Indiana has a new record for largest smallmouth bass caught in the state. It weighed in at eight pounds and four ounces.
The smallmouth bass was caught in Monroe Lake — also called Lake Monroe — on March 3 by Rex Remington. He’s caught smallmouth bass there before, but none were this big.
He alerted DNR officials of the size of his catch, and they came out to get an official weigh-in. After that, he released the fish back into the water.
“When you catch a fish, especially of that caliber, it's good to have that genetic stock maintain and placed back in the lake where it can hopefully reproduce and pass those genes along," Remington said. "That's kind of the main objective and for me I've always been catch and release."
His catch broke the previous Indiana record by a pound, which was set in 1992 in LaGrange County.
Indiana has three species of black bass — smallmouth, large mouth and spotted.
Indiana DNR fish biologist David Kittaka said the bass do better in Indiana’s natural lakes up north. Most bass recorded at Monroe Lake are largemouth. But there’s always been a small population of all three at Monroe Lake.
“The formula to grow a big fish is space and food," Kittaka said. "As long as they have lots of food and space to grow and good habitat."
The Indiana DNR has fifty-five fish species on its record list. The longest held record is a thirty-pound freshwater drum, caught in Martin County in 1963.
