SMH, just can't believe that you catch a 7 pound smallie and make fish sticks out of it.  Hope it was tasty!

 

https://www.wcax.com/2025/09/30/vermont-angler-sets-new-unofficial-smallmouth-bass-record/

Nice and fleshy, with a little mercury on the side… 

I think he just preferred people believe that it was 7 1/2 lb, instead of getting it weighed on a real scale.  

Lather it up in batter, deep fried, and dipped in tartar sauce. Probably tastes like every other fish made this way. 🤮

32 minutes ago, gim said:

Probably tastes like every other fish made this way. 🤮

Agree there - a 7lb fish is just too old and big to have decent flavor. That's why I stick with the 1.5lb-2.5lb bass. Much more flavorful and great with just some butter, salt and pepper and cooked in the broiler or on the grill. Or maybe spice it up a bit by doing what Catt would have and cook it Cajun Blackened.

 

If you need tarter sauce to eat your fish, you're eating the wrong fish.

16 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Catt would have and cook it Cajun Blackened.

Nah. He always said Cajuns call that burnt. 😂 At any rate, blackened is one of my favorite ways to eat fish.

After having fresh caught saltwater fish, there’s a good chance I’ll never consume freshwater versions again.

 

The natural flavor that saltwater fish has is robust in comparison.

 

The natural taste that freshwater fish has is very bland to me. It tastes like nothing. Which seems to be the reason people have to doctor it up. This is coming from someone who also ate a lot of fish growing up. Walleye, panfish, and northern pike. My appetite for it is nearly completely gone.

 

Every once in a while my FIL or BIL will bring me a filet of smoked lake trout or salmon from Lake Superior. That’s decent stuff.

Bass are my objects of affection, I'm 100% catch and release.  I agree with Choporoz;  the guy wanted to brag, not show proof.

Reminds of an event many years ago in South Dakota.

Fishing with a friend in a reservoir and he caught the biggest yellow perch I ever seen. I told him it has to be a state record and he should check it out.

Some days later I asked him about it and he said, "Nay, I ate it". He was more interested in dinner

 

Is nobody gonna point out that fish isn't anywhere close to sniffing 7 lbs??

1 hour ago, JHoss said:

Is nobody gonna point out that fish isn't anywhere close to sniffing 7 lbs??

 

So true. It might not even weigh four pounds.

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

So true. It might not even weigh four pounds.

4 lbs is about what I was thinking. 

36 minutes ago, JHoss said:

4 lbs is about what I was thinking. 

 

Yep, nowhere near seven. Seven-pound smallies:

 

 

 

Just googled this and apparently someone admitted that the weight was phony.

 

Always hard to tell by a picture but just for reference,

here are 2 that are no doubt over 7 courtesy of Mr @Dwight Hottle

And 1 of mine that just squeeked over 7 lbs.

And in this case it was 'the small one'.

A-Jay

Lots of Vermont bass fishermen are upset at F&W for pushing this bunk.  Guy who took the picture is all over saying it was 4.5lbs.

On 10/7/2025 at 6:42 AM, webertime said:

Lots of Vermont bass fishermen are upset at F&W for pushing this bunk.  Guy who took the picture is all over saying it was 4.5lbs.

 

I just know that I caught the Maine state record largemouth bass. She weighed 17.1 pounds and here's photographic proof:

 

So the lure must be one of those 3 foot long display lures, right?

 

Honest mistake. Had the scale set on ounces instead of pounds 

On 10/9/2025 at 9:27 AM, Swamp Girl said:

 

I just know that I caught the Maine state record largemouth bass. She weighed 17.1 pounds and here's photographic proof:

 

 C’mon! That’s gotta be at least 17.2! 

George Perry ate his world record LMB!

Tom

On 10/3/2025 at 9:09 AM, gim said:

saltwater fish has is robust

I wouldn’t call bluefish robust tasting …. Interesting term for it though.

9 hours ago, DogBone_384 said:

I wouldn’t call bluefish robust tasting …. Interesting term for it though.

When I moved to Newport, RI in the late 80s, I was excited to do some salt water fishing.  I took my first bluefish home and cleaned it, baked it and ate it.  (So bad that my Asian ex-wife wouldn't even eat it again.)

  If that wasn't bad enough, it turned out that was all i could catch.  I was pretty disappointed.