"Sweet Beaver" finds a 9lb Smallmouth Bass in Idah

Holy schnikies! Here's the story from the Lewiston Tribune...

Repeating a feat
North Idaho angler breaks own smallmouth bass record

November 12, 2006

LEWISTON - Dan Steigers knew someone would eventually break his 11-year-old smallmouth bass record.

He just didn't know it would be him.

Steigers caught a 9-pound, 11.52-ounce smallmouth from Dworshak Reservoir on Oct. 28, eclipsing the 8-pound, 5-ounce state record fish he caught in the same reservoir.

Dworshak has developed a reputation for producing large smallmouth bass in recent years.

Larry Barrett, a fisheries biologist with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, said a large number of small kokanee are providing the food that makes smallmouths grow.

Fish and Game officials plan on adding nutrients to the reservoir next year to try to increase the size of the kokanee, which could also lead to larger smallmouth bass.

"We are not getting a whole lot off the world record," he said. "The world record is 11 pounds. It's a fun thing to think about anyway."

Steigers, 49, and his fishing partner Ed Pea, both of Juliaetta, Idaho, fish the reservoir nearly every week. Their record-bass-catching trip was one of their last Dworshak outings of the year before switching over to steelhead on the Clearwater River.

Using a plastic bait called a "Sweet Beaver," Steigers said he was catching 3- and 4-pound bass when he hooked the new record.

"I didn't get excited," he said. "It didn't jump. It just sounded."

On his digital scale, the fish weighed 10 pounds, 4 ounces. He later took it to a certified scale at a supermarket for the official weight.

Steigers is having the fish mounted, but said he was sad about not releasing it. Barrett told him the fish would probably not get much bigger anyway.

Anglers are likely to be drawn to the reservoir in even greater numbers now that another state record has been pulled from it. But Steigers said it takes years to learn where the big fish hang out.

"There is a lot of big fish in there but there is a lot of lake, too," he said. "It's 50 some miles long and it's deep."