OCONTO COUNTY (WLUK) — Searching for that trophy fish is part of “How WI Live” in Wisconsin, and across the state, there’s a new record smallmouth bass at the top.
Smallmouth Bass Record (WLUK video)
On a fishing trip on the waters of Green Bay south of Oconto, smalllmouth bass angler Austin Shiefer says he knew when he caught something Friday afternoon.
“The fight only lasted like a minute or two. Honest. When I hooked it, I thought it was a big drum. It was rolling. But when it got a little bit closer to the boat, it started fighting more like a smallmouth. Peeling drag, and then when I saw it down about 8-10 foot I’d say, I could see down there and I’m like that is a monster,” said Austin Schiefer, Smallmouth Bass Fisherman.
“It was sideways. Not up and down. It was sideways fighting. I can see the long and wide, and I’m like oh my God. It was unreal,” he said.
Schiefer took his fish to a get it weighed. Schiefer says two Fisheries Biologists with the Department of Natural Resources made it official on Saturday.
“It was almost nine and three quarters. 9.70 on the certified scale. It was nine pounds 11 ounces everybody’s saying. Yeah, it was a big one,” he said.
The catch tops the previous state record of nine pounds one ounce from an Oneida County Lake in 1950. Schiefer says he used a forked-tailed plastic worm called a Deps Sakamata Shad to land the 23 and a half inch long lunker.
“Honestly it’s still sinking in. I never thought it would be me. I knew it would probably be broken, out of probably Lake Michigan or the Bay. I always thought it would be out of Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay, somewhere up there, and it was,” he said.
What’s next for the fish?
Schiefer says possible plans include getting replicas made for himself, and perhaps more to go on display at area stores.