Michigan’s existing state record for smallmouth bass was broken in September 2016 by Robert Bruce Kraemer of Treasure Island, Florida. Kraemer’s 9.98-pound, 23.10-inch smallmouth bass was caught with nightcrawlers on the Indian River.
Located on the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Indian River flows approximately 3.9 miles from Burt Lake to Mullett Lake. The community of Indian River is located along both sides of the river.
The river is part of the great Inland Waterway of Michigan, which connects the Little Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan across the northern tip of the Michigan lower peninsula’s “mitten” to Cheboygan on Lake Huron.
A longtime angler with a cottage in Indian River, Cheboygan County, Kraemer said he’s been fishing Michigan waters since 1965, but this is his first state-record catch.
“I usually spend June through the end of September up here at the cottage,” Kraemer said. “I’ve got some great fish stories and some nice fish, but nothing like this.”
The previous state record for smallmouth bass was set in October 2015 when Greg Gasiciel of Rhodes, Michigan, landed a 9.33-pound, 24.50-inch fish from Hubbard Lake.
For more information on fishing in Michigan, visit michigan.gov/fishing.
source: Michigan Department of Natural Resources