Smallmouth bass caught on a 4.8” Keitech Fat Swing Impact (sight flash) on a VMC swimbait head in a downtown area during high water. (Fox River, northern Illinois) My friend is holding it and he caught it from the front of a tandem kayak while I stayed on paddle to keep position. The pic was simply a lucky shot from my iPhone that turned out nice! In terms of size, it's one of the bigger specimens we've encountered. While 18s and even 19s are catchable with some regularity, this was a surprise ... pushing into that next level of "Wow!"

(I posted this same shot on r/bassfishing, but did so from my iPhone, and I think due to the large file size, Reddit severely compressed it and much of the color and clarity seemed lost. Hoping this works better!)

River is really high right now from all the rain in Indiana the other day. I know one spot where I can usually catch some fish from shore when it’s this high. So I went and tried. I got my personal best smallmouth out of the Maumee twice from that spot today. 1st fish was about 17” and a fatty. About 3+lbs. Very next cast I hook into another Maumee giant. At least 4# maybe 5. 18.5” and had some girth to him.

certainly one of the all time river smallies I have caught.

posted these on Facebook a few weeks ago. They were well received. One of the all time fish I've caught just based on life circumstances on that given day. The straight up abnormality of the weather that day and week in particular. Just everything about it. I wish I could relive this moment again. One fish on this particular day and it was worth it.

As I said certainly one of those ones I won't soon forget. This fish was 3.75 lbs. Very respectable at any length for a river fish. What made this fish truly incredible was the fact that it was only 17.5 inches. In the tail end of July and tail end of what has been an incredibly difficult post spawn period. The biggest fish I've caught this year was 20.5 and 4.2 lbs and that was an egged up female in mid April.

Truly a special fish.

Late evening smallies on 1/8 oz spinner and pumpkin TRD ned rig

Not a hog but a decent one

Fun times on the river, yesterday so the river looked like chocolate milk instead of clear. It was a grind for them. Once I found them I usually caught more than one in the same spot, but had to cover a good amount of river to find em all which was tough with the water conditions. Overall success! Finesse jig with a craw trailer or a crankbait where the lures they wanted.

Busted my PB 3 times today and ended up with an 18 incher. All out of a creek you can hop across in sections. Nuthin better. Zoom baby brush hog.

Caught ten smallies on the Maumee River, plus a few bonus fish. And my first flathead ever! The Strike King coffee tube cleaned up today