Possible new PA state record released

[Choporoz]

Too bad he didn't catch it in a retention pond instead of the Allegheny River.....

[NYWayfarer]

On ‎10‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 11:35 AM, J Francho said:

 I've heard so many shore anglers talk about "ten pounders" they caught.  Happens at nearly every spot I frequent.  One time I hear a guy on his phone screaming he caught a ten pounder.  The fish is on a rope.  When he gets off the phone, he starts bragging to anyone that passes.  I told him nice bass, but it's not 10.  He's like, it has to be.  Pull out my scale, and it's barely over three.  Told him it's a great fish for the spot.  Probably ruined his summer.  Showed him the picture below, and asked him how big he thought it was.  He said that has to be a ten pounder.  The scale was waffling at the 5 lb. mark.

@J Francho speaks the truth. I have witnessed this and was even a victim of it. The Smallmouth in the pic below is my PB from this season.  Caught in the Hudson River from shore on a Whopper Plopper 90 Weighed in at exactly 4 pounds.

 

 

 

Average size Smallmouth caught at that spot are anywhere from a half pound to a pound in size. When I reeled this beast in a lady was passing by and I asked her to take my picture if she didn't mind. She told me she never seen a fish that size pulled out of there and it must be a state record. I assured her it wasn't as it was only 4 pounds. She said it looks like it weighed 15 pounds to her.

 

When people are used to catching fish with the average size of this area their minds go a little crazy when they catch a fish in the 2 plus pound size.

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

14 hours ago, FryDog62 said:

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..

The only reason I could get close is because that’s a common size fish near my house. Anything over 21”, very rare 

[slonezp]

On 10/26/2018 at 11:28 AM, Dwight Hottle said:

First of all no one caught a 9lb smallmouth. The fish was never weighed. You can estimate all day long but the scale tells the true story. 

Yeah, sure. Like you know anything about catching big smallmouth.....

[slonezp]

On 10/31/2018 at 8:50 PM, 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.

 

That was caught in Sturgeon Bay 3 or 4 years ago. The abundance of gobies, aelwifes, and gizzard shad in Lake Michigan is the reason bass from that area look like a burrito grande'. They can just gorge on forage in the spring.

 

I caught my PB smallmouth in Sturgeon Bay this spring. I estimate it at 6ish. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. It was 23".But after reading the article, It might have been nine. ?

 

[CrankFate]

For SMB I’m perfectly satisfied with my PB of possibly the record weight of 2.5 lbs.

[A-Jay]

My PB smallie is definitely a state record.

In fact she's 18 state records.

Unfortunately just not in the state I caught her in . . . 

A-Jay

[12poundbass]

7 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

My PB smallie is definitely a state record.

In fact she's 18 state records.

Unfortunately just not in the state I caught her in . . . 

A-Jay

Since when did you start revealing the name of your secret northern lake? Never thought I'd see the day.

[A-Jay]

2 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Since when did you start revealing the name of your secret northern lake? Never thought I'd see the day.

It was sheer peer pressure I tell ya ~ 

The people want to know.

A-Jay

[slonezp]

8 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Since when did you start revealing the name of your secret northern lake? Never thought I'd see the day.

You should place closer to attention. It's no secret that Lake Menderchuck spits out quality smallmouth year after year. If you google the name, google gives the exact coordinates as being located somewhere between here and there.

[Lucky Craft Man]

14 hours ago, A-Jay said:

My PB smallie is definitely a state record.

In fact she's 18 state records.

Unfortunately just not in the state I caught her in . . . 

A-Jay

 

What a PIG!  I wonder how many people tried looking up Lake Menderchuck...haha.

[A-Jay]

6 minutes ago, Lucky Craft Man said:

 

I wonder how many people tried looking up Lake Menderchuck...haha.

I know -  I get inquires as to it's exact location on my FB page all the time.

Sometimes I even feel kind of bad explaining to them that it's a BS name.

Some think it's funny.  Some, not so much. 

A few humans have gotten pretty indignant after learning they probably will never find the place. 

Oh Well . . . . 

A-Jay

[Vilas15]

17 hours ago, slonezp said:

That was caught in Sturgeon Bay 3 or 4 years ago. The abundance of gobies, aelwifes, and gizzard shad in Lake Michigan is the reason bass from that area look like a burrito grande'. They can just gorge on forage in the spring.

 

I caught my PB smallmouth in Sturgeon Bay this spring. I estimate it at 6ish. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less. It was 23".But after reading the article, It might have been nine. ?

 

It was actually this year in the spring 2018 tournament. Biggest fish in the tournament's history. My PB of 4.25 lbs is from one of only two trips I took to Sturgeon Bay. I need to get back there but don't have the time.

[Spankey]

On 10/27/2018 at 3:21 PM, Janderson45 said:

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.

Amen, lets keep it real. I've caught (smallies and greenies) on a few occasions that I thought for sure were going 5 or a little over. Only to fall short or quite a bit short of 5lbs. River fish with some nice length. They just don't carry the weight. Maybe from dealing with current. Around my parts when we discuss some of our catches we mostly refer to length. The on line weight estimators are way off. That chart is mostly to make your head grow. Especially is you don't have good dimensions or lacking any dimension and guessing. A nice digital scale does not cost much.  

[12poundbass]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I know -  I get inquires as to it's exact location on my FB page all the time.

Sometimes I even feel kind of bad explaining to them that it's a BS name.

Some think it's funny.  Some, not so much. 

A few humans have gotten pretty indignant after learning they probably will never find the place. 

Oh Well . . . . 

A-Jay

I know the real location and my silence is expensive @A-Jay! 

 

*update* I quickly remembered you're originally from Boston, and after the Whitey Bulger deal this past week I'll keep my mouth shut! 

