Group A , Bradley Roy and Zack Birge both landed fish to join the top five . Roy ’ s fish weighed in at 11-11 , putting it at No . 2 all-time . Birge ’ s fish weighed 10-14 , temporarily taking the No . 3 spot .
During the Knockout Round , that third spot was taken by Alton Jones Sr . with an 11-2 largemouth . Here ’ s how the top five biggest largemouth bass in league history looked after Stage Two :
1st : Randy Howell – 12 pounds , 14 ounces – Bussey Brake ( 2022 ) 2nd : Bradley Roy – 11 pounds , 11 ounces – Lake Fork ( 2022 ) 3rd : Alton Jones – 11 pounds , 2 ounces – Lake Fork ( 2022 ) 4th : Zack Birge – 10 pounds , 14 ounces – Lake Fork ( 2022 ) 5th : Randy Howell – 10 pounds , 11 ounces – Caney Creek ( 2022 )
Lake Fork didn ’ t just produce record fish – it was consistent . With 45 fish over 7 pounds ( which were DNA swabbed ), 20 of those were over 8 pounds and three were over 10 pounds . Fork also doubled down on the average fish-weight record for a fishery . During the six-day event , the average fish weighed was 3-13 and the largest average for one day was 4- 2 in the Championship Round , falling a little short of Bussey Brake ’ s record .
spotlight on big spots
Stage Three on Smith Lake proved to be a record-setting event as well . It ’ s not widely known that we keep record of species for every fish caught , but we certainly do . That means we have records not just for largest bass caught , but also for largest bass caught by species .
Coming into Stage Three , the largest spotted bass caught in league history was 4 pounds , 5 ounces in 2019 at Smith .
Andy Montgomery broke the record on Qualifying Day 2 for Group A by 1 ounce . During the Knockout Round , Jordan Lee took that record from Montgomery again by 1 ounce . The Championship Round started off with Jesse Wiggins breaking the record with a 4-9 spot . This was later surpassed by Brent Ehrler and Edwin Evers , who both brought in 4-pound , 10-ounce spots .
So , after it was all over , the record for largest spotted bass was broken or tied a total of five times during the event . Here ’ s where the top five spotted bass in league history stand now :
1st ( tie ): Brent Ehrler and Edwin Evers
4 pounds , 10 ounces – Smith Lake ( 2022 ) 3rd : Jesse Wiggins – 4 pounds , 9 ounces – Smith Lake ( 2022 ) 4th : Jordan Lee – 4 pounds , 7 ounces – Smith Lake ( 2022 ) 5th ( tie ): Andy Montgomery and Jesse Wiggins 4 pounds , 6 ounces – Smith Lake ( 2022 )
And just to round out the category ( and preview records we could see broken as the Bass Pro Tour heads north to close out the season ), here are the top five smallmouth bass in Bass Pro Tour history . These records will be put to the test in 2022 , possibly at Mille Lacs Lake during Stage Seven in September :
1st : Justin Lucas – 6 pounds , 13 ounces St . Lawrence River ( 2021 )
2nd ( tie ): Jared Lintner and Jeff Kriet – 6 pounds , 10 ounces St . Lawrence River ( 2021 )
4th ( tie ): Randall Tharp and Jacob Wheeler – 6 pounds , 6 ounces St . Lawrence River ( 2021 )
Alton Jones Sr . Zack Birge Randy Howell
APRIL-MAY 2022 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 13