Kansas - 11 lbs. 12.8 oz. caught in a private strip pit in Cherokee County on a jig'n'pig. 

The young man was 14 years old at the time (May 3, 2008).

 

 

Tom

7 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Michigan: 11lbs 15oz (hence my screen name) set back in the 30's about a half hour drive from my house. Like @Team9nine said probably wont be broken in my lifetime if ever at all. 

 

I'm kind of suspect of it, but I've heard stories from reputable people that there have been record breakers spotted while doing electro shock surveys. We'll see. 

 

Which, of course, immediately raises the question: Where exactly are the results of the surveys on which record-breakers were spotted?

 

 

30 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

Which, of course, immediately raises the question: Where exactly are the results of the surveys on which record-breakers were spotted?

 

 

Good question. I'd assume they'd be available to the public, how would one go about getting those results? 

5 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Good question. I'd assume they'd be available to the public, how would one go about getting those results? 

DNR hosts survey reports online for some lakes:

 

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/SFRR_Waterbody_363630_7.html

 

Although they clearly conduct more surveys than get written up and posted; for instance, reports will sometimes cite comparison figures from other lakes don't have a report posted, but must have come from a survey of some sort. 

 

Also, occasionally, you can find surveys commissioned by lake homeowner associations posted on the association's site.

8 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Michigan: 11lbs 15oz (hence my screen name) set back in the 30's about a half hour drive from my house. Like @Team9nine said probably wont be broken in my lifetime if ever at all. 

 

I'm kind of suspect of it, but I've heard stories from reputable people that there have been record breakers spotted while doing electro shock surveys. We'll see. 

 

5 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

DNR hosts survey reports online for some lakes:

 

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/SFRR_Waterbody_363630_7.html

 

Although they clearly conduct more surveys than get written up and posted; for instance, reports will sometimes cite comparison figures from other lakes don't have a report posted, but must have come from a survey of some sort. 

 

Also, occasionally, you can find surveys commissioned by lake homeowner associations posted on the association's site.

OK - so on the topic of State Record Bass - specifically in Michigan - here's a procedural question . . .

With year long C & R now legal - how does one go about 'documenting' a potential state record catch during said C & R  Only periods ?   According to the DNR site a potential fish must be weighted on a certified / state inspected scale (ie Grocery store)  -  all of which would be 'illegal' IAW current published regs and I see no mention of an exception noted anywhere. 

So I ask you - when I catch my record smallie in two weeks - Am I mostly hosed ?

A-Jay

 

2 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

 

OK - so on the topic of State Record Bass - specifically in Michigan - here's a procedural question . . .

With year long C & R now legal - how does one go about 'documenting' a potential state record catch during said C & R  Only periods ?   According to the DNR site a potential fish must be weighted on a certified / state inspected scale (ie Grocery store)  -  all of which would be 'illegal' IAW current published regs and I see no mention of an exception noted anywhere. 

So I ask you - when I catch my record smallie in two weeks - Am I mostly hosed ?

A-Jay

 

Interesting. Unfortunately I think the answer to your last question is yes

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

Interesting. Unfortunately I think the answer to your last question is yes

You're probably right ~ 

But despite have no 'official' bearing, you can bet there will be plenty of 'A-Jay' documenting going on all over the place ! 

A-Jay

 

2 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

You're probably right ~ 

But despite have no 'official' bearing, you can bet there will be plenty of 'A-Jay' documenting going on all over the place ! 

A-Jay

 

If you get an 11 lb smallmouth we will all know that you are the true state record holder. Does anywhere sell live gobies??

1 minute ago, TnRiver46 said:

If you get an 11 lb smallmouth we will all know that you are the true state record holder. Does anywhere sell live gobies??

Yea - I know I'm just talk'in smack and seriously dreaming - 

But that gobie thing - hold on a minute now.

You may be onto something.

I'm thinking an A-Rig with 5 Live ones . . . . . 

A-Jay

Ajay just needs a 10!  The current record is 9.98, and a little under 2 years old.  The michigan smallmouth record may actually be one of the more breakable records right now nationwide. 

