14 Pound Smallmouth ???

I hesitate to post this because it sounds unbelievable but there was an article in the March issue of the Brookfield Citizen written by a man named John O'Leary Jr. He claimed that a 14 pound smallmouth was netted by F&W biologists during their annual lake trout survey in Quabbin Reservoir this year. Has anyone else heard anything on this? If true, this would shatter the existing world record of 11 pounds 15 oz.

Not a chance. Two things - smallmouth doesnt grow that big. If its 11 or 12. Probably reasonable. Secondly, i think he meant it was largemouth, not smallmouth.

I would like to see that article. Have any link or picture to see what he has to say?

let's see the pic

No picture accompanied the article. A friend of mine knows the author personally and is going to check with him. I'll post any further info.

How is an 11- or 12-pound smallmouth reasonable, but not a 14-pounder?

I don't think it's reasonable because if you think about it like the size a fish can be increases then levels off... Like take largemouth bass length for example:
it can go from very small to 12 inches then 15 inches then 18 then 20 then 23 but then plausible lengths start to level off... there are less and less fish that are going to be closer to 30 inches and i would love to see a bass over 40 inches... the bigger a fish gets the less room it has to grow.
So to put it into this smallmouth situation you can have a 1 lbs smallmouth a 2 lbs a 3 lbs all the way up to 8 lbs then from there the smallmouth that are that size are few and far between, then of course you hit 11 lbs as the world record... however, a 14 lbs seems impossible because the amount of fish as i stated in the largemouth bass length scenario level off and hit their final size.

sorry if this didnt make any sense

this is just a classic case of a guy seeing a huge fish, perhaps 7 lbs and having no idea what fish actually weigh. Just a crazy way off guess. either that he used that classic huge dial scale that seems to count in increments of two lbs.

Reason why i believe that 11-12lbs smallmouth is reasonable. I mean, let get down to science, this guy said it was in quabbin. In which, you know it is huge lake. And fisherman doent covered all of those spots and you have off limits spots in there too.

Now, for example, let look at michigan Lakes, lake erie, or even st. Clair, they have world class smallmouth fishery. They produced regularly 6-8lbs class. They get colder than massachusetts and longer ice fishing season. So, why it cant be in quabbin? After all, they have plenty of forge and small fish to eat. So, tell me why it is impossible/doubts for massachusetts smallmouth to grow like that?

Off the record, yes, i know about predator numbers in ponds cause less forge for them and become stunted to smaller size. My backyard pond is become stunted pond now. 9/10 of bass couldnt get past 4 pounds. But there are few of them over 4lbs in there.

Grampa Casey always said, "believe none of what you hear, and only half of what you see."

i do believe there is an 8 plus smallie in the Q, but over 10 dont believe it.

Reason why i believe that 11-12lbs smallmouth is reasonable. I mean, let get down to science, this guy said it was in quabbin. In which, you know it is huge lake. And fisherman doent covered all of those spots and you have off limits spots in there too.

Now, for example, let look at michigan Lakes, lake erie, or even st. Clair, they have world class smallmouth fishery. They produced regularly 6-8lbs class. They get colder than massachusetts and longer ice fishing season. So, why it cant be in quabbin? After all, they have plenty of forge and small fish to eat. So, tell me why it is impossible/doubts for massachusetts smallmouth to grow like that?

Off the record, yes, i know about predator numbers in ponds cause less forge for them and become stunted to smaller size. My backyard pond is become stunted pond now. 9/10 of bass couldnt get past 4 pounds. But there are few of them over 4lbs in there.

a 11lb smallmouth is impossible in mass . After all the years of electro shocking some thing atleast 10lbs would have turned up , I've never even heard of one that went 9lbs ,never mind 11lbs . Now if we were talking about California this would be a valid conversation and you would have a point. California doesn't even produce 11 lb smallies but they have 11lb spots crazy!!!

Also keep in mind... Most electrolysis charges wouldn't stun an 11lb smallie unless it was right under the boat. I definitely believe there is a 9 or 10+ lb smallie in The Q. But I'm not sure if anyone will catch it before it dies.

I hesitate to post this because it sounds unbelievable but there was an article in the March issue of the Brookfield Citizen written by a man named John O'Leary Jr. He claimed that a 14 pound smallmouth was netted by F&W biologists during their annual lake trout survey in Quabbin Reservoir this year. Has anyone else heard anything on this? If true, this would shatter the existing world record of 11 pounds 15 oz.

Good lord, here it is. Page 6

http://brookfieldcitizen.org/wp-content/issues/2016/201603citizen.pdf

World record was 11lb15oz caught in Tennessee in 1955:

http://www.gameandfishmag.com/world-record/10-largest-smallmouth-bass-world-records/

seems like it would take over 25yrs for a smallmouth to reach 14lbs in N.E. waters

not sure the details but a according to replies on this post at stripers forum, this fish weighed 8 lbs. rumors had it at 12. Im just posting the link, im not even saying it came from the Q

http://www.stripersonline.com/surftalk/topic/474407-new-word-record-smallmouth-quabbin-reservoir/