Smallmouth Bass Caught in Indiana Should Break a 32-Year-Old State Record

If the reported weight of 8.23 pounds stands up to scrutiny, Rex Remington’s bronzeback will break the long-standing record by nearly a pound

An angler holds up a smallmouth bass in a parking lot.

Rex Remington holds up the pending Indiana state-record smallmouth bass. Photograph via Facebook

Earlier this month, angler Rex Remington caught a smallmouth bass from Indiana’s Monroe Lake that should break the existing state record by nearly a pound. Remington weighed the bronzeback on a certified scale in front of officials with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, and it weighed 8.23 pounds, according to Wired2Fish and other sources. Remington then released the bass back into the lake.

DNR staff is currently reviewing Remington’s record application. Indiana DNR public information officer Marty Benson tells Outdoor Life that they’re unable to share any details about the fish until it is officially certified as a new state record. This outcome seems likely, as photographs shared to Facebook show that Remington’s bass is a trophy-caliber fish. (For reference, the all-tackle world record smallmouth weighed nearly 12 pounds and was caught from Dale Hollow Lake in Tennessee. That record has stood since 1955.) Remington did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.

An angler holds up a smallmouth bass. — Rex Remington released the trophy smallmouth bass after weighing it on a certified scale. Photograph via Facebook

Remington also caught his pending state-record bass from a water body that’s known more for kicking out big largemouths than giant smallies. Spanning roughly 10,000 acres, Monroe is the largest lake in Indiana. It’s located roughly 65 miles south of Indianapolis.

The current Indiana state-record smallmouth weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces, and it was caught by Dana Yoder from Twin Lake. Yoder’s record has been on the books since 1992, and many Hoosiers thought it would never be broken.

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This included Gary Sheets, who was good friends with Yoder and shared a Facebook post about Remington’s pending record on Tuesday. Sheets explains that Yoder gifted him his state-record smallie mount just before passing away from cancer in January 2021.

A smallmouth bass mount sits inside an aquarium. — Yoder’s state-record smallmouth bass mount, which he gifted to a friend when he passed away in 2021. Photograph by Gary Sheets

“He wanted me to have it and display it in my church office. I, still to this day, am honored!” Sheets writes in the post. “I’ve showed this fish to hundreds of people and, to be honest, I never thought it would be beat in my lifetime!”

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