By Louie Stout

Andrew Lemle with two of his big smallmouth bass

Catching 7-pound smallmouth isn’t anything new to Andrew Lemle.

However, catching a five-fish limit of big smallmouth weighing 36.90 pounds was the thrill of a lifetime.

Lemle caught those fish Nov. 18 on a northern Michigan lake. They weighed 6.87, 7.29, 7.73, 7.45 and 7.53.

And they all came off of one rock!

Andrew Lemle weighs 36.90 limit of smallmouth bass

Lemle lives on Lake Charlevoix, but don’t assume that’s where he caught them. He’s not saying, other than it’s a big lake.

“I fish a lot of different lakes up here and I’ve caught some other 7s on this one, but, for whatever the reason, the big fish moved up and wanted to bite that day,” he said. “My previous best up here was a 33-pound limit and I’ve had some 31s, but this was incredible.

The rock is located offshore on a deep flat in about 18-19 feet of water. It sets near a break that tumbles into 50 feet or more. The deep flat is covered with rocks but the big bass magnet was one of the larger ones.

“My guess is the fish winter in the deep hole and move up to feed,” he said.

The air temperature was in the high 20s when he launched at dawn and the lake temperature was around 47 degrees.
He found that rock, and another nearby that was similar in size, on his Lowrance SideScan. He caught fish off them throughout the fall, but not the numbers of big ones he caught off that one rock that day.

“I caught 14 fish in 14 casts off that rock,” he said. “They were all 4 pounds or bigger.”

He had three of the giants by noon and filled out the 36.90 pounds before 3 p.m.

He caught them all on a 3-inch MegaBass Spark Shad (albino or “real” colors) fished on a 3/8-ounce Santone Zaldain swimbait head.

“Those northern fish really bite that bait when it’s cold,” he said. “I’ll fish it right up until the lakes freeze. I’ve caught them on it when the water temp was in the upper 30s.”

The key, he said, is to fish it real slow. You have to literally craw it on the bottom. He figures it either imitates the gobies in the lake or crawfish. Either way, they bite it.

“I got stuck on a rock on one cast and was snapping it to get it free,” he recalled. “When I went to snap again, it started swimming off, and one of my bigger smallmouth had eaten it right off the rock.”

He fished the Spark Shad on a 7-6 medium action Shimano Conquest rod, a size 3000 Shimano Stella spinning eel, 7-pound PowerPro V2 Braid tied to a 6-pound Sunline Sniper fluorocarbon.

“When I fish the bigger Spark Shad (4-inch with ¾-ounce football head), I use baitcast gear and 12-pound fluorocarbon and swing ‘em in the boat,” he said. “But I decided to drop down in size on this day and it seemed to make a difference. I had to play them out for a long time before I could boat them. It was a little scary at times.”

Big smallmouth in livewell

He said he had to fizz each fish and kept a couple in the livewell for photos but released them quickly.

“I absolutely hate to hurt these big fish and it’s imperative to fizz them immediately,” he insisted.

Lemle, who used to fish tournaments when he lived in Ohio, says he has lost interest since moving to northern Michigan 10 years ago. He spends every bit of his free time fishing for 6- to 8-pound smallmouth.

“I’m surrounded by quality smallmouth waters and have fun chasing these bigger smallmouths,” he said. “A lot of friends are tournament anglers and they ask me to fish with them, but I just don’t have the desire.”