Super User Dwight Hottle Posted December 30, 2022 Super User Share Posted December 30, 2022 A-Jay's post inspired me to start a thread of your best five smallies ever. Post up the pics & weights. My best five went 7-7 3/4, 7-6, 6-15, 6-14 & 6-12. Total weight 35.42 lbs. 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Raider Bob Posted December 30, 2022 Share Posted December 30, 2022 I should stay away from this thread because I can't catch them like the legends but my top five so far are 19.3 Hoping 2023 gets me that elusive 5 pounder! Dwight that fish in the last picture made me pull a muscle just looking at it! 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User A-Jay Posted December 30, 2022 Super User Share Posted December 30, 2022 I'll post my best 5 Brown Bass stats & pics below, but I would be Very Surprised to see something clear the OP @Dwight Hottle efforts. #giants After this season, my 'life time numbers' are at 7.29 lbs, 6.94 lbs, 6.54 lbs, 6.25 lbs & 6.20 lbs for 33.22 lbs Baits that caught them in the order above: Spinnerbait, Ned Rig, Jackhammer, Repo Man, & a Megabass 110 +1 Jr. And for the inquiring minds that was way points 343, 927, 555, 186 & 1113. btw - someone ask me again if I want to retire somewhere else - Go ahead. Fish Hard A-Jay 18 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Global Moderator TnRiver46 Posted December 30, 2022 Global Moderator Share Posted December 30, 2022 1 hour ago, Blue Raider Bob said: I should stay away from this thread because I can't catch them like the legends but my top five so far are 19.3 Hoping 2023 gets me that elusive 5 pounder! Dwight that fish in the last picture made me pull a muscle just looking at it! I’ve never weighed many but I would imagine I’ve caught a good many 5-5.5 lbers and maybe some approaching 6. I don’t really think I’ve ever eclipsed 6 lbs. We get lots of 21-21.75 inch smallies and some are fatter than others, I think it’s safe to assume a smallie over 21” that is fat will be pushing 5. I’ve weighed a 5 lb plate on my spring scale and it weighs 5, so I have weighed a few that went 5. all that said, I would imagine my best 5 for lifetime is a smidge over 25 but definitely not 30 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User T-Billy Posted December 31, 2022 Super User Share Posted December 31, 2022 I only have pics of my PB 6-4, as the pics of four of my best five died with an old phone in a tank farm containment. Best five go 6-4, 5-15, 5-4, 5-2, 4-14 for 27-7. I've caught a dozen or so four somethings. Five pounders are tough to come by around here, and a six is a fish of a lifetime. I MIGHT get to join the 30+ club with Dwight and A-Jay if I live to be 140 or so. ? 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted December 31, 2022 Super User Share Posted December 31, 2022 I've never weighed any, but my longest smallmouth have been between 20 and 21 inches, so that adds up to between 20 and 25 pounds. My biggest bass ever went unmeasured. I caught it right before dark and my brother, in another canoe, photographed it. It had a sagging belly like a fat largemouth. However, I have also caught lots of fine, deep-bodied 19" fish too, like these three: 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drakesndrum Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 Didn't weight any of mine either but my longest 5 went 95.5", which were 21", 20", 18.75", 18.25", and 17.5". These were all river fish as well. Those lake chunks you guys have are impressive!!! Would love to road trip with my kayak up to MI, WI, MN for a couple weeks! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted December 31, 2022 Super User Share Posted December 31, 2022 4 hours ago, drakesndrum said: Didn't weight any of mine either but my longest 5 went 95.5", which were 21", 20", 18.75", 18.25", and 17.5". These were all river fish as well. Those lake chunks you guys have are impressive!!! Would love to road trip with my kayak up to MI, WI, MN for a couple weeks! Drake, you get to add an inch to each of your river fish. That's an inch for river fury. When our lake fish were growing fat (and soft), your river fish were growing fast and hard. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted December 31, 2022 Super User Share Posted December 31, 2022 Here are a couple 20-inchers. @drakesndrum, see how they're convex with whale blubber from livin' the easy lake life? I don't have any photos of 21-inchers other than that one sagging belly beast at caught in near night and that photo is horrible and non-digital. I get so nervous when I catch 21-inchers because they're so rare for me and knowing how rare they are where I fish, I hurry them back into the water, but I remember them with stunning resolution in my mind. I also remember exactly where I caught them, what the light was like, and most importantly, how I felt when I first saw them. I was able to photograph my emotions when I saw a 21-incher beside my canoe. That's the last image. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulVE64 Posted December 31, 2022 Share Posted December 31, 2022 After the shaking subsides you go into an adrenaline dump. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted December 31, 2022 Super User Share Posted December 31, 2022 Quote After the shaking subsides you go into an adrenaline dump. Unless you're too naive to know how rare a big bass is. I was in a canoe with a teen boy and he caught a 22-inch smallmouth. I was going bonkers, but he looked at me like I was crazy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User scaleface Posted December 31, 2022 Super User Share Posted December 31, 2022 My five are river fish and I never weighed any of them . I'm guessing 20 lbs . 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted January 1, 2023 Super User Share Posted January 1, 2023 Dane, those are FAT river fish. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User NYWayfarer Posted January 1, 2023 Super User Share Posted January 1, 2023 I fish a stretch of the Hudson river in NY state 10 minutes from my house. My best 5 are between the 4 and a half to 3 pound range both from shore and kayak. If I had a boat with a motor I could do some damage both to the Smallie population and my wallet. