Possible new PA state record released

[Dwight Hottle]

12 minutes ago, 1simplemann said:

Why are you guys so eager to trash a nice Fish? He never said it was the state record. He took a pic and let her go. then showed the pic later to a F & G guy and HE said it was close to 9 lbs. The angler didn't know what he caught, only that was a big one. If he knew, I'm sure that he would have weighed it IF he had scale. You PA guys should thank him because she's swimming free for the next guy. Plus she's gonna make lots of babies! For you nay sayer's, that fish is slob and is definitely near 24" or 25". WRB's #'s are correct. That fish is 5 hands long. Do the math. Is it a state record? We will never know.  Catching a potential record and letting it go isn't unheard of. I know a local angler here that once caught a potential state record. 7+lbs on his scale. He caught it on a Weds. in the middle of nowhere. He didn't have access to a certified scale so he let her go. Some of you guys may call BS on that but it's true story. To back it up, he went out and caught a bigger one! That one is certified as the new MT state record. Congrat's to the angler!

He didn't say it was close to 9 lbs. He stated it was at 9 lbs. I don't care what someones fish credentials are looking at a photo and declaring it was 9lbs is plain old bull sh`t. If he had said it looks like 8-9 lbs that could be defended. 

 

"Ian landed a 25-inch smallmouth bass that Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission waterways conservation officer Mike Walsh estimated, from a photo, at 9 pounds.

[JLBBass]

22 hours ago, TOXIC said:

If you are even going to mention a record you better have at least something to back it up.  Anything other than a picture.  I could put up a lot of pictures of 6lb smallies that look like they could eat that one for lunch.  If nothing else, take a picture of it laying next to your rod so that you can measure it later or better yet, sacrifice some fishing line and cut 2 pieces one to the length and one to the girth.  Then you can at least get accurate measurements if not actual weight.  Just for reference, here is a 4 almost 5.  Pictures can be deceiving.  

 

 

yep

that fish looks like close to 6#'s

[BigAngus752]

29 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

He didn't say it was close to 9 lbs. He stated it was at 9 lbs.

 @1simplemann has it right.  The "He" you are referring to is " Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission waterways conservation officer Mike Walsh estimated, from a photo, at 9 pounds."    Not the guys that caught the fish.  They never claimed anything, at least not in this article.  This is what they are about, “It was a great father son moment, and truly was the smallmouth of a lifetime,” Onufer said.".  There's honor in catching a great fish, releasing it, and relishing the moment with your dad or your son.  The DNR guy is a dufus and the reporter is trying to find something interesting to report.  I suspect the two fishermen are really regretting talking to either of those people right now since there are fellow bass fisherman trashing them all over the internet and all they were doing was trying to celebrate a once in a lifetime fish.  

[Dwight Hottle]

30 minutes ago, BigAngus752 said:

 @1simplemann has it right.  The "He" you are referring to is " Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission waterways conservation officer Mike Walsh estimated, from a photo, at 9 pounds."    Not the guys that caught the fish.  They never claimed anything, at least not in this article.  This is what they are about, “It was a great father son moment, and truly was the smallmouth of a lifetime,” Onufer said.".  There's honor in catching a great fish, releasing it, and relishing the moment with your dad or your son.  The DNR guy is a dufus and the reporter is trying to find something interesting to report.  I suspect the two fishermen are really regretting talking to either of those people right now since there are fellow bass fisherman trashing them all over the internet and all they were doing was trying to celebrate a once in a lifetime fish.  

It would help if you read what I said. See the quote. The he I was referring to was the the PA conservation officer. 

[1simplemann]

34 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

It would help if you read what I said. See the quote. The he I was referring to was the the PA conservation officer. 

My bad. Your right I should have used the word "estimated" not close. For the record, I didn't say you said anything. Look at the previous posts. What I read was a bunch of guys knocking the fish and/or the angler down when the angler isn't the person who made the claim. Heck the angler wasn't even the guy that the post! The PA officer may have got it wrong or he may not have. Either way we will never know. It's just a big fish that some guy caught with his dad. Good for him! The key word is "estimated". It might not be 9lb but by  judging hand size and estimated girth it's a big fish. Clearly not a 5lb'r. The truth is most of these guys have never held a 9,8 or even a 7lb'r myself included so they don't truly know what one looks like.

