State Smallie Record Smashed

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WB Staff
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State Smallie Record Smashed

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Joe Capilupo’s 7-3 smallmouth bass smashed Mark Samp’s 6-7 record from 1985.

Joe Capilupo with his Illinois-record smallmouth bass of 7 pounds, 3 ounces at the holding tank at Henry’s Sports and Bait. Dale Bowman

smallmouth state record smashed.png
Joe Capilupo looked at the smallmouth bass in the net Monday night at Monroe Harbor and thought, “I know it’s at least 5 pounds; looking again, I thought it was over 6 pounds.’’

Try 7 pounds, 3 ounces. His smallmouth smashed the longest-standing significant fish record in Illinois.

Mark Samp caught the previous Illinois-record smallmouth (6 pounds, 7 ounces) on March 26, 1985, from a Fulton County strip pit.

“It even jumped out of the water,’’ Cooke said. “I heard a splash and was going to help net it, but he did it himself.’’

It came on a Z-man Ned rig (California craw). “It is the go-to, swear-by, never-fails bait,’’ Pitelka said.

Capilupo was using a St. Croix Mojo Bass Casting rod with a Daiwa Legalis reel with 14-pound Sufix monofilament.

Earlier in the day, they were kayak-fishing at Busse Woods.

“I lost my rod in the water, and Jonny jigged it up,’’ Capilupo said.

Once they weighed it on hand-held scales between 7-5 and 7-1, enough to smash Samp’s record, they had a quandary...
Full story and more pix at Sun Times: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/10/15 ... 985-record
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185vsfrog
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Re: State Smallie Record Smashed

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Awesome story!
DDG
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Re: State Smallie Record Smashed

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Biggon!
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