HEY Fellas; we were fishing today, getting a lot of nice LMB action on 4 inch *** Sticks, so we switched up to the 5 inch and we went to a different spot and my good friend Steve uis fshing it with a Pflueger Trion 6730 spinning reel and an BPS Extreme spinning rod with 6 lb Cableas mono.

He gets a hit and the line started screaming off the reel, and with the first jump we knew it was going to be the best fish of the year. Then it bulldogged and started a run to the boat she broke water and WAS THE WRONG COLOR>>>>BRONZE, a huge smallie for these waters!

Finally got her to the boat , against a Cabelas Ruler just barley 22 3/4 inchs!!!!!! Since we did not have a scale or camera we are going to say 5 lbs, it was probally bigger. I was glad to put Steve on such a fish WHAT A DAY, Thanks ***!

wow that sounds awesome. wish i could get some smallie aciton

That makes 2 of us. One 3 consecutive trips: Zel,Bruce and Steve hook smallies and NOT ME :-[

holy crap! that smallie is just 3/4 inches shy of my PB largemouth! i couldnt believe catching a smallie that big. must have been amazing!

I did not know they existed in the lake. We had to measure it against the side of the boat, with 2 of us holding it! II was never so nervous and excited about someone else's fish. I wish we had a scale or a tapemeasure for the girth, I really would love to know what that fish actually weighed. BRUCE HAS THE CAMERA AND THE SCALE AND HE WAS AT WORK

Wow that's awesome.Bet that was a heck of a fight.

In a pinch you can use a piece of fishing line to measure for the girth mark it or cut it then check it later.Anywho nice fish and great day

Wow that's awesome.Bet that was a heck of a fight.

In a pinch you can use a piece of fishing line to measure for the girth mark it or cut it then check it later.Anywho nice fish and great day

Great idea, wish I knew that this afternoon!

Cut two pieces of line from one of your reels, use one to measure the length, and one to measure the girth. Get home, and measure the line!

I've had to do that a few times.

what a giant smallie!  that's awesome.

Muddy, I worked all weekend and didn't get your message till late. Wow, what a fish! According to the Pennsylvania Angler, 1992 volume 61, Number 6 (where the state listed a weight conversion system based upon length from years of studies), a 22.75 Pennsylvania smallmouth converts to a 6.35 pound fish.

Were you around rocks with close proximity to deep water? That seems to be the only type of places at Mauch Chunk were I get smallmouths. But I've never got any smallmouth over 3 pounds there. If you would have gotten a picture and measurements, Steve could have gotten a Angler Award certificate from the state of PA for that fish.