 

We'll recognize it here, at least!

4 hours ago, Gilly Gals said:

nope there's is over 8, ares is right under 

Wow, didn't think they were that much!

51 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

 

OK - so on the topic of State Record Bass - specifically in Michigan - here's a procedural question . . .

With year long C & R now legal - how does one go about 'documenting' a potential state record catch during said C & R  Only periods ?   According to the DNR site a potential fish must be weighted on a certified / state inspected scale (ie Grocery store)  -  all of which would be 'illegal' IAW current published regs and I see no mention of an exception noted anywhere. 

So I ask you - when I catch my record smallie in two weeks - Am I mostly hosed ?

A-Jay

 

If you carry a state certified scale, and fish with a witness, (I’ll volunteer) you might be covered.  

Massachusetts is interesting, at 15 1/2 lbs it almost shouldn't have existed from what we know/think we know about Northern Strain Largemouth...but it was caught, so the dream lives on for a Teener up here in New England. Most likely nothing will ever be caught even in the same ballpark as that fish, to break 10 is nearly unheard of, but I do hold out hope that some offshore structure in Wachusett has a big girl that doesn't even know fishing exists (Wachusett is the largest reservoir in the state that does not allow fishing from boat, and has heavily regulated bank access). For now though I'll set my sights on that elusive 10 haha. 

12 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

Massachusetts is interesting, at 15 1/2 lbs it almost shouldn't have existed from what we know/think we know about Northern Strain Largemouth...but it was caught, so the dream lives on for a Teener up here in New England. Most likely nothing will ever be caught even in the same ballpark as that fish, to break 10 is nearly unheard of, but I do hold out hope that some offshore structure in Wachusett has a big girl that doesn't even know fishing exists (Wachusett is the largest reservoir in the state that does not allow fishing from boat, and has heavily regulated bank access). For now though I'll set my sights on that elusive 10 haha. 

15 1/2??? Wow, that's surprising.

Who has came the closest to breaking their state record? I know it's not me. I'm 7.5lbs off

6 hours ago, optimator said:

15 1/2??? Wow, that's surprising.

To make it even more unbelievable, he caught it while ice fishing. 

9 hours ago, CroakHunter said:

Who has came the closest to breaking their state record? I know it's not me. I'm 7.5lbs off

My PB was 4 lbs less. 

9 hours ago, A-Jay said:

 

OK - so on the topic of State Record Bass - specifically in Michigan - here's a procedural question . . .

With year long C & R now legal - how does one go about 'documenting' a potential state record catch during said C & R  Only periods ?   According to the DNR site a potential fish must be weighted on a certified / state inspected scale (ie Grocery store)  -  all of which would be 'illegal' IAW current published regs and I see no mention of an exception noted anywhere. 

So I ask you - when I catch my record smallie in two weeks - Am I mostly hosed ?

A-Jay

 

If I'm not mistaken the last time I looked at our state records there were some fish that were only measured and said (C&R). I don't remember which particular species they were, so maybe just maybe we have or they recognize C&R? 

 

On a side note the smallie record that was just set a couple years ago wasn't too far from A-Jay country. 

 

On another note the MIDNR released a 'survey' I guess you could call it, where every bass tourney held in Michigan last year reported several different things including size. The largest largemouth caught during a tourney last year was 8 lbs. Far cry from the 12 lbs mark but still really impressive for Michigan. I tried looking for this 'survey's but I can't seem to find it on line and it's no where to be found on the forum I saw it on. It had some pretty good info on it though. 

13 hours ago, CroakHunter said:

Who has came the closest to breaking their state record? I know it's not me. I'm 7.5lbs off

I was about 2 pounds, with my pb being 5.5 and the state record 7.9

13 hours ago, CroakHunter said:

Who has came the closest to breaking their state record? I know it's not me. I'm 7.5lbs off

My best smallie weighed 7-6 and the PA record smallie is 8-8 that is 87% or 1lb-2oz.

