to me, small mouth shouldn't count.

Dang!

Shouldn't 'count' for what?

That's the most magnificent example of the species I've ever seen. Betcha it was caught on a tube with 6# test! That would be really scary.

I fish Lake Grapevine a lot. Smallmouth should count double or be treated a bonus fish.

absolutely!! Especially in Texas.

I�ll try and find out what it was caught on. I assume a very small hair jig on extremely light line. The tube produces many fish, but the biggest seem educated to them.

Plus #1. Also congratulations to the angler!

Wow, that's a great fish

I heard 40lbs was like 75th place? World class fishery

Wow that's nice

40 lbs would have got you 70th place. It's an incredible fishery for sure, but it's not the paradise folks think either. It fishes way smaller than most people imagine. The tournament was won out of a community hole with probably 20+ boats sitting on it. The whole place gets enormous pressure. Boats everywhere. Guys sit on certain rock piles with the patience of a monk castings hair jigs or super small tubes. They are just waiting for the right fish to move in. The fish are extremely homogeneous. It's very rare to catch a fish under 3 lbs and it's also very rare to catch one over 5.5lbs. I've fished up there at least a dozen days and have not cracked 6lbs. Had buddies in the boat hook them though. 100 fish days with a 4 lb average happens a bunch up there in the spring. I'd say a good 30% of all days are unfishable as well due to wind as well. Make sure to factor that in if you ever decide to make a pilgrimage.

Really? 20 Years?

What a cool fish!

Very short growing seasons up there. The ice didn't come off Green bay until about May 1st this year. Those are slow growing very old fish.