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World record Largemouth

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#1 ·
World Record Bass From Georgia

World Record Largemouth Bass
The world record bass was caught near Jacksonville, Georgia on June 2, 1932 by George Perry. It weighed 22 pounds 4 ounces and was caught from an oxbow lake off the Ocmulgee River called Montgomery Lake. That is one of the most sough-after records in the fishing world.
In a trip to south Georgia in January Fritz Nordengren and I went a little out of our way to visit Jacksonville, Ga, the small town near where the world record bass was caught. There is a state historic marker on Highway 117 between Jacksonville and Lumber City, about two miles from where the record was caught.
It says: "Approximately two miles from this spot, on June 2, 1932, George W. Perry, a 19-year old farm boy, caught what was to become America's most famous fish. The twenty-two pound four ounce largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) exceeded the existing record by more than two pounds and has retained the world record for more than fifty years. Perry and his friend, J. E. Page, were fishing in Montgomery Lake, a slough off the Ocmulgee River, not for trophies but to bring food to the table during those days of the great depression. The fish was caught on a Creek Chub Perch Scale Wigglefish, Perry's only lure, and was 32 1/2 inches in length and 28 1/2 inches in girth. The weight and measurements were taken, recorded and notarized in Helena, Georgia and Perry's only reward as seventy-five dollars in merchandise as first prize in Field and Stream magazine's fishing contest. The longstading record is one of the reasons that the largemouth bass was made Georgia's Official State Fish. Montgomery Lake is today part of the Department of Natural Resources' Horse Creek WIldlife Management Area.
In Jacksonville, GA there is a sign with pictures of Perry, the Wigglefish plug, a replica of the fish and more information about the catch.It is an interesting feeling to be so near where the world record bass was caught so long ago. If you are ever in the area, stop by.

Article by Ronnie Garrison
 
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#32 ·
re: Bucket mouths

I've caught a couple of good lg mouth. My biggest was 9.2 I put a photo on post with a couple real nice ones. The day of the photo was years ago
and I remember seeing the weirdest thing ever. I heard splashing coming from the spot i had a six something on a stringer. I didn't thing much of it
but took a look anyway. Nothing was out of place the six was on to about four feet splashing . I dragged her in grabbed her by the lip and pulled out two fish. A three pounder holding on tho the six for dear life .
The three had the six by the bellie ? I held the fish up high to show a couple of friends and eventually let go how weird is that. I still wonder what the hell that 3 was thinking . hungry or trying to save..? r lg mouth that smart that they would do something like that. I have seen fish that exceed the 20 lbs mark I'm certain of it . on one location I casted behind a submerged rock with a 10inch power worm blk. I was waiting for my line to tighten like I always do looking into the water in front of me . I was amazed when i saw the biggest fish i had ever seen in my life swimming right at me I was reeling like a banshie to try to catch up and when i did
she opened her 13 inch mouth and gently dropped me. I wondered for all these years if she had any intention of eating my bait or if she was moving it out of her nesting area.? On another location fishing with a bobber and shiner i watched a group of five fish all giants the first two were huge certainly over 20 lbs . They swam right by my shiner not even giving a glance . My shiner saw them and flipped . But they were just cruising on by . It makes me wonder what they hell they feed on.
Do they completely change there habits when the get that big .
These were two different pond one was a 200ft+ deep pond in mass .
they dug clay out of till they hit a spring. The pond holds a couple of cranes
that the owners couldn't get out in time.Because it had filled up so fast.
That pond had fresh water jellyfish in it by the millions.
The other one was the Brock ton reservoir were one of my friends made the news paper by catching a prehistoric fish that was believed to be extinct. I going to look up the name I saw it and it was freaking weird.
looked like a fat sea robin but black with teeth. He had it in a five gallon bucket and a park ranger walked up . Even the park ranger didn't know what it was . Ten mins later there was five rangers. One of them had thought it was a fish that was common in the twenties but had become endangered. none of them had seen anything like this thing . I'm going to see if i can find the article
 
#35 ·
Largemouth records
World-record bass boated in California
Largemouth tips scale to 25.1 pounds, then is released back into Dixon Lake
Mac Weakley, who early Monday caught a mammoth largemouth
on tiny Dixon Lake in southern California that he and his
long-time fishing partners Mike Winn and Jed Dickerson
weighed out at 25.1 pounds on a hand-held digital scale.
"I feel good, awesome, in fact," said Weakley, 32, of
Carlsbad, Calif, who used a white jig with a skirt and
rattle on 15-pound line to boat the brute. "I'm just stoked to see a fish that big."


He may have released her, but his intentions were good.
Now the question beckons: Will Mac Weakley be rewarded
with a world record for this 25.1-pound largemouth bass
he boated early Monday. That's Mike Winn holding the
Dixon Lake denizen.


Jed Dickerson claims the 21.7-pound he caught in 2003
(above) at California's Dixon Lake is the same 25.1-pounder
taken Monday by his angling partner Mac Weakley.
 
#38 ·
I just watched the Espn Bass Pro tour on Lake Amistad, Texas right on the U.S. - Mexico border. No doubt that is the bass capitol of the world. Every fish they pulled out was huge. i thought they were stripers at first.laughing7.gif
 
#39 ·
By Michael Agger
Slate.com associate editor. He can be reached at michael.agger@gmail.com.


