Holy smallmouth!

[Watimberghost]

Wow, some great fish! Congrats!

[lokidog]

Did not kill, of course. Getting a fiberglass replica of the smallie. And the smallie was pure luck. Was not targeting big fish, really, just looking for a bite on a tough day and it happened that the only bite was, most likely, the biggest smallmouth that I'll ever catch.

The best part of the day was the guy I was with and his reaction. The fish came to the surface from 13 or 14 feet and he says "That fish is 6 pounds". Then it jumps, somewhat, and he yells, and I mean yells, "Oh my God! That's a F'ing Pig!" SO funny! We were getting blowed into a dock, he said he didn't know if he should grab the net or tend to the boat and he was doing double takes back and forth and finally just grabbed the net. Good memories!

 

I get crazy psychotic when I get a big fish on.  My grandfather was with me in my 12' zodiac when I caught my biggest salmon (30+ lb on a trout rod with 8 lb test line), total freak out on my part, especially since we just had a tiny net and the fish fit less than halfway into it.  Someone finally came over and loaned us a big net.  That was the last time I fished with my gramps, a great memory.

[Band]

Nice ones!

[Panic Minnow]

Nice fish!

[BOWHUNTER45]

Surprisingly Washington grows some nice bass ..Was you fish down South ..L.K Washington ? I did a park remodel on Juanita beach a couple years ago and when I walked out on the docks I seen some dandy bass .. I caught one large mouth about 3 lbs but there were some hogs hanging out there ..problem was they would hear me coming or feel the vibration of me walking out there and take off ..So I would stand still for about 20 minutes until they returned ..Hard to work once I seen them 

[bwhntr350]

I just heard a rumor that I killed that smallmouth, lol. I let her go less than 10 minutes after I caught her. I am a huge opponent to keeping fish in the livewell, unless it is a tournament especially fish that are chocked full of eggs. People say "It don't hurt them to live well them"! I retaliate with "Does it help them?"

 So, no, I don't kill bass. In five years of fishing for them I have killed three smallmouth bass, two 12 inchers and a 2.5 pounder all died by a hook in the wrong place. I never conked any of them. In fact, the 2.5 pounder I threw back in hopes it would live. I grabbed it, belly up, 10 minutes later.

Have had only one largemouth die. That was in a tournament last year. I was frog fishing and my frog rolled out of the lily pads, I guess, upside down. It was a 3.5 pounder. I reeled it in and swung it into the boat and it was a blood fest as one of the hooks stuck him right where both gills come together. I messed with that fish for an hour in my live well trying to keep it upright and it, finally, turned it's heels up. I gave it to some guy fishing  back at the launch after weigh in.

Unfortunate and I feel bad but I have never killed a bass intentionally, so, now that that is straight.

[coachcw]

Great fish, ha very you guys ever fished the lower yak for smallies?

[bwhntr350]

Never fished it but have a friend who has. It sounds like a blast if you hit it just right.

[lokidog]

Unfortunate and I feel bad but I have never killed a bass intentionally, so, now that that is straight.

Nothing wrong with eating fish, bass included.  I do let fish full of eggs go, if I can tell, but I mostly fish to eat fish.      

[HunterStrait]

Unfortunate and I feel bad but I have never killed a bass intentionally, so, now that that is straight.

Nothing wrong with eating fish, bass included.  I do let fish full of eggs go, if I can tell, but I mostly fish to eat fish.      

Same here, i am very big on eating bass, but i don't keep the spring caught ones. imo, mid summer-Late fall is the best time for catching eaters, since most of them are pretty much empty of eggs.

[TommyH]

Unfortunate and I feel bad but I have never killed a bass intentionally, so, now that that is straight.

Nothing wrong with eating fish, bass included.  I do let fish full of eggs go, if I can tell, but I mostly fish to eat fish.