I have been catching some LMB off of this pond on my college campus, and had a few extra hours to kill today.  I went down and was catching them off of a Zoom limetreuse trick worm.  I pulled it alongside of these cattails, and WHAM, a fish hit it. I was expecting a decent sized LMB, but when I pull it out of the water, it's a smallie.  I didn't even know that smallies were in that pond.  Also, it's been ten years since I've caught a small mouth, and I was really caught off guard.  How far south do smallies live?

I know that some of the larger smallmouth bass have been caught in Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina.  Georgia's smallmouth record is the same as my state, Missouri, at 7 lbs 2 oz.  I see you are south of Atlanta and I don't know if the range stretches that far.  Maybe some of the Southern smallmouth anglers can answer your question.  

One of the things I miss the most about moving to Florida is small mouth fishing. I loved it.

Your news is good news. Now if they can keep moving South......

Hmmm a Florida strain small mouth.

I suspect it is a Suwannee that someone released:

http://myfwc.com/WILDLIFEHABITATS/Freshwaterfish_SuwanneeBass.htm

8-)

Love them unexpected catches.  I think it's that much more fun!