The Dog Days of Summer are usually not known for big fish, but there’s been some impressive catches in the heat of July and August. Let’s take a look at some remarkable catches, starting with Bassmaster Elite Series pro Hunter Shryock.
The 33-year-old, who just moved to Ooltewah, Tenn., outside of Chattanooga, posted photos of himself with a monster he landed from what shall remain an unnamed public lake on the Tennessee River.
“The biggest thing I take away from it is, when it’s this hot and you get any type of front or storm, make sure you can get on the water when it’s safe, because they’ll be biting,” said Shryock, who finished 26th in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings to qualify for his third Classic in four seasons on the Elites.
Catching a 5-pounder right off the bat and then a 4, Shryock knew the day would be productive. At about 10:30 a.m., his second cast at a new 15-foot deep area produced a huge tug on his plum 10-inch Berkley Power Worm. The result was a 9.70 that rivaled his personal best of 10.18.
“It shocked me to catch one that big this time of year,” he said. “I saw them on my graph and there were probably five or six of them, all about the same size. I didn’t see them come back to the boat, but I didn’t get another bite.”
Shryock posted some photos on social media and asked folks to guess the weight, causing a bit of a firestorm. Among the 1,000 comments were cries of “fake” and “photoshopped,” and one telling him to give the arms back to Stretch Armstrong. Yeah, Shryock held out the 25- or 26-inch bass — “I wish I would have measured it” — in front of him some, but the fish-eye lens on the camera added to the illusion of the longest fish he’s ever landed.
“I want to start making T-shirts with a measuring board on them, and I can hold it right against the shirt,” Shryock said. “People just love to have an opinion. ‘Guys, I weigh bass for a living. I’m not trying to make it look bigger. I’m trying to show the fish off and not me.’ You can’t explain that to people. Everything’s photoshopped, everything’s deception.”
If some were having a laugh at Shyrock’s expense, he got the last one. The photo teased readers to go to the YouTube video for the weight, which he showed on a Rapala digital scale at 9.70 — so about 9-12 — along with his big-worm tips.
“I got some good clickbait off of it,” he said.
Shryock’s biggest takeaway for fishing the dog days remains capitalizing on the windows, “whether that’s early morning, late evening or the fronts coming through. We had just got some rain, a little current and the big ones were biting.”
It was still a stunner for Shyrock to land his biggest bass of the year in August.
“Obviously, I’m surprised any time I catch a fish that big,” he said, “because it doesn’t happen very often.”
Tuma having ‘phenomenal year’
It’s already been quite the fishing year for Keith Tuma of Brainerd, Minn., who won the Basspro.com Open on the Harris Chain in early March. Tuma weighed the event’s biggest bag at 26-2 on Championship Saturday to climb from 10th and automatically qualify for the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Classic presented by Huk.
The 48-year-old had another epic day, this time with partner Andy Walls in the Minnesota B.A.S.S. Team Trail on 5,500-acre Woman Lake in north central Minnesota. The pair won the 50-boat event with 27.18 pounds of smallmouth, which included a kicker of 6.73, both stunning weights.
“Outside of a prespawn event, it’s highly unlikely. It was super special. It was just one of those days where the sun, moon and stars aligned,” said Tuma, noting Walls landed the big’un. “It was his birthday, so we had birthday mojo going.
“We caught a pile of fish. It just seemed like we could do no wrong. Every move we made, we were constantly connecting with 5-pounders. For the Dog Days of Summer, for that lake or pretty much any lake in Minnesota, it’s pretty darn unlikely to come in with a 27-pound bag.”
It was in the upper 80s for the Aug. 15 tournament, but winds blowing 25 mph out of the southwest helped them chew. Tuma was throwing a 13 Fishing Jabber Jaw crankbait among other lures.
“That lake really showed,” he said. “There were 15 bags over 20 pounds. Three fish over 6 pounds. I went out a week later and still caught fish, maybe 18, 19 pounds, but the big ones didn’t show.”
Tournament director Greg Ruff was astounded at the results, even though dock talk that morning was optimistic.
“Minnesota and 27-pound bags just don’t happen,” he said. “I’ve never seen one in all the years I’ve been fishing up here, other than Seth Feider at the Angler of the Year Championship.”
Feider totaled 76-5 over three days in 2016 at Mille Lacs, but his biggest bag was 26-2.
“We’ve seen 24s and 25s in prespawn, May into early June,” Ruff said, “but once summer hits, the fish go deep and disappear. It gets really tough to fish. Then they drop 27 and you’re like, ‘Holy Moly.’
“We believe that Woman Lake is perhaps the best smallmouth lake in our state right now that isn’t one of the great lakes. Right now it is showing out better than Mille Lacs.”
Tuma’s showing pretty dang good, too, having won in his first B.A.S.S. entry, not unlike Oneida Open champ Bill Perkins. He said it took him years to work up the courage and get his Tuff Tow business where he could afford to take time off. He was stoked to attend ICAST with 13 Fishing and rub elbows with pros he’s read about and watched for years.
“They’re 5 feet from me, and I’m talking to them,” he said. “What an absolutely amazing experience, and I’m going to be fishing with/against them in the biggest bass fishing event in the world. It’s unreal. It’s been an absolutely phenomenal year.
“I will go prefish Hartwell. I will put in my time. I’ve never been. But I’m excited to go and try to figure something out. If I came in dead last, I’m still a winner.”
Tuma added he’ll do his part to get Walls in as well. They qualified for December’s Team Championship on Lake Eufaula, and if they make the top three teams and advance to fish individually for the Team Classic’s automatic berth, Tuma said he’d become Walls’ rooting section.
“If we made the fishoff, he’s going to have a 1-in-5 chance,” he said. “I’m just going to drive around and burn gas. I will be his biggest cheering section.”
Now that would be cool story if team partners reached the Classic from different avenues. For now, Tuma’s still geeking that he will be in the Classic.
“I’m going to enjoy every moment of it,” he said. “How many peopled can say they’ve fished the Bassmaster Classic? It still hasn’t sunk in, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Diede lands South Dakota record
If Troy Diede’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he became only the second B.A.S.S. Nation angler from South Dakota to fish a Classic. His finish in the 2015 championship on Hartwell won’t make any heads turn, but his catch on July 16 will.
The 36-year-old from Sioux Falls landed a 7-4 smallmouth to break the South Dakota state record. And he did it on Lake Oahe, site of a 2018 Elite event and where the Elites will compete again in August 2022.
Diede had big things going that week, catching a 6.39 the day before in practice for the South Dakota Bass Federation tournament on the 370,000-acre reservoir of the Missouri River. It was his largest smallmouth ever and a pound short of the state mark.
On his 10th cast on the second day of practice, Diede hooked into the record. He took the fish to Whitlock Resort where it was weighed, measured and certified by a state fish biologist before being released. It was 20.75 inches long and officially tipped the scales at 7 pounds, 4.7 ounces, topping the 7-3 caught by Lyal Held on Horseshoe Lake in April of 2016.
“I was in shock,” Diede told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. “I would’ve never guessed that it would’ve been me. I’m super blessed to have a catch like that.”