# It finally happened!!!



## USMC-BUCKEYE (Apr 2, 2010)

Those of you that know me know that I have been chasing a 20 inch small mouth religiously for the last 5 years. Today it finally happened. 20 on the dot. 

It was in the scioto where the slack water met the current. 

Sorry I'm keeping the lure a secret but my 3 biggest smallies (18, 19 and 20) have come off of it and I bet a bunch of you have it in your tackle box and never use it.


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## MDBuckeye (Sep 29, 2009)

Congrats! High water and all.
Nice fish


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## USMC-BUCKEYE (Apr 2, 2010)




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## partlyable (Mar 2, 2005)

That's a great river smallie congrats. So since your not telling us the lure do we get to guess. Either way congrats hope their are many more 20"ers in your future!!!


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## USMC-BUCKEYE (Apr 2, 2010)

If you really want to know. I'll tell you via pm if you guess the right lure, size and color.


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## DC9781 (Apr 3, 2009)

Wow. Nice job! Congratulations.


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## fishslim (Apr 28, 2005)

Congrats great looking river smallie. Well as for bait we know it was not a Big Joshy. mepps spinner gold blade with orange bullet.


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## 93stratosfishnski (Aug 25, 2011)

fishslim said:


> Congrats great looking river smallie. Well as for bait we know it was not a Big Joshy. mepps spinner gold blade with orange bullet.


Obviously that fish has spawned troy.. now a few months ago and that fish wouldve probably ate a ziploc bag or a joshy swim


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## fishslim (Apr 28, 2005)

Lol true I was thinking maybe just foil.lol

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## fishslim (Apr 28, 2005)

How was water conditions still pure mud or getting a little cleaner? Hoping to hit a river this weekend. Man nice smallie

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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Congrats - I've been chasing the same fish for years - but I guess I don't see the point in keeping the bait secret.


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## partlyable (Mar 2, 2005)

I don't really care to know the lure just love seeing big fish gives me hope I'll get one!! My biggest river smallie is 18. But if it's in everyone's tackle box my guess is a white spinnerbaits or a watermelon soft plastic of some kind..


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## JimVW (Sep 14, 2013)

Top water pop-r, classic floating rapala, grub or tube! Nice fish man! Always after that 20 " smallie! I fish smaller rivers but they are still there. My biggest was 18 on popr and had larger during lunch break on dad floated under bobber. New 10 pound mono broke at bobber where spring was clamping on it!! Slips for me from now on.


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## Specktur (Jun 10, 2009)

Wow! Having fished for smallmouth now for 5-1/2 yrs and the best catch being an 18 incher I can appreciate the accomplishment.


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## USMC-BUCKEYE (Apr 2, 2010)

Thanks everyone. Slim the water was still extremely stained. Maybe 6 inches of visibility.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Nice smallie, congrats!

buzzbait? river and creek smallies, especially the larger ones really like them.


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## Skippy (Dec 2, 2009)

Real nice fish

Lets see,,,, an old dried up piece of hotdog fished under a beach-ball sized float.


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## Enthusiast (Jun 20, 2011)

Nice fish! AC Shiner?


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## CRAPPIECOMMANDER (Feb 25, 2006)

Great Fish! It had to be on a Banjo Minnow


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## DLarrick (May 31, 2011)

Deazl666 said:


> Congrats - - but I guess I don't see the point in keeping the bait secret.


i agree. Not posting an exact spot i understand but lure selection is a bit much to me. To each there own though. 

looks 19 3/4 to me anyway
just playing man. Congrats on a heck of a fish.


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## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

Nice fish! Nothing like landing a big river smallie!

Red and white spoon of course.....


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## USMC-BUCKEYE (Apr 2, 2010)

If you look at my past reports I usually put lure, body of water and type of water. Sorry guys keeping this one.


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## 1rod1reelfishing (Jun 26, 2013)

Nice fish! You're making me want to go chase some river smallies. Of course you're entitled to choose what you want to post and I like that we can now play a game to guess your lure of choice. Since you're last few river trips you've been catching em off of tubes and jigs, I'm going guess you were using a 4 inch twister tail green pumpkin on a 1/8 ounce jighead


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## OnTheFly (Jul 30, 2010)

Luckily the big ones eat more than one thing!! I have gotten a 20" in Michigan and many other hogs on tubes. Had a 19.75" on a ssr5 bluegill this spring. Way to go on the pig though!


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## kayaker189 (Feb 20, 2014)

Nice fish for sure. Since the biggest smallies I have caught were on little tubes I will say a green tube


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## 9Left (Jun 23, 2012)

Nice fish USMC!


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## Saugeye Tom (Oct 6, 2010)

Nice un!!! of course you got it on the Flying Lure. We all have those


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## gerb (Apr 13, 2010)

i was thinking a jitterbug....but my vote goes to the spoon. great fish though!


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## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Inline spinner????


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## polebender (Oct 29, 2011)

Great smallmouth! And a true trophy coming from a river system! Now you have a new goal!


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## bigbass365 (Mar 2, 2009)

nice fish congrats. the first one is the hardest


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## jamespritt1987 (Jul 4, 2014)

*Congratulations, a really nice looking fish.*


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## the-fisherman (Sep 20, 2013)

Nice fish! 

I noticed that after switching from mostly spinners to crankbaits the size of the smallmouth increased dramatically.


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## ML1187 (Mar 13, 2012)

the-fisherman said:


> Nice fish!
> 
> 
> 
> I noticed that after switching from mostly spinners to crankbaits the size of the smallmouth increased dramatically.



What kind of cranks do you like to run sir?


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## the-fisherman (Sep 20, 2013)

ML1187 said:


> What kind of cranks do you like to run sir?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Ohub Campfire


The Olentangy River isn't very deep so I run a lot of different types of cranks. I first started running the Manns Minus One to avoid all of the snagging while wadding. The crank has produced very well. Once I had my kayak and could get to the snags. I started running the Strike King and Bandit crankbaits. All three of those are very nice crankbaits. I've been playing around with the Lucky Craft Fat Smasher and it's very impressive and produced a lot of bass today. It's a very expensive crankbait at $15 but I got it upon sale at Bass Pro. 

I need to start running the soft plastics and I continually kick myself for not doing so. 

I got caught 20 inch bass this year and that is being conservative upon a Manns Minus One. When the bass hit the first thought represented that it was a 10-15 pound catfish until I saw its tail.


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## Deerehunter03 (Sep 7, 2006)

Well since I probably don't use it. let us know what lure it is so we can send them to you . Nice fish!


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## Bubbagon (Mar 8, 2010)

LOL!!
Nice fish!


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## bdawg (Apr 14, 2009)

Nice Fish! My biggest river smallie is only 16". Caught it on a nightcrawler during the spawn. They will hit just about anything during the spawn if you run it through their bed it seems. 

Since the water was stained, I'll guess you caught it on something with a lot of flash or vibration. Coulda been a rebel craw, but that would be too obvious! I got my biggest river bass last weekend on a rebel craw. A 17.5" largemouth. Got it in stained water at the current edge next to a large pool. Classic fish catching spot! It hit only 10' from where I was standing and gave a good fight! Lots of head shaking and diving.


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