[BigAngus752]

1 hour ago, Dwight Hottle said:

It would help if you read what I said. See the quote. The he I was referring to was the the PA conservation officer. 

My mistake. I didn’t see the second paragraph. I apologize. I just hate threads like this one. Too much negativity on the internet. I’m guilty of it sometime too, though. 

[1simplemann]

30 minutes ago, BigAngus752 said:

My mistake. I didn’t see the second paragraph. I apologize. I just hate threads like this one. Too much negativity on the internet. I’m guilty of it sometime too, though. 

No worries. It's a true fact about the negativity. It's not only the internet. We as a society for some reason have to knock someone's achievements. Years ago I had a friend Jack kill a 140" deer on our club hunting property. If you knew anything about our property and area 140" deer  just didn't live there. This one did. But that didn't stop people from trashing him saying he poached it "over bait", "at night" etc. Some were his own club members! It got so bad he simply didn't tell people anymore. All he did was get lucky and kill a big deer yet people trashed him behind his back. Some unknowingly to his face told him about what a unscrupulous hunter he was. They didn't even know they were talking to the man himself. You should have seen his face when Jack introduced himself. Priceless! He left in hurry. My point is simply that for some reason some people have to knock someone else whenever they catch a big fish or kill a big animal. Big fish and animals are freaks. They come from freakish places. The WORLD record chain pickerel came from just down the road from where I grew up in Lower Aetna Lake. Definitely not a world class fishery but it happened just the same. We will never know how big the fish was but it's a good story. 

[Janderson45]

Great fish but is sucks that you cant just be happy with what looks like a 5-6lb smallmouth and have to lie and call it 25” and 9+lbs ?.  

 

It blows my mind how bad casual fisherman are at estimating fish weight and how quick they are to throw around the term “5lber” - a 5lber is a great fish just about anywhere in the country (largemouth or smallmouth) - unfortunately most of the “5lbers” I usually see caught are between 2-3lbs.  I tell my buddies when I’m getting them into the sport that they shouldn’t estimate or brag about fish weight without actually using a scale and it will likely be a long time before they catch that 5lber.

[Spankey]

Nice smallie for sure. Congrats to him and his father. Better than a respectable fish. I'm a Pennsy Smallie angler and have caught some nice smallies they didn't come anywhere close to his 9 lb'r, not far from it's said length though. I keep a digital scale on the boat. They are not that expensive. I try to keep it real. Just not into over exaggerating. I river fish. They are leaner for the most part.   

[TnRiver46]

I don’t think anyone was knocking the angler or his fish. All the “negativity” was aimed at the size estimate. I would call it innacuracy instead of negativity myself 

[SWVABass]

Record or not he’ll of a smallmouth. Catching that tank with family will make even better memories. Glad the anglers released her healthy. Congrats to the duo!!

[1simplemann]

1 hour ago, TnRiver46 said:

I don’t think anyone was knocking the angler or his fish. All the “negativity” was aimed at the size estimate. I would call it innacuracy instead of negativity myself 

 

That's the thing. It's not that inaccurate. My finger's  spread out like the angler's measure 4.5 ". The finger's are the only thing for size comparison. There's at least 5 hands worth of fish length in the pic. The fish is 24-25" long approximately. It has decent girth. 9lb's worth of girth? Maybe not but definitely not 5lb's as some have suggested on here. Read WRB's post and plug in the math. The fish may be indeed at least 8lb's if the estimation's are correct. And yes there is negativity. Some have even suggested the angler was Lying. The angler NEVER claimed it was 9 LB'S. The F&G guy did. Was he lying? I doubt it. Did he over estimate? Probably. Is it still a big fish? Definitely. The angler just repeated what the the F & G guy told him. He's supposed to be the authority so I can totally believe the angler repeating the F & G guy"s claim. Yet some people turn it around that angler was the one making the claims. In my limited experience with 7lb SMB. My friend's wife caught a 7lb 2 oz fish that was 23". It didn't have the girth that this fish does. IF and only IF the angler measured it correctly then I can totally see 8lb or more.  There will always be doubter's because until they see the fish on a bump board and actually hanging on a scale some people can't accept the fact that somebody caught a bigger fish than they did.

