Tied my PB smallmouth today fishing the River2Sea S-Waver 168, the fish was 19" long, a mark that seemed impossible to beat, I had landed about 5 or 6 that size and never one bigger. Then I totally blew my PB out of the water with a 23" smallie, it was definitely the biggest smallmouth I had ever seen in my life, and the fact that I was able to spot him, back off and give him some time (about 10mins) to calm down, then go back to the pool, fish for him, and actually catch him? Priceless! I was fishing some heavily pressured water (although not known for smallmouth) and I acutally watched some fish spook off of senkos that I threw at them, but I guess they haven't seen swimbaits before here in VA.

Released to be caught another day!

Well done indeed. Congrats!

Nice Catch!

Sweet Bronzeback ~

 

Who says smallies won't eat a bigger bait . . . . . .

 

PB's are always a Blast ~ Congrats

 

A-Jay

Well done sir.

Most have been quit the experience. Great smallie Congrats

Nice fish, man!

Part of why I've fallen in love with swimbaits, they'll pull fish from pressured waters where everyone thinks you have to fish finesse baits to even have a chance. Awesome smallie! They love those S wavers  If you don't have a Slammer, smallmouths hitting one of those is some of the most violent topwater bass strikes I've ever seen. 

Part of why I've fallen in love with swimbaits, they'll pull fish from pressured waters where everyone thinks you have to fish finesse baits to even have a chance. Awesome smallie! They love those S wavers  If you don't have a Slammer, smallmouths hitting one of those is some of the most violent topwater bass strikes I've ever seen. 

Been thinking about getting a slammer...but first I need to quit throwing my swimbaits on a 7'6" flippin stick and upgrade, I think some of my hooksets don't get them well enough and I lost more largemouth in the 4-5lb range than I care to admit yesterday. They would just start thrashing and spit it every time even though I put the rod tip under water and cranked like my life depended on it. 

Nice, darn good smallie...

Congrats on a nice fish!

dang, son!

Nice Bronzeback!

Been thinking about getting a slammer...but first I need to quit throwing my swimbaits on a 7'6" flippin stick and upgrade, I think some of my hooksets don't get them well enough and I lost more largemouth in the 4-5lb range than I care to admit yesterday. They would just start thrashing and spit it every time even though I put the rod tip under water and cranked like my life depended on it. 

Are you upgrading the hooks on the baits? That will make a huge difference with some baits that don't come with very good hooks. Also, what line are you using? I've found that with braid it seems I rip a big hole on the hookset and makes it easy for a fish to toss the bait. I fished a 7' 6" H/F flipping stick with swimbaits for awhile this year and I lost very few fish with it. 

Awesome Smallie!! Congrats

Are you upgrading the hooks on the baits? That will make a huge difference with some baits that don't come with very good hooks. Also, what line are you using? I've found that with braid it seems I rip a big hole on the hookset and makes it easy for a fish to toss the bait. I fished a 7' 6" H/F flipping stick with swimbaits for awhile this year and I lost very few fish with it. 

I'm going to be ordering a couple s-wavers from tackle warehouse this week and I plan on getting trebles to change out on the rest of my baits with stock hooks. Keep in mind that I am kayak fishing, and the boat moves on the hookset so you lose power. I got a 7'9" st. croix mojo swimbait rod yesterday rated for 1-4oz, and tried it out this morning, fishing a 6" bull shad I landed 8 fish out of 9 hookups, WAAAY better than last time. Using 20lb suffix mono

Great fish, nice job. 

 

My PB smallie came on a swimbait this summer too. 

 

 

 

I'm going to be ordering a couple s-wavers from tackle warehouse this week and I plan on getting trebles to change out on the rest of my baits with stock hooks. Keep in mind that I am kayak fishing, and the boat moves on the hookset so you lose power. I got a 7'9" st. croix mojo swimbait rod yesterday rated for 1-4oz, and tried it out this morning, fishing a 6" bull shad I landed 8 fish out of 9 hookups, WAAAY better than last time. Using 20lb suffix mono

Owner ST 36s are where it's at for swimbaits. They're pricey, but you don't want to work hard for a bite and miss it because of bad hooks. 

SWEET!

 

 

 

SWEET!

 

 

 

I can only imagine what she would weigh if she had the body shape of one of those fish you are holding in your profile photo! Went 4.27 on digital scales