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogface Posted January 1, 2023 Share Posted January 1, 2023 Very impressive!!! ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulVE64 Posted January 1, 2023 Share Posted January 1, 2023 My top 5 are mostly river smallies with one LMB. Maybe 22# 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User T-Billy Posted January 1, 2023 Super User Share Posted January 1, 2023 Man, @A-Jay, I keep coming back to that pic of your 7.29. It reminds me of my 5-15, just absolutely obese. I caught that fish late fall in the Tuscarawas River, below a lowhead dam. The current breaks were absolutely LOADED with minnows. It's the only time I've ever seen that in my life, and the smallmouth fishing was absolutely epic for the couple weeks it lasted. Seemed every eddy was full of those minnows and brown bass gorging themselves on 'em. You'd think that would be something that would happen every year, and a person would be able to time it up, and get on 'em, but I've never seen it happen again, and I checked several times a week around that time, for several years after. Must have been a really special set of conditions that caused it. It's something I'll never forget, that's for sure. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User A-Jay Posted January 1, 2023 Super User Share Posted January 1, 2023 On 1/1/2023 at 4:02 AM, T-Billy said: Man, @A-Jay, I keep coming back to that pic of your 7.29. It reminds me of my 5-15, just absolutely obese. I caught that fish late fall in the Tuscarawas River, below a lowhead dam. The current breaks were absolutely LOADED with minnows. It's the only time I've ever seen that in my life, and the smallmouth fishing was absolutely epic for the couple weeks it lasted. Seemed every eddy was full of those minnows and brown bass gorging themselves on 'em. You'd think that would be something that would happen every year, and a person would be able to time it up, and get on 'em, but I've never seen it happen again, and I checked several times a week around that time, for several years after. Must have been a really special set of conditions that caused it. It's something I'll never forget, that's for sure. Interesting how it happens (or doesn't) sometimes. That 7.29 was a freak of nature when it comes to shape. Almost looks like there was something wrong with it, but maybe in a good way. As for the when & where; that was/is definitely a time & place deal. One that I have capitalized on just about every late summer/fall since. First found some bass feeding on perch in about 8 ft off this flat several hundred yards from where I eventually caught this one. I kept seeing feeding bass in 'shallower' but could believe the bigger bass would "be in there". We're talking 3-4 feet of crystal clear water, dark bottom helps but that's still pretty skinny for 5, 6 & 7 lb brown bass (not spawning) to be feeding in- so I 'thought'. Next morning right at daylight, I was waiting for them. It's was like a light switch went on literally & figuratively. Carnage. Topwater when it's flat & something moving when it's not; spinnerbait, Jackhammer. A-Rig came into play later in the morning when the fish moved back out to the 8-10 ft zone. Bottom line, it's sort of not 'typical' but does demonstrate fish will go where the food is. Tried the total darkness deal, and there were was no sign of life. Get that very first light (before the sun) on the water - it's magic baby. Overcast can extend it. Any other Boat traffic totally kills it. Sometimes it's over in less than an hour and it takes me at least 2 closer to 3 hrs to get up there & on the spot. But it only takes one cast. I'm almost always In & Out of there before ANYONE else is even on the lake. Then boats totally rip all over that area just about all day, none the wiser. A-Jay 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User gimruis Posted January 1, 2023 Super User Share Posted January 1, 2023 This is what I could put together for brown bass. I caught all of these between 2014 - 2019. 3 of them are prespawn from Mille Lacs and the other two are river smallmouth. I did not weigh all of them. I weighed the lake ones and they were all around 5.5 pounds. They were all between 20 - 21 inches. My best guess on weight is approximately 25 - 27.5 pounds. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted January 1, 2023 Super User Share Posted January 1, 2023 @gimruis That second fish is like A-Jay's first fish: BIG BELLIES! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User gimruis Posted January 1, 2023 Super User Share Posted January 1, 2023 18 minutes ago, ol'crickety said: That second fish is like A-Jay's first fish: BIG BELLIES! Unfortunately its been a few years since I got into some sizable smallmouth. The river I fish has been too low for a couple seasons (drought) and the lake I fish is 132,000 acres. I have to be very selective when I fish a lake that size since I only have a 17.5 foot aluminum mod-V bass boat. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Swamp Girl Posted January 1, 2023 Super User Share Posted January 1, 2023 Mille Lacs is huge, for sure. I used to live in western Wisconsin, so I fished the Mississippi too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
22RangerZ520R Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 My best five smallies weren't close to@Dwight Hottle or @A-Jay, outstanding fish gentlemen! I had 29lb for the year. - 6lb - (4) 5lb 12oz More pics on IG @22RangerZ520R 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junk Fisherman Posted January 2, 2023 Share Posted January 2, 2023 My PB is a 6.6 in my pic to the left. My next 4 would all be high 5s so my best 5 go somewhere around 29 lbs. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User waymont Posted January 9, 2023 Super User Share Posted January 9, 2023 On 12/30/2022 at 2:56 PM, TnRiver46 said: I think it’s safe to assume a smallie over 21” that is fat will be pushing 5 My PB Smallie was 23 1/4" and weighed 6.25. A couple 22" 1st was 5.75, less fat one was 5.5. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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