Day started out pretty decent. Enough clouds and wind to warrant some top water action, so tied on the spook and went to work. 1 blow up but ended up being a jumper and shook it loose on the 4th or 5th jump., looked to be a 3lb largemouth so was pretty bummed about that. After that i think i caught a couple dinky bass, nothing even over a pound..kind of a crappy start. Sun came out, got hot, and wind went away....Now I thought I really wasn't going to catch anything.

 

Got on google and found this post:

 

 

One tip was to use senkos around lilly pads. I don't use them very much anymore but I had brought some senkos in colors I bought but had never used. One color was bright neon green, and the other was junebug. I know junebugs a well known color but I rarely stray always from the greens and browns for soft plastics (Not after this outing though!).  

 

SOOOO I put on the junebug color and started smashing LM, plenty in the 2-3lb range. Then hooked into the chunky smallie. It was one of those hooksets that were just so solid, where you're not initially sure if it was a sunken car you're hooked to or fish. Every time the fish got close to the boat ZOOM it would pull out another 10 yds of line. Over and over again. Hand started actually getting pretty sore. Finally got it in, weighed it, 3lbs, 9 oz. Seemed a bit light so I took the picture of the fish close to my torso so i could measure later. 

 

After measuring my torso in the picture for length comparison I got ~21 inches in length, and i estimate girth to be ~16 ....well that gives me 6.9lbs from the BR calculator!!! I like what the calculator says a lot more but i don't exactly trust that either haha. Gotta be above 4lbs though. I'll be buying a new scale today though so i'll have to try and catch this bigun again. 

Congrats! Looks like a pretty chunky smallie!

very nice! Congrats

3.9 kilos, maybe?? Hahaha

Actually weighing the fish greatly reduces their weight in my experience. Don't know how it has the opposite affect whenever I weigh myself.

That's a nice looking smallie!

no matter what it weighs that is a nice smallie.

I would be happy with that fish any day.

Nice smallie man! 

 

I'd guess in the 4.5lb range. No expert opinion, but hard to tell from the angle of that pic. 

 

A good scale and measuring board/tape are a must for a serious angler!