Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass World Record Smallmouth?

So the world record smallmouth is 11 pounds 15 ounces.

So, a 12 pound fish would be the undisputed new champion.

Has anyone ever put any thought into trying to grow a 12 pound smallmouth in their pond?

It seems so hard to manage a pond for 25 pounds LMB, but a 12 pound smallie seems doable.

Any thoughts on the matter?

Do you think that this could be done in a northern pond?

Would it have to be in the south with the use of TFS?

A pond loaded with crayfish, shad and fathead and other easy prey or even feed trained would be a fun exsperiment.

Techiques for growing trophy smallies would be similar to growing any species of trophy class sport fish such as BG, RES, LMB, YP, HSB, etc. However trophy class smallies are not world record fish. That achievement is reserved for exceptional fish in exceptional conditions. Same basic techniques that produce a world record fish would apply to achieving success in consistanly growing trophy fish. Starting with superior genetics with unlimited food in the proper size groups as the fish grows helps a lot to create larger top end fish. Using dwarf or mediocre genetics is not a good place to start the project with. The recent article by our mentor Bob Lusk outlined what four basic steps are needed for growing trophy BG in his Mar-Apr 2011 PBoss article -"GROWING HUGE BLUEGILLS". Lusk provides four basic rules to grow trophy bluegill. The four basic rules in the article apply to growing all large quality sportfish.

In all but the largest ponds I believe single sex fish would be needed to break a world record.

Id be interested in learning about the largest SMB ever grown in a pond - smaller BOW - under 5 acres. My guess is we'd be hard pressed to find a fish exceeding 6#.

I went with a higher SMB population and imagine my fish will top out around 3.5#, which is fine by me. Given my abundant forage [BG, YP, Crays, GSH] I'm sure I could pump out a 5# fish if I reduced the population significantly and that's in a 3 acre BOW.

Another question to ponder...what is the LMB equivilent of a 5# SMB? 10#? More? Less?

Ditto with what Bill said about everything having to be just right to grow a record fish vs. just trophy size fish. And I say this from experience with a different species.

Having caught a yellow perch that eclipsed my state record by 5 oz. (16 1/4 inches) in one of my ponds, I can safely say I haven't been able to duplicate it since. Under more or less ideal conditions and hand feeding, hundreds of perch have grown to trophy size in that same pond but have never achieved that weight or even 16 inches. It appears even the largest ones are barely over 15 inches and that is where it ends.

IMHO the missing factor is genetic with a special fish having that special something that allows it to reach extraordinary size. World records and for the most part state records are genetic anomalies in my opinion. If they weren't you could just grow them left and right in ponds and tanks under controlled conditions. It's been tried and hasn't been done that I'm aware of.

I agree. I also believe outstanding genetics provides the final push to nudge a fish from trophy status, into record status.

Truth be known, it is probaly the rare case of abnormal genetics such as 'giantism' if that is a real word.

You'd need that rare bass with the human equivalent of Andre the Giant genes. Not likely to happen... I suspect even in a pond of 5-10 acres with ideal SMB habitat and conditions with minimal competition and abundant forage, pushing the double digit mark would be unlikely. How many people here know someone who's caught an 8 pound SMB anywhere? I sure don't! My best is a bit over 6 and I thought that fish was huge. Growing 6-8 pound SMB in a pond with regularity would be quite the accomplishment.

Heck,

I would be happy just to catch a SMB.

Same here never have caught one heard their fun though.. Side note caught 18 nice white bass on Carlyle lake Thursday

I've never caught a five pound smallie. I've never caught a ten pound largemouth. However that doesn't mean that I don't dream about growing them twice that size. Lol. If I let reality stand in the way of me doing things I would never try anything lol.

Given the fight given by SMB I can hardly imagine what a 10 lb fish would be like trying to haul in...sounds like a load of fun though. Biggest SMB I've ever caught would be just under 4#...and that was a BALL!

BTW that old record that was disqualified has now been reinstated. What's with that? I was under the impression that the guide confessed on his death bed that he had put some lower unit outboard motor parts in the fish to make it weigh more.

For the record,,, the total length of a standard weight (aka Ws) 5 lb SMB is 20.4". If managed well and fed correctly it is IMO very feasable to grow smallies to this size in a smaller pond - 0.3 to 1 ac.
My story of growing SMB in a 0.3 ac pond. Fry were hatched in 1994, collected as 2"-2.5" fingerlings in early August, and pellet trained by Oct 05 when they were 3.5"-4.75" long. They were then overwintered inside similar to what members CecilBaird1 and Shorty are currently doing with YOY SMB. By May my smallies were 6.5" - 7.0" long and moved to a cage for further pellet habituation and growing until Sept '95 when they they were 8.0"-9.5" long and released into the pond where forage had been growing two yrs in preparation of adding SMB. These smallies grew on forage of grass shrimp, FHM, BNM, GSH, and YP. Three years later (1999 - 4yrsold) they ranged from 14"-18" long. When I drained the pond in June 2004 some smallies were 21" at 10 yrs old, several others were smaller. Pond was drained because flooding in 2000 introduced BG, GSF, and BH which resulted in rapid declines of SMB and YP populations.

Bill, this smallie I caught way back in 1994 pretty well verifies your numbers - ~21 inches and 5.66 lbs on certified scales.



Here's another "oldie" smallie - my largest ever at 6.25 lbs - didn't get a length measurement before going into big aquarium at Tackle Box - TP&W sent a rookie to pick it for display - it wa transferred from room temp to February cold TP&W transfer truck ....
you know the rest of the story...

George1 very nice fish. You can be proud of those dandy smallies from your "bucket list" especially since I assume they came from the TX area. The Ws for the 6.25 pounder is 21.8". Your fish was nice and plump - evidently it was eating good groceries and could have had some eggs developing for a spring spawn.

How old would a smallie like that be?

Bill, those smallies came from Lake Texoma - one of the best kept secret lakes in this part of the country.
Fish were pre-spawn and fat.

Texoma has been invaded by zebra musseles - clearing water - don't know what is will do to the fishery.

George, what year did Lake Texoma hit full pool? Those first 10 years or so after a new lake fills are always magical.

Late '40s Travis - with German POW labor using mules and slips.
Smallmouth bass stocked early '80s - Mrs. G credited with first documented catch.

Good going Mrs. G!

She says Hi Scott and looking forward to your visit....

That is sad to hear.

Will red ear sunfish eat zebra mussels? Cripes, I tried spelling mussels 3 different ways and they all look wrong .