I'll disagree.

About 2 years ago I was drifting through the north end of the Flats with my brother-in-law and one of his kids. I had a jumbo leech out behind the boat while I was casting with the wind. The breeze was pretty strong and I had a hit on the leech. I fought that fish for quite a while and had it near the boat more than once. We all got a good look at it and it was a huge, absolutely huge smallie. I've caught a 20" before (actually 20.25"), and this fish was larger by at several inches, and I am 100% certain of that.

The fight was just lasting so long, I started to worry about the hook working free, as I just could not get this fish to the boat on the rod I had her on. A 16" walleye is a ball on this rod. A huge smallie, not so much! Anyway, the hook did pull free and the fish was still about 20' from the boat. I really doubt if I encountered the largest smallie on the flowage, so there are some real monsters out there.