[nova]

You have to get the butcher to sign a paper that he weighed it; how much it weighed, and the serial and inspection numbers from the scale. Cover all the bases because you only get one chance at it.

www.novalures.com

[CGL PITS]

What ever you do do not freeze the fish. They will not even consider it if it has been frozen. I do agree with the guys in the super market deal. I have also landed several 18 to 21 1/2 and never pulled anything over 4 1/2 pounds in that range. My best smallie went 22 1/4 and 5 pounds 10 oz.

I did have a rep made of this fish from a guy in Tenn. She turned out real nice. The rep last a lot longer than the real deal. And like the one guy stated the larger fish put off some many YOY.

I do promote a slective harvest, i think we need to harvest some of the smaller fish so that the lake can manage itself in the bait fish side of things. Alot of lakes have so many fish that they seem real thin. I think this has to do with the amount of fish in the lake. They only have so many bait fish and they are all compeating for them. I know in fisherman promotes keeping some for eating and C&L the bigs ones. It takes so long for a smallie to reach that size that if we do not release them our kids will never have a chance at a trophy.

[Predator Bass Baits]

I had a tourney 2 weeks ago, We had a away tourney for our club and had a non boater with me, I was catching the smallies on tubes and he asked me if he could have one, so I let him have one and he caught a 7.04 smallie
Dang nab it if he did not beat me for first, we did take 1, 2 on a 2 day tournament.

[HookUp]

IMHO - you did good by releasing the fish immediately.

[thill]

Keep that puppy alive on a lip-stringer, then put it in a cooler with a bubbler and some blue stuff from BPS to keep the fish calm and safe. Get it weighed, take good pics and then release it for next year, and get a fiberglass mount made from the pics.

[Bterrill]

Come on, no 21-22" SMB is going to come close to 9.25lbs! That record fish was probably in the 24-25" range.

That is a nice smallie at 21.5"! There are always more big ones down there than you think. Unless it was a small creek or pond, odds are it wasn't the same fish your buddy caught

[Bterrill]

BTW thanks for releasing her, so others might have a shot!

[ghostbaits]

Here is one a guy caught on one of my 3.5 split tails (beavers) and a football jig head... He caught plenty over 7 that day as well... WOW! He knew he was close to the record but knew KVD's brother had it at over 9..

Jim

Mack Hammrick's Lake Erie Smallie!!!

8.7lbs...22 1/4 inches long with a 19" girth. Caught on a 3.5 split tail rigged on a football head jig!!!

[smalljaw]

I caught a smallie last season that was 20.25" and weighed 4lb. 4oz but it was a river smallie which run alot less in weight to length compared to lake or resovoir smallies. My personal best smallie was 22" and weighed 5lb.4oz also caught in a river system during pre spawn. It's possible to have some big differences in weight depending on what type of water the fish was caught and what time of the year it caught.

[gunnie3035]

I got one last September at 22.25" and 8lbs even. Imagine what she would have weighed in March/April. So yes, a 22-23" smallie could weight in excess of 9lbs. The one in the picture posted by Ghost looks like the real deal to me. What I look for in a picture is the fatty part where the tail meets the scales.