In Minnesota you pretty much have to kill the fish in order to get state record certification because of all the hoops and hurdles required.  However, they just introduced a C & R state record category for large fish including flathead catfish, muskie, sturgeon, and northern pike.  I think eventually there will be a C & R category for every species.

 

State record largemouth 8 lbs, 15 oz

smallmouth 8 lbs

7 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

If I'm not mistaken the last time I looked at our state records there were some fish that were only measured and said (C&R). I don't remember which particular species they were, so maybe just maybe we have or they recognize C&R? 

 

On a side note the smallie record that was just set a couple years ago wasn't too far from A-Jay country. 

 

On another note the MIDNR released a 'survey' I guess you could call it, where every bass tourney held in Michigan last year reported several different things including size. The largest largemouth caught during a tourney last year was 8 lbs. Far cry from the 12 lbs mark but still really impressive for Michigan. I tried looking for this 'survey's but I can't seem to find it on line and it's no where to be found on the forum I saw it on. It had some pretty good info on it though. 

You're probably thinking of the MTIFS summary report for 2017:

https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79119_79146_82441_82442---,00.html

 

Not very detailed, unfortunately, other than a handful of summary facts. Here's what it says about the big fish; no mention of whether it was LM or SM:

 

"Heaviest bass reported by any tournament was an 8-pound fish caught-and-released from Sand Lake (Lenawee County - July 2017)."

 

And then there's this:

 

"Overall, tournaments reported catching-and-releasing 43 bass exceeding 6 pounds."

 

and

 

"Total fish entered in tournaments was estimated in excess of 90,000 fish (70,000 largemouth / 20,000 smallmouth)."

 

So only 43 of 90,000 bass (.048%, or less than 5 hundredths --1/20th-- of one percent) weighed in tournaments across the state in 2017, LM or SM, were over 6lb.

2 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

You're probably thinking of the MTIFS summary report for 2017:

https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-350-79119_79146_82441_82442---,00.html

 

Not very detailed, unfortunately, other than a handful of summary facts. Here's what it says about the big fish; no mention of whether it was LM or SM:

 

"Heaviest bass reported by any tournament was an 8-pound fish caught-and-released from Sand Lake (Lenawee County - July 2017)."

 

And then there's this:

 

"Overall, tournaments reported catching-and-releasing 43 bass exceeding 6 pounds."

 

and

 

"Total fish entered in tournaments was estimated in excess of 90,000 fish (70,000 largemouth / 20,000 smallmouth)."

 

So only 43 of 90,000 bass (.048%, or less than 5 hundredths --1/20th-- of one percent) weighed in tournaments across the state in 2017, LM or SM, were over 6lb.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ifTaVJErd2ToZNu2gx3Oc5quj8M1gHHa/view?usp=sharing

 

Found it!

It isn't as detailed as I remember but never the less Rainbow lake isn't too far from either of us. 

25 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ifTaVJErd2ToZNu2gx3Oc5quj8M1gHHa/view?usp=sharing

 

Found it!

Heh, must be a different draft -- notice the pointer to Sand Lake in Kent county for the 8 pounder.  The one published on the DNR site is mostly identical, but locates the catch to a different Sand Lake in Lenawee County.

 

The other thing worth following is the master angler listings:

http://www.michigandnr.com/MasterAngler/

Apparently, somebody pulled a 26.75" largemouth out of Fletcher's last year (and released)

 

 

36 minutes ago, MIbassyaker said:

Heh, must be a different draft -- notice the pointer to Sand Lake in Kent county for the 8 pounder.  The one published on the DNR site is mostly identical, but locates the catch to a different Sand Lake in Lenawee County.

 

The other thing worth following is the master angler listings:

http://www.michigandnr.com/MasterAngler/

Apparently, somebody pulled a 26.75" largemouth out of Fletcher's last year (and released)

 

 

Mine shows Sand Lake in Lenewee like you previously stated. Horseshoe was the lake not Rainbow like I had previously stated. Either way both are fairly close to us.