CHEBOYGAN COUNTY, Mich. – There is a new state record in Michigan for the largest smallmouth bass.
The Department of Natural Resources issued a press release Wednesday that a Florida man took in the record-sized fish.
Robert Kraemer of Treasure Island, Florida caught the 9.98-pound, 23.10-inch smallmouth bass on the Indian River in Cheboygan County. The fish was verified by a DNR biologist in Gaylord, Michigan.
The previous record was a 9.33-pound, 24.50-inch smallmouth bass caught in Hubbard Lake in Alcona County by a Michigan man in 2015. Before that, the record smallmouth bass had stood since 1906.
Kraemer told DNR officials that he has been fishing in Michigan since 1965 and stays at a cottage in the area from June through September.