[MickD]

I don't catch any really big smb these days because my shoulders are so bad that I can't hold the fish out that far any more.

[Spankey]

2 hours ago, MickD said:

I don't catch any really big smb these days because my shoulders are so bad that I can't hold the fish out that far any more.

I don't think the whole real story was going anywhere other than a great time out, good overall bite going on, some nice smallies were hitting, some nice smallies were caught, an exceptional fish got caught and a pic was taken. A under qualified waterway guy made an inaccurate assumption from the same pic we are seeing.

 

I know I'm not jealous. Whenever I'm smallie fishing I hoping for a state record even though in reality it probably won't come from the rivers I fish.

2 hours ago, MickD said:

I don't catch any really big smb these days because my shoulders are so bad that I can't hold the fish out that far any more.

Mick I was not trying to quote you. Not sure how it came up. I do like your photo collage. Real nice, good fishing.

[HeddonFrog]

I’m surprised no one posted this. It’s the former Michigan state record that was 24.5” and 9.33lbs. The one that beat this one was 9.99 but this guy obviously knew how to take photos of his record catch. The guy who caught the current record only had remarkably bad photos but was only a recreational fisherman..and caught it on a dew worm ??‍♂️ The luck some people have. This is a true true giant 

 

[Lucky Craft Man]

Top Picture: Estimated 9 lb. Smallmouth

Bottom Picture: Weighed (on calibrated scale) 7 lb. 2 oz. Smallmouth I Caught This Year

 

I would say his fish is a good two pounds heavier than the one I caught.

 

 

[Turkey sandwich]

It's super frustrating not having accurate lengths and weights on these fish and that none of them are on bump boards... but holy crap, the fish porn on this thread is ridiculous.  

 

Man, you guys catch some tanks. ?

[Spankey]

7 hours ago, Lucky Craft Man said:

Top Picture: Estimated 9 lb. Smallmouth

Bottom Picture: Weighed (on calibrated scale) 7 lb. 2 oz. Smallmouth I Caught This Year

 

I would say his fish is a good two pounds heavier than the one I caught.

 

 

Lucky, that’s a dang nice fish man. Congrats. Thanks for keeping it real. 

 

The original fish is a beaut. No doubt about it. Some waterway guy commenting on the same pic we are seeing is just misguided. Other guys I know from on the water have told me of things and comments waterway guys have told them. Have heard a few bizarre statements. I’m lucky I guess that I don’t ever run into them or get approached. 

[Gundog]

Just because a Waterways Conservation Officer tells you something doesn't mean its true. Remember WCO's mostly deal with rules and regulations enforcement. They are not experts in weights, measurements or even fishing in general. Even when it comes to rules they can be wrong. That's why every person who gets a ticket gets to go to court if they choose to. WCO's are people, just like me or you. They can make mistakes just like all of us. 

[FryDog62]

Anyone want to estimate the length/weight of this one?

[TnRiver46]

6 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

Anyone want to estimate the length/weight of this one?

Pennsylvania state record! But released...... hahaha no I would go with 21” somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 lb 

[patred]

7 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

Anyone want to estimate the length/weight of this one?

5-6 pounds because that's what it says your personal best is over to the left.

 

Pat

[FryDog62]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Pennsylvania state record! But released...... hahaha no I would go with 21” somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 lb 

You’re both really close...

My point is it’s not that different than the one in the original post... maybe a tad smaller but not half the weight..

[Vilas15]

Here's a 8.78 caught in a tournament for comparison. No guessing the weight here or questioning the scale. No measurement of length but this thing looks like it swallowed a 3 lber. In regards to the "9 lber" I'll just say it's a real nice fish.

 

[Lucky Craft Man]

9 minutes ago, Vilas15 said:

Here's a 8.78 caught in a tournament for comparison. No guessing the weight here or questioning the scale. No measurement of length but this thing looks like it swallowed a 3 lber. In regards to the "9 lber" I'll just say it's a real nice fish.

 

 

I think I need a new pair of pants.  What a FISH!  That is what I dream of there.