Quote Originally Posted by hartmacw View Post
Nice fish... too bad the line that says, "The fish is now with the taxidermist".

Now the real question - I started fishing the hollow about 20 years ago. At that time a 7 lb. smallie didn't raise a lot of eyebrows, especially at the dock where locals saw these fish all the time. Getting over 8 caused some stir. The picture is of a nice (awesome, actually) fish, don't get me wrong, and better than I've ever caught, but does it say anything about the quality of fish at Dale when we're publishing articles of 7½ lb. fish? So, are fish over 8 still in the Hollow? Elsewhere? Is the record 12 lb'er swimming in the Hollow? Elsewhere?
You make a point, however a smallmouth not largemouth over 7lb is a bohemeth and always has been. Take guys like Randall Gibson, Bob Coan, Fred McClintock and even the late great Billy Westmoreland didn't and don't catch 7 plus smalljaws all the time. Call and ask one of them how many they have to their fishing career over seven pound and you may be surprised at how low the number is. I'm not trying to be argumentative here just stating that a brown bass at seven is a totally different customer than a seven pound largejaw, it's just a way more impressive fish. Yes I'm sure there are double digit bronzebacks in Kentucky lake, Cumberland, Dale, Laural, but catching one is a whole nother ball game.