4. A one pound trout already in her stomach

Add these factors up and there ya have it, a 12lb. record smallie! I think a 10 year old 6Lb. smallie will be good enough for me.

remember... eatsleepfish