8lb Brownie out of Dale??

[hartmacw]

Oh, I absolutely agree about the distinction between a smallie at 7 and a large over 7 - not even comparable. And I also agree that the legends of the lake over the years didn't catch a gigantic number of smallies over 7 - Billy's book is very clear about that. He says several times that he turned down guide trips because the person calling wanted to catch a 9-10lb'er and he knew the odds of putting them on a fish like that were nearly zero. I've seen probably 8-10 smallies in the 7 range brought to the scale (none by me, lol) and I'll never forget one incident about 10 years ago. A guy from Ohio caught his bass of a lifetime and had raced into the dock to get it weighed (dead). He weighted it at around 7-2 or 7-3 if I remember correctly, turned to the dock owner, and asked if that was close to the lake record. The dock owner flat out laughed in his face as did everyone else standing there. How someone could come to Dale and fish for smallies and ask that question is beyond me - and he was dead serious, I was there.

But here's my point, stated in a different way. I think maybe one of the hardest things to do is put a 7lb smallie in perspective when you know the same lake produced an 11-15. A 7 smallie is a catch of a lifetime, and one I've still never made (6-15, dang it) but to me there's just something weird about a 7.5lb Dale smallie making headlines. I dunno.... I just know if I had caught that exact same fish I'd have taken a few pics measured the length and girth, and got that baby back in the water as soon as possible. I'm glad the guy got his pic in the paper, good for him, but personally I just don't see it as news worthy - in TN/KY.

BTW, I'm from VA and location has a lot to do with my point as well. Even though our record is over 8, a 7 is VERY news worthy for VA. I guess I just expect a little more out of TN because I know the quality of the (smalljaws) fisheries is far beyond what we have in VA.

....BillH

[tacoma]

7.5 lb officially weighed on certified (not merley digital) scales in front of witnesses is still pretty rare for smallmouth even at Dale. Story's of such fish are abundant. Fishing from the 1970's to the 1990's at Dale were more legend than fact. The new size limit has done wonders for Dale but there are a lot more fisherman with much better equipment after them now than in the day when Mr. Hayes was trolling a crankbait. There is a Billy Westmoreland mount labeled as a 9# hanging on the wall in Celina fishing store(one stop I think).

[BigSmallie]

I talked to another guy Friday that said he caught a 8 lb 1 oz Smallmouth. It was not the guy in the article. Myself, I caught a 5 and 5 lb 9 oz smallmouth friday.

[mhall]

I talked to another guy Friday that said he caught a 8 lb 1 oz Smallmouth. It was not the guy in the article. Myself, I caught a 5 and 5 lb 9 oz smallmouth friday.

That's a nice day, way to go.....

[hartmacw]

7.5 lb officially weighed on certified (not merley digital) scales in front of witnesses is still pretty rare for smallmouth even at Dale.

Well, I'm not sure I can agree with that because many of the fishermen on the lake now-a-days practice catch and release. Are they rare because 7+ smallies really are *rare* or is it just because fewer fisherman are bringing them to the scales?

I wish we had a polling feature on this board. So here's a poll I made for readers of this thread. What would you have done had you caught that baby? It's all anonymous LOL

http://tinyurl.com/2cz9ha

...BillH