OutdoorsFriday, November 6
A Menasha angler's Green Bay smallmouth bass is the new Wisconsin record
The Good Day Appleton team
If you fish, this one's for you. Austin Schiefer of Menasha caught a 9-pound, 11.3-ounce smallmouth bass on Oct. 30, and the DNR verified it as the state hook-and-line record for the species. He landed it on the bay just south of Oconto, beating a 9-pound, 1-ounce smallmouth caught in Oneida County in 1950.
The new record smallmouth by the numbers
- 9 pounds
- and 11.3 ounces is the new state smallmouth record
- 23.5 inches
- long, per the state listing
- 76 years
- is how long the old record stood
Sources: WJFW, Journal Sentinel
Schiefer was fishing with his friend Ted Johnson of Waupaca. WJFW reports he first guessed he'd hooked a freshwater drum. "It's still sinking in," he said, and he's planning reproductions and has reached out to the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward.
The record went from catch to verified in four days
- 1950The previous 9-pound, 1-ounce record is caught in Oneida County.
- Oct. 30Schiefer's bass is caught and weighed on a certified scale in Oconto.
- Oct. 31DNR fisheries staff inspect the fish in Brussels.
- Nov. 3The DNR verifies the record.
Source: Journal Sentinel
- Earlier reports said 9.7 pounds; the state list converted it
- Walleye record: 18 pounds, from 1930
- Largemouth bass record: 11 pounds, 3 ounces, from 1940
- Musky record: 69 pounds, 11 ounces, from 1949
Sources: Journal Sentinel, WLUK, WJFW