Wired2Fish first reported on Dante Piraino’s enormous bass back in September, when he caught it in New York’s St. Lawrence River. Piraino was fishing a tournament on Sept. 22 when he hooked a 9-pound smallmouth, which was weighed then released. Today, that fish was officially certified as the NY state record smallmouth.
ITS OFFICIAL
In a press release issued by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC), Interim Commissioner Sean Mahar announced that the giant smallie would be the new state record. Piraino’s fish bests the previous record smallmouth, caught in Cayuga Lake in 2022, by 8 ounces.
“New York provides some of the best bass fishing in the country and Mr. Piraino’s incredible catch is a testament to the outstanding angler opportunities across the state,” Mahar said in the release. This seems to be true, as this is the second record bass in the Empire State this year. Pennsylvania native Jim Britenbaugh was pre-fishing for a tourney on Cayuga lake on July 11 when he landed a 12.35 pound beast to clinch the state record for largemouth bass.
BIG WATER = BIG FISH
The St. Lawrence River has long been known as a big bass producer, and is host to its fair share of tournaments. Piraino was fishing a New York Federation B.A.S.S. Nation event out of Ogdensburg, NY on Sunday, Sept. 22, when he caught the record smallmouth.
Piraino started the tourney by making a long run down the St. Lawrence, to the Cape Vincent area. There, he used his Garmin livescope to find fish, and a Berkley Flatnose Minnow soft plastic lure rigged to a leadhead to get them to bite. He started the morning with two small bass before hooking into something much larger.
“I was thinking about leaving the area, but I stuck around to give it a chance,” Piraino tells Wired2Fish. “At about 9 o’clock, I hooked a big one. I didn’t realize how big it was at first; it fought hard, but I thought it was just a six pounder. When I netted it and went to flip it into the boat, it was heavier than expected.”
Piraino had caught one 7-pounder over the summer and thought the fish might match it, but he soon realized it was even bigger. “I went to lip it, and it’s lips were swollen,” he said. “I was like, ‘wow, this fish is big.’”
On the boat’s scale, the fish’s weight hovered around 9 pounds. Piraino fizzed the fish and put it in the livewell. Having caught a lunker, he had his sights set on putting together a bag big enough to qualify for a bid to the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship. And he did so, catching several other sizable fish that day.
BIG FISH = BIG BAG
Piraino registered a 5-fish bag that came in at 31.4 pounds, by far the biggest of the tournament and one of the biggest bags a solo angler has ever registered in the Empire State. The weight was largely due to the whopping 9-pound smallmouth.
At the time of the weigh-in, a representative from the NYS DEC was unavailable. But instead of icing the fish and bringing it to be weighed later, he decided to release the fish and hope that the tournament scale would get certified later. The moved paid off, and the fish is still swimming and Piraino officially holds the New York State smallmouth record.
In addition to his impressive catch, Piraino qualified for the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship. “It’s been a long journey,” says Piraino. “My grandfather got me into fishing at a young age, but I haven’t been tournament fishing for that long, and I’ve only been driving a boat for three years. It’s been a lot of hard work and hours put in.”
