My biggest out there was 6.6lbs......my scales read 6.9lbs initially but the certified scales at OneStop showed it at 6.6lbs. Have caught a fair amount in the 4-5lb range there. Usually for numbers of smallmouth October into November is best for me but I catch some throughout the year too.

7.4lbs has been lame record since 1997. December timeframe. If I recall Mike caught that one off the rip rap in Runaway Bay from the bank. Have not seen him in years out there though.

How were these reported? Likely more than that caught, just never reported.

No small mouth in Belton, don't waste your time and $$$$$.

I was a friend of Ron Gardner for many years and fished with him numerous times during the period that he was catching all of those heavy smallies .I was not aware that he ever fished with live bait but if he did that did not take away from the fact that he was a heck off a fisherman and one of the nicest guys you ever met. My largest smallmouth was 6.9 on his scales caught in January and we broke ice at the ramp to launch the boat.

I had a few casual conversations with him. We had a mutual friend. He told me most of them come of a black spinnerbait and 3/4 trap

I know this is not anywhere close to where you are asking but the best Smallmouth fishing in Texas is hands down the Devils River. Way up that beautiful clear/cool spring fed river above where it enters Lake Amistad. Accessible only by canoe/kayak trips. Had some really good smallie fishing trips down there. Big ones too. Best of those mentioned in North Texas? Texoma. Even better with more smallmouth is close by but not in Texas? Lake Murry in Ok on I35 before Ardmore Ok. Most smallmouth I have ever caught in a day/all day long? The Mountain Fork River above Broken Bow Lake in Ok. No idea how many, but tons. Had some great smallmouth fishing on the Buffalo River in Arkansas before also.

And that�s what I remember also. Black Colorado Leaf Spinnerbait sometimes at night in the winter was his go-to bait.....at least that�s what he said.