12poundbass

In case you haven’t seen the current record smallmouth here’s a picture the first biologist sent me.

It may not have been the exact weight. I know with the world record at least you have to surpass the weight by a certain percentage or weight in order to actually break the record. Either way they were bother very close in weight. I imagine there’s at least a news article of the one caught in ‘59. I wouldn’t have the slightest clue how’d you’d track that down. Maybe a library or historical society up there? We have the gentleman’s name, like you said he most likely has family around some place. I’m sure things up there are like my small towns around me, best place to get info especially fishing is find the restaurant the old men hang out in every morning, drink coffee and chew the fat (now there’s a small town term). ? I’d like to see this thing through. I believe we can produce some sort of first hand knowledge or picture of the ‘59 fish. The ‘32 I think given the time and decades passed that ship has sailed.

Completely forgot about that big girl! She never missed a meal does she.

Are you referring to your Mexico bass?

The difference in girth between the two yet they both weight the same is interesting to me.

Ok gentlemen I heard back from two state biologist from the MIDNR. The first one basically talked about the smallmouth bass record. He was actually one of the biologist who recorded the Current smallmouth record that came from Indian River. He did forward me over to another fisheries biologist and she was more helpful to an extent. As we all kind of figured there isn’t much info regarding the two bass in question. So here is the email she sent me this afternoon. Jeremy, My name is Lynne Thoma and I work in Lansing. I know you have heard from Tim Cwalinski in Gaylord as well. I have been the coordinator of the Master Angler for the last 8 years when the program was assigned to me. The staff member that was here when the program was started back in 1973 has retired. While not all state records have the girth listed, I was able to find those measurements for the bass. As for the two current state record largemouth bass, there is very little information on them as both fish were caught before the Master Angler Program was started in 1973 and records were not kept back in the 30’s and 50’s like they are now. Here is what I can tell you: 1934 / Fish was caught in Big Pine Island Like, Kent County on June 25th / weight 11.15 lbs / length 27” / girth 25.75”. 1959 / Fish was caught in backwaters of the Bamfield Dam, Oscoda Co on September 5th / weight 11.15 lbs / length 26” / girth 22.50. Sorry, but this is all the information we have. Those that worked for Fish Division and verified these fish back then are no longer with us so we have no one to ask or talk to. We only have the few facts that were documented and I have shared those with you. As for the state record smallmouth bass, here is some comparison. As you can see, the length and girth on the largemouth bass was quite a bit bigger which would seem to justify the weight difference. 2016 / Indian River on September 11 / weight 9.98 lbs / length 23.10” / girth 16.9”. 2015 / Hubbard Lake on October 18 / weight 9.33 lbs / Length 24.5” / girth 18.5” I hope this information helps. Lynne Thoma DNR Fisheries Division

Wow great info here, thanks @WRB!

6poundbass caught a nice one tonight. He’s religiously out fishing ever night, I think he’s addicted.

I’ll be it pulled drag like no other too!

$40! I’d be soaking it up with a sponge and putting it in a cup or licking it off the floor. ?

Nice work @MIbassyaker I figured you’d join in on the ‘quest’ we’ll call it. So a bass that is 24-26” weighs 9-10 lbs in The post spawn season of July, how much weight can she add when she’s full of eggs?

So I did a little digging on my lunch. I didn’t come up with much but a couple names. William J Maloney is the one who caught the Big Pine bass in ‘34 Jack Rorex is the one who caught the second bass it says Bamfield dam. I look that up and everything takes me to Alvina dam. Mr. Maloney in regards to the record only brings up his name for the record (no surprise). I did find a Jack Rorex who was born in Detroit would’ve been 34 I believe when fish number two was caught. He moved to Florida later on. He passed away in 2013 (I believe it was) in his obituary it said he was an avid hunter and fisherman, so this could be our guy. He has children who are in Florida. Anyone with Facebook willing to run the ground ball out? That’s all I’ve been able to come up with so far.

I emailed the MIDNR fisheries department inquiring about any information they may have about these two fish and the couple of Master Angler submissions the previous two years that were the same or longer than the two state record largemouth. I guess we will see IF I get a response back and/or IF they have any further information on them besides length and weight.

This happened at a lake just down the road from the lake I live on.

Oh I missed the biologist part. When you mentioned it the first time I thought you were referring to MA not MI. I thought the lack of any biologist eyeballs on a potential state record was pretty bad even for Michigan, I guess I didn’t read far enough or overlooked it. My brain is small, my hair is blonde, and I’m left handed so cut me some slack. ? The rain stopped so I can finally get out and get some fresh air, I was losing my marbles there for a minute. ?

Must be the rain is getting to you. Lol Looking at the MIDNR site they are pretty lax on these which is kind of disappointing. A picture of the fish and a picture of the measurement and that’s it. For a state record it’s down right pitiful! The way I’m interpreting the process is you catch the fish take it to a certified scale (it says grocery store) weigh the fish get a record of the weight take a couple pics fill out the application email it to them and congratulations Mr. A-Jay you’re a state record holder. So go down to Bacarac catch a 12-13 lb bass stuff her smelly body in your suitcase bring it up here, go to Wally World get it weighed and BOOM you’ll have your very own booth next to the airbrushed tee shirts at all outdoor shows this winter that have turned into flea markets. ? Whew! We have gotten a lot of rain haven’t we?

I’m not finding squat on either of these fish. Thinking about what @A-Jay said about the master angler deal a picture and measurements are all that’s needed. I wonder where these pictures are? I looked on the master angler page and didn’t see anything about them. The top two bass from ‘17 and ‘18 were close to or longer than the record bass. Were these master angler bass skinny, fat, bug eyed?

Looking at the master angler awards for 2017 there was a largemouth registered The was 26.75 inches long, it doesn’t give a weight on any of these bass unfortunately. It came out of Fletcher pond in Alpena county. One thing I noticed is that same lake produced 3 or 4 master angler largemouth in 2017. 2018 Master Angler the biggest was 26.25 inches and the second was 25 inches both came out of Kent county the biggest being Versluis lake which I believe is a gravel pit/man made lake. Again be weights.

That’s what can be frustrating for us northerners is most tips, tricks, and discussions on forums, tv shows, and magazines are in regards to impoundments. The currents in natural lakes are minimal or non existent and water fluctuations are nil. Most of our lakes are featureless bowls. No road beds, house foundations, and rarely a creek channel.

In Michigan 99.9999% of our lakes are natural glacial lakes. There are a couple impoundments. I’m not a researcher but I’d like to see if collectively we Michiganders could dig up more information about these fish, news articles, pictures, or anything. Maybe master angler or tournament regarding other giant bass being caught. I’ve talked to a few guys who tournament fish Big Pine and they’ve said 6 pound bass regularly and some 7’s come out of there so the gene pool must be pretty good.

This subject always intrigues me especially since my screen name is 12poundbass. I’m skeptical that a fish that size could be caught but optimistic there could be one. I’ve posted on other threads about the story I’ve heard from two different sources one being a park ranger at a particular lake in West Michigan that the DNR about 12-13 years ago shocked a particular lake and found a state record bass in it. My wife’s uncle first told me this 12-13 years ago, then about 5-6 years ago the park ranger told me the same thing. Hearing these two stories corroborate each other several years apart gets my wheels spinning. I’d assume this fish is long gone by now but I imagine she’s passed her genes on.

And so the mystery continues. I was way way off and now you see how these things get going! Not intentional BTW!

Me too!

Looks like @everythingthatswims And his partner ended up in 9th at the FLW college nation championship! Congrats to him and his partner on a job well done!

Somebody get this man a raise!!!!