 

Quick question what's the origin of Lake Menderchuck? I honestly had never heard the name before you and I heard Zona and another angler say it too. 

[Spankey]

On 11/1/2018 at 10:56 AM, NYWayfarer said:

@J Francho speaks the truth. I have witnessed this and was even a victim of it. The Smallmouth in the pic below is my PB from this season.  Caught in the Hudson River from shore on a Whopper Plopper 90 Weighed in at exactly 4 pounds.

 

 

 

Average size Smallmouth caught at that spot are anywhere from a half pound to a pound in size. When I reeled this beast in a lady was passing by and I asked her to take my picture if she didn't mind. She told me she never seen a fish that size pulled out of there and it must be a state record. I assured her it wasn't as it was only 4 pounds. She said it looks like it weighed 15 pounds to her.

 

When people are used to catching fish with the average size of this area their minds go a little crazy when they catch a fish in the 2 plus pound size.

 

 

 

I love the color of your smallie. Real nice. Out here where I am as the season progresses and late on at the end of September and October they come out of the thick river grass black as tar like that. Great fish.

[A-Jay]

2 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

I know the real location and my silence is expensive @A-Jay! 

 

*update* I quickly remembered you're originally from Boston, and after the Whitey Bulger deal this past week I'll keep my mouth shut! 

 

Quick question what's the origin of Lake Menderchuck? I honestly had never heard the name before you and I heard Zona and another angler say it too. 

Solid Plan ~ 

 

First time I heard it was during his LIVE deal with KVD in the spring last year.

Seemed like he made it up on the fly - but I have a strong suspicion that it may have something to do with either a cameraman or perhaps the human driving the camera boat; perhaps part of a name.  Because when he said it, he looked right at them with that wacky "Z face".   So you know something was up.

Either way I thought it was a most excellent plan & name so I totally stole it.

A-Jay

[soflabasser]

On 11/3/2018 at 12:10 PM, A-Jay said:

I know -  I get inquires as to it's exact location on my FB page all the time.

Sometimes I even feel kind of bad explaining to them that it's a BS name.

Some think it's funny.  Some, not so much. 

A few humans have gotten pretty indignant after learning they probably will never find the place. 

Oh Well . . . . 

A-Jay

I do not blame you one bit for not revealing one of your favorite spots, I would do the same. You most likely had to do lots of research and put in your time on the water which is something many people do not want to do these days. Besides people can always pay a guide to help them catch bass if they want. I do not plan on ever saying online where I caught my current personal best largemouth bass and most of the places I fish.I do give out a couple good places but not the ones I enjoy the most. I named one of the places I fish ''Jurrasic Park'' since I tend to catch many trophy peacock bass there. Got another spot where my best 5 bass in a day tend to average a combined length of 105-115 inches with a good chance of a 25 inch or better bass. I catch these fish from public waters from land and I prefer my privacy when I am fishing so you best believe I won't be inviting anyone online anytime soon.

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, soflabasser said:

I do not blame you one bit for not revealing one of your favorite spots, I would do the same. You most likely had to do lots of research and put in your time on the water which is something many people do not want to do these days. Besides people can always pay a guide to help them catch bass if they want. I do not plan on ever saying online where I caught my current personal best largemouth bass and most of the places I fish.I do give out a couple good places but not the ones I enjoy the most. I named one of the places I fish ''Jurrasic Park'' since I tend to catch many trophy peacock bass there. Got another spot where my best 5 bass in a day tend to average a combined length of 105-115 inches with a good chance of a 25 inch or better bass. I catch these fish from public waters from land and I prefer my privacy when I am fishing so you best believe I won't be inviting anyone online anytime soon.

I fish my own fish ~

I NEVER 'go check out' where or what anyone else is doing ~ EVER. 

My experience indicates that not everyone is willing to put the time & energy in to do the same.  Although many of the places I fish do not get a ton of pressure, there is enough that a little stealth goes a long way.  Still,  boats will come up and way point places I'm on, as well as snuggle right in close.

I guess there's a desire there to see what I'm doing.  I will routinely take that opportunity to take a break; perhaps have a sandwich. ( At least until they move on which usually only takes a few minutes). 

  I never sweat it - just because someone watches a Bruce Lee movie doesn't mean they know Karate. If they did, they probably  wouldn't need to follow the Sensei around.

A-Jay

[slonezp]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

My experience indicates that not everyone is willing to put the time & energy in to do the same.  Although many of the places I fish do not get a ton of pressure, there is enough that a little stealth goes a long way.  Still,  boats will come up and way point places I'm on, as well as snuggle right in close.

 

That would tick me off. I don't have that issue. I fish highly pressured lakes where everybody knows all the spots. It's more or less who gets there first and who has the lucky bait tied on.

 

I do however have my super secret monster panfish lake that I don't tell anyone about. If the bucketheads ever found out about it, it would get decimated.

[TOXIC]

I was once told by an old fisherman...."You ain't gonna catch another man's fish".......Which loosely translated means, go find your own fish.  

[TnRiver46]

11 hours ago, TOXIC said:

I was once told by an old fisherman...."You ain't gonna catch another man's fish".......Which loosely translated means, go find your own fish.  

Truth. 

[JLBBass]

On 10/31/2018 at 9:50 PM, 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.

 

now that's FOR REAL!!!

[Spankey]

On 10/30/2018 at 10:20 PM, HeddonFrog said:

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 

 

Great post! When I saw that I thought for sure that was a 26-27” smallie. One nice fish. 

[Dwight Hottle]

This one was a pound & 2 ounces shy of the PA state record. 22.5" by 17" measured & weighed on two different scales.