Kentucky State Record Smallmouth - Now Open for Applications

Officials with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources announced on January 22, that the state record listing for smallmouth is now vacant after more than 40 years.
The agency will begin accepting applications immediately for a new smallmouth listing that represents the heaviest known bronzeback ever taken by sportfishing methods from Kentucky waters. The minimum weight accepted for application is six pounds. Announcement of the new record will be made in the spring of 1998, once all applications submitted up to that time have been completely investigated and verified for authenticity.

For the past 42 years, the KDFWR had recognized a fish caught in 1955 by David L. Hayes from the Kentucky portion of Dale Hollow lake as the state record. This catch was also classified as the world record, until recent evidence was discovered that indicated the true weight of Hayes' catch had been artificially inflated. Hayes' smallie was disqualified as the all-tackle world record by the International Game Fish Association, and subsequently removed from Kentucky's record fish list based on falsification of application information.

"All though Kentucky may lose its notoriety as having produced a world record, this turn of events offers Kentucky anglers an opportunity they haven't had in more than four decades," said Kim Hermes, state record fish program coordinator for the KDFWR. "It's wide open now. anyone can potentially catch what will be named as Kentucky's state record smallmouth, assuming everything is done by the rules of the program. You can bet we will be checking the validity of applications very, very closely," Hermes added.

"Who knows, maybe Kentucky can retake the world record listing legitimately this time," said Hermes. Plans are to declare a new record next spring through a number of avenues including having the lucky new record holder appear on the agency's award-winning outdoor show Kentucky Afield. Anglers will be able to periodically keep up with who's in the lead by watching the program on Kentucky Educational Television (KET) on Saturday nights at 8 p.m. or Sundays at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.

All applications for state record fish must include photographs, be weighed on scales legal for trade, bear witness signatures for weight verification, and the species must be verified by a state fishery biologist.

For complete information or a state record application form, contact KDFWR State Record Fish Program, #1 Game Farm Road, Frankfort, KY 40601; or call (502) 564-4336.