Well, this issue finally came around and they gave David Hayes his world record smallmouth ranking again.
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/wsmworldrecord.jpg)
IGFA restores 50 year-old smallmouth bass record
After investigation, IGFA reinstates catch of near 12 lb bass
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DANIA BEACH, Fla. ? After an intense investigation of documents, many from 50 years ago, the International Game Fish Association, the organization which among its duties maintains world records for both freshwater and saltwater game fishes, has reinstated a record for the biggest smallmouth bass ever caught... more--> (http://www.greatlakesbass.com/fishing/nr05smworldrecord.html)
How can they make decisions like that with no real proof(that the fish was tampered with) and come out years later and reinstate,I almost could care less if they reinstated the fish if it was mine.
It sounds to me like think were very competitive and kind of ugly back then (maybe now?) around Dale Hollow in the quest for a world record.
It's a shame for sure if the whole thing was just spiteful or mean out of jealousy or something. Most persons say Hayes was a nice upstanding person.
I think you are right about the jealousy and spite,back then I think that everyone thought the next world record would come out of Dale Hollow,that was probobly true up to the late 80's early 90's(what do you think)but now a days there are several places that a record could come from,St. Clair/Detroit River,Champlain just to name a couple.
I've seen some monster smallmouths up north, but the seem to top out before they get over 10 pounds. I think an area that has excess high value forage might do it on a very rare bass so the odds are really small. The smallies have definitely gotten bigger in the Great Lakes and some northern lakes so it isn't impossible.
The biggest I've seen caught was the 8-2 my friend caught back in October. Lot's of 7 pound plus are being caught though. I think I saw one that might have gone 9 pounds in Torch Lake, but that was a while ago. Of course, the biggest caught in quite a while up north was Randy VanDam's 9-8.
Can the northern lakes produce a 10-pound plus? Especially one that breaks 12 pounds?
I don't think it's impossible, but possibly so rare no one will catch it...
Like any other basser worth his tube baits, I would sure like to be the one to prove it's possible!!!
Don't care much for the igfa and how things are set up. I don't think theres a way for a record fish to be released alive which is a shame. I have caught potential line class records for the state of michigan (rough fish) in the past years and looked into what I would have to do to submit a record. I was dissapointed to find that I had to pay $20 just to view the current records and an additional $25 for each record application. I've seen plenty of 7-9lb smallmouths on the great lakes but I think the only lake that has the potential to produce a world record is western lake erie.
-Matt