The wind was shifting, easing the chop on the water, and Austin Schiefer of Menasha had just switched rods.
What happened next, though, was different in generational terms.
Schiefer was fishing Oct. 30 in the Oconto County waters of Green Bay with his friend, Ted Johnson of Waupaca.
At 2 p.m. the two were over about 20 feet of water and had been having some success catching fish out of a school of smallmouth bass.
And on Schiefer’s first cast with the new rig, the boat’s electronics showed a “huge blob” rise up from the bottom and strike his lure.
Schiefer, 29, made a good hook set, brought the fish to boat side and Johnson netted it.
The two men are experienced anglers, members of the Wolf River Bass Club and regular fishing tournament competitors.
So they immediately knew it was a very big fish. They also were aware of the Wisconsin record for smallmouth bass.
But even the best anglers don’t assume their lifetime best is tops in state history.
Johnson’s jaw dropped as he weighed the still-dripping fish on a hand-held scale.
“What is it?” Schiefer asked.
“I don’t even want to show you in case (the scale) isn’t right,” Johnson said.
After another moment to try to process the information, Johnson turned the device toward Schiefer. The digital display read 9.72 pounds.
Among Wisconsin hook-and-line fish records (which are based on weight), the top spots for the most popular game fish have been on the books since the early to mid-1900s. Details, documentation and official, independent verification in those times were not to contemporary standards.
The walleye record is from 1930, the largemouth bass from 1940, the musky from 1949 and the northern pike from 1952.
And for the species landed by Schiefer, the Department of Natural Resources listed a 9 pound, 1 ounce smallie caught in 1950 on Indian Lake in Oneida County. No length was included in that listing.
A 9.7-pound, 23.75-inch-long smallmouth bass caught Oct. 30, 2026 by Austin Schiefer of Menasha, Wis. while fishing the Oconto County waters of Green Bay is measured. Fisheries staff of the DNR inspected the bass and it is expected to be accepted as the Wisconsin record for the species.
So Schiefer and Johnson knew the bass at hand Oct. 30 on Green Bay could well be a record. In any case, it was was worthy of a certified scale.
“Our day got cut short,” Schiefer said.
The fish was kept in the boat’s live well while the men began making phone calls in an effort to meet a DNR representative at a boat launch or facility with a certified scale.
“I really wanted to be able to weigh that fish, get it substantiated and then release it alive,” Schiefer said.
They weren’t able to meet DNR fisheries staff, however, until the next day.
Schiefer had the fish weighed Oct. 30 on a certified scale at Thompson’s County Market in Oconto, Wis. It weighed 9.7 pounds.
Its length was 23.75 inches.
On Oct. 31, Schiefer took the fish to Brussels, Wis. to meet DNR fisheries biologists Logan Sikora and Jacob Steckmesser.
The DNR biologists cut the fish open to inspect its body cavity and internal organs. The stomach was empty. And there were no lead sinkers or other objects in the fish that might have been added to artificially increase its weight.
And in an unexpected finding, it was a male, Schiefer said.
Female fish are most often the largest individuals of the freshwater species native to Wisconsin. And when it comes to weight, the heaviest are typically females carrying eggs just before they spawn in spring.
This male smallie broke the record and a gender stereotype.
The fact it came from Green Bay was not a surprise, however.
The bay has been a leading smallmouth destination for a couple decades, including for traveling anglers and professional fishing circuits.
In 2014 B.A.S.S. listed the area No. 1 in its annual rating of the top 100 U.S. bass fishing destinations.
Austin Schiefer of Menasha, Wis. holds the 9.7-pound smallmouth bass he caught Oct. 30, 2026 while fishing on Green Bay. Fisheries staff of the DNR inspected the bass and it is expected to be accepted as the Wisconsin record for the species.
When justifying its choice, B.A.S.S. wrote: “Simply put, if you want to angle the best bass fishing waters that currently exist for size and numbers of fish, head to Wisconsin.”
In 2019 the Door County waters received more acclaim when Bret Alexander of Green Bay and Eric Haataja of West Allis caught five bass that weighed 32.76 pounds during their winning effort in the Sturgeon Bay Bass Tournament. The average of 6.55 pounds per fish was considered a tournament record – anywhere in the world – for five bass.
Although the quality of all fisheries fluctuates and many anglers feel Green Bay smallmouth population is not as strong as it once was, the area continues to provide very good fishing.
Schiefer’s 9.7-pounder puts an exclamation mark on it.
He submitted the required paperwork and the DNR is expected to process it and recognize the record in the near future.
An otolith from the smallie is being examined to determine the fish’s age.
Schiefer credited his friend and angling partner Johnson with suggesting the Oct. 30 outing. And he gave a shout out to his mentor, Gary Adkins of Green Bay, the National Professional Fishing League angler of the year in 2022, for helping teach him the ropes of smallmouth fishing in Wisconsin and even showing him the spot on Green Bay that yielded the record smallie.
And when it comes to the lure that caught the record fish, Schiefer, who has worked as a UPS driver and has a lure making business called Schief’s Custom Baits, laughed that it wasn’t his creation or one made by anyone he knows.
It was a minnow-imitating lure made by a foreign tackle manufacturer.
“I was very fortunate, all things considered, to be there with my friend Ted and cast to the right spot when this fish decided to eat,” Schiefer said. “I had caught some good ones out there, but obviously nothing like this.”
For information on Wisconsin’s record fish programs, visit dnr.wi.gov.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Angler catches 9.7-pound smallmouth bass on Green Bay, pending state record