The Story of the Pending Michigan State Record Smallmouth Bass!

[djkimmel]

Bruce Kraemer lands pending state record Michigan smallmouth bass

Bruce Kraemer of Indian River, Michigan likes to fish the Indian River. It's just a few hundred feet from his house so it's convenient to fish his favorite shore fishing point. On September 11 Bruce was using his favorite rig he calls the tri-rig - a three way rig with a weight dropper. Bruce does this to keep the gobies from gobbling up his live nightcrawler he uses for bait.

Bruce cast out his rig and lets it sit in the river hoping for some bass, walleye or the occasional nice perch. On this day he set the hook and felt like he had a snag. Bruce figured a goby had taken his nightcrawler under a big log in the river, and then it started moving! That's when Bruce knew he had a big fish!

Read the entire story on Great Lakes Bass Fishing and Outdoors News.

[21XDC]

Cool story

[Ryan]

Good write up, Dan!  Thanks for once again providing the "scoop"!

[djkimmel]

You're welcome! Thanks for reading.

[Manxfishing]

Didn't I read in the Free press a article saying that if lakes were Fished during the spawn.
There would be no fish left in them?

Both Hubbard and Burt/Mullet are lakes were the SM spawn a couple weeks after the Bass catch and release season opens.
Just maybe there's a chance that the Free Press writer and a few other folks aren't Fish biologists?
Because it would seem the fish are doing pretty well up there.

[djkimmel]

Actually the spawn happens after the catch and KEEP season opens, and has for 46 years since they changed the bass season to Memorial weekend in 1970. Fishing during the bass spawn is a personal decision not a scientific issue. We all know that, and it is based on all the scientific research on bass that has been done to date.

That writer and others aren't going by science, just personal bias and a desire to keep the rest of us from fishing the way we want to fish.

[djkimmel]

Meanwhile I talked to Lynne Thoma at the MDNR Fisheries Division and she says she expects to officially certify Bruce's bass as a new state record this Thursday or Friday after she receives the mailed paperwork. She said she doesn't see any issues with the electronic paperwork submitted so far.

We may see more big bass like these caught in the next few seasons because of the introduction of abundant new food sources in gobies and rusty crayfish. Could a Michigan bass get as big as the world record? That remains to be seen!

[Grinny]

Did they get a length measurement of that beast? I'd like to know how long a 9 1/2 pound bass is!

[bwebber]

I think it was 23.5 inches.

[bwebber]

According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Florida resident Robert Bruce Kraemer caught a 9.98-pound, 23.1-inch smallmouth bass while fishing the Indian River in Cheboygan County. He's been fishing Michigan waters since 1965 and spends June through September at his Indian River cottage.

I stand corrected, 23.1 inches.

[djkimmel]

It was a real long bass but it was tall and fat!