The Unicorn Smallmouth

In a lifetime of exploring Pennsylvania’s spectacular Susquehanna River, Joe Raymond had never seen a smallmouth bass like this one. So, when the renowned fishing guide recently set the hook into a 7-pound, 24-inch beast, his fishing buddy Tom Mills watched Raymond’s usual cool, calm façade come a little unhinged.

“When a guy who guides part of the year on the St. Lawrence River—and has seen and caught so many big smallmouths over the years—tells you to he’s just hooked the biggest smallmouth of his life, you listen up and grab the net,” said Mills.

Sunday, September 22, while fishing a Williamsport (PA) Bassmaster charity tournament, Raymond and Mills embarked on an upriver adventure they’d never forget. “We hadn’t fished this particular stretch for four years, but we knew about a series of deeper pools that always looked intriguing,” recalled Raymond, who has operated Susquehanna Smallmouth Guides for a decade. “This one pool, in particular, seemed to harbor all the right ingredients, including some old sunken trees, but we’d never caught a bass there. It looked so good, though, so we stopped and dropped the trolling motor.”

After a series of frustrating snags on rock and wood, Raymond retied his 10-pound test Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon leader, and on his next cast, it happened. “I had this older pack of EZ Money pattern MinnowZ swimbaits—my last pack—and decided to rig one up. It had been a good color for smallmouths in the past and I felt like it matched the clear water conditions,” he said. “The MinnowZ has just always caught a ton of smallmouths in my boat. It’s a total confidence bait.”

Raymond says the 3-inch Z-Man MinnowZ is among the most underrated finesse swimbaits today.

The Catch
Spotting a big log laying up ahead of the boat in four feet of water, Raymond weedless-rigged his MinnowZ on an 1/8-ounce jighead and made a single cast.

“After letting the bait sink a few seconds, I reeled up slack and my St. Croix Legend X immediately stopped on something solid. When I felt the lively pulses of a fish, I hit back hard, and the thing just went ballistic.”

The weight and power of the river bass prompted Raymond to initially believe he’d snagged a carp or big catfish. “But when this giant smallmouth came screaming up out of the water and did a crazy backflip, I thought it looked like an eight pounder,” he noted.

Net now in hand, Mills could only witness the battle from above and await the right moment. “The bass kept digging, making these short, brutal power runs,” said Mills. “The water was so clear it was like watching the whole thing happen in an aquarium.”

“I couldn’t believe the power and aggression of this bass,” Raymond recalled. “My mind was just racing. I’m thinking, is this real? I mean, I’d caught and watched so many Susquehanna smallmouths come to my Rock Proof Boats over so many years. But this one was just different . . . on a whole other level.”

More power runs ensued. Ten-pound test Seaguar Smackdown braid sang off Raymond’s reel; 7-foot St. Croix Legend X spinning rod offered just enough resistance to stop the bass from reaching faster water. Raymond stayed up on the trolling motor, pursuing the smallmouth as if running down a screaming bonefish on some saltwater flat.

“Finally, just before reaching the rapids, we caught up to the big bass and Tom got a net under her. We just sat there staring at the bass a moment before jumping up, screaming and high fiving like a couple kids.

“Honestly, I just kind of lost it,” admits Raymond. “I knew I was looking at an incredibly rare fish. I’ve helped so many clients celebrate personal-best bass over the years. But this one was the first Susquehanna smallmouth I’d ever caught over six pounds.” Initially, the bass weighed 7.19 on Raymond’s scale, but as Mills observed, it had burped up a load of crayfish parts, both during the battle and in the livewell.

Raymond (R) and tournament partner Tom Mills compare 2-pound smallmouths versus the 7.

The Release
“When we arrived back at the weigh-in, I told the tournament director to get ready because we had a really big fish. I wanted to keep the bass nice and healthy and get her back in the river as soon as possible,” said Raymond. “I don’t think he was prepared for what we had in the ‘well.” Ultimately, Raymond’s bass weighed 7.08-pounds on certified tourney scales.

To put the rarity of the fish in perspective, Raymond and his clients boat thousands of Susquehanna smallmouths each season. In the ten years he’s guided there—plus all his years growing up and exploring on the river—Raymond had never caught a legit six-pound smallmouth there. During the derby, Raymond’s bass weighed more than 2-1/2-pounds heavier than the any other anglers’ largest smallmouth. In years of Susquehanna River tournaments, noted Raymond, “big bass” honors have historically landed in the 4-pound range, only occasionally eclipsing 5.

“What’s interesting is that this 24-inch specimen was an incredibly robust, young-looking bass—just thick and muscular from head to tail. Didn’t look or act like an old, beat-up granny in any way. Which, to me, made it even more important to get her back in the river.

“Growing up, I knew all about this one incredible fish—a 23-inch, 7-1 smallmouth caught almost right behind my house by Russell Fuller in 1981. I obsessed over Fuller’s bass for years. Got to meet him once at a restaurant, where he brought the mount to show some of us locals. The proportions and magnitude of that bass blew my mind, were burned permanently into my memory, and since that day, I’ve thought a lot about the importance of keeping these big mutant smallmouths in the system. Just imagine, this could be a Shaquille O’Neal fish—possibly the same year class as 19 and 20 inchers—but capable of producing new generations of giant bass with awesome genetics. Why would we ever kill such a bass?”

Take a tour of bass guide Joe Raymond’s favorite smallmouth river.

The Bait
A few days after his remarkable catch, Raymond paused to further reflect on the fish and the baits he’s used seriously throughout his life as a river guide. “I’ve made a career out of fishing Z-Man ElaZtech® baits. They’re simply the best baits ever for guiding. Catch so many fish of all sizes.

“On a slower, steady retrieve, the MinnowZ moves with a cool, subtle shimmy, almost like a spy bait. Or, drag it on bottom like a stone cat, which smallmouths love to chew.

“Probably shouldn’t let this one out of the bag . . . but when you burn it in a little faster, the supple ElaZtech material stretches out and has a different, wicked action to it. Triggers a ton of bigger fish.

“Rig one bait up at the start of the day and I can’t tell you how many times we’ve lipped close to 100 bass—often, without ever reaching into the pack for a replacement. Between the 3-inch MinnowZ and larger DieZel MinnowZ™, I’ve caught untold numbers of bass, muskies, walleyes to 11-pounds and even a 55-pound sturgeon.

“Gotta consider, too, the natural buoyancy, softness and inherent action of the ElaZtech material. It’s like nothing else out there. Just incredibly fishy stuff. And I’m so excited it all came together like this, on what’s certainly among the most underrated smallmouth swimbaits of all time.”