Bass nurtured in Southern California present a difficult philosophical judgment call. San Diego's reservoirs, have essentially been engineered to create record-setting fish. In the 1960s, a lakes superintendent imported the Florida strain of bass, which grows to larger sizes than the northern strains. What happened next was something of an accident: The Fish and Game Department stocked the lakes with rainbow trout, which turned out to be an ideal food for fattening largemouth bass. It's fair to ask, then, if these SoCal bass are wild fish or contented denizens of a very nice aquarium. In 1973, the first 20-pounder was pulled from San Diego waters. Much to the chagrin of prideful Southerners, the world-record bass is expected to emerge from a reservoir in spitting distance of avocados.
The current world-record situation gets worse, at least from a marketing point of view. Mac Weakley is not an aw-shucks weekend warrior but part of a dedicated, three-friend fishing team that has been pursuing the world-record bass for several years. The day before Weakley caught the 25-pound bass, he offered another fisherman $1,000 for a chance to cast at it. The fish had been spotted in Lake Dixon's clear waters. It was a bedding female, patrolling a nest where she planned to deposit her eggs. That's the big-bass game: A female that's full of eggs can weigh as much as 2 pounds more than a comparable, nonpregnant fish.
Here's where it gets a little weird. Weakley's fish had been caught before! Distinctive markings suggest that it's the same fish his friend, Jed Dickerson, bagged three years ago. At that point, it weighed 21 pounds, 11 ounces and was the fourth-largest bass ever landed. Weakley returned his fish to Lake Dixon, where, presumably, it's sulking and annoyed. The rumor mills have half of Japan getting on an airplane to catch the brooding monster. The world-record hunt has narrowed into an obsessive stakeout of one outstanding specimen.
Stepping back, though, it's hard to fault Weakley and his buddies. They are taking advantage of a local ecosystem that they've spent countless hours observing. And when you think about it, the distinction between what is "natural" and "man-made" long ago became moot. That's why the Internet chatter that connected Weakley's "juiced" fish to Barry Bonds' tainted home-run chase was revelatory in a way. It's symptomatic of a particular strain of sports blindness: We want our records to be broken in a "natural" way while we blithely ignore the unnatural circumstances that allowed them to be broken in the first place.
 
#40 ·
Matt Williams, For The Daily Sentinel Sunday, April 02, 2006
California's Mac Weakley has elected not to pursue having the biggest largemouth bass ever caught certified as a new International Game Fish Association world record.
The fish in question weighed 25.1 pounds, nearly three pounds heavier than the 74-year old world record caught from Montgomery Lake in Georgia by George Washington Perry.
The huge bass was reeled in from 72-acre Dixon Lake in San Diego County on the morning of March 20 after Weakley accidentally foul hooked it with a jig.
Weakley released the fish after photographing it and weighing it on a digital scale not certified by the IGFA.
For those reasons, and the swarm of controversy surrounding them, the Carlsbad, Calif. angler has trashed the idea of attempting to have the bass certified as a new world record.
Probably pretty good thinking. Here's why:
The next IGFA world record largemouth will be a potential golden nugget with fins. The angler who catches the mighty fish stands to make a mint in endorsements, possibly millions if he or she plays their cards right.
To fully capitalize on the goods, however, the angler needs to be sure the catch is squeaky clean.
The fish needs to be caught in the mouth. Not in the head, tail or side.. The weight must be certified. Ideally, the bass should be kept alive and retained, at least long enough for the right people to authenticate the feat.
There is no reason to believe Weakley's bass didn't weigh 25 pounds, possibly more.
Photos drifting around the Internet depict a truly spectacular fish. It has eyeballs the size of 50 cent pieces and a belly that looks as if there is a bowling ball trapped inside.
The angler holding the fish (Weakley's friend, Mike Winn) copped a serious scowl as he strained to raise the heavy fish with one arm.
I have never seen a 25-pound bass. But I have been within arms reach of an 18 pounder, several in the 14-16 pound range.
Weakley's bass is larger. Much larger.
How much bigger? We will never know that for certain.
Weakley and the two friends (Jed Dickerson and Winn) with which he was fishing that fateful day released the fish back into Dixon Lake before anyone could retrieve a certified scale.
The angler said he chose to release the fish because he didn't want to kill it, and because he didn't think IGFA would certify it as a world record due to the fact it had been foul hooked. He later learned that the automatic IGFA disqualification applies only to fish that are intentionally foul hooked.
Weakley and everyone involved with the catch claims the bass was not foul hooked on purpose. The big bass was reportedly huddled around a spawning bed in about 12 feet of water. A smaller male bass was nearby.
The anglers took turns casting to the bigger fish. Weakley happened to be the one holding the rod when the bite came. He felt a thump and jerked. Unfortunately, the hook buried in the bass' back, just beneath the dorsal fin.
News of such a big fish coming from California didn't come as much of a surprise.
Largemouth bass have a long history of growing fat and sassy out there. The Golden State has produced nine of the 10 heaviest bass ever recorded, including several over 20 pounds.
Nor did it come as shock to learn the angler was unable to close the deal.
Potential world records have been reported from California before. But it always seems like there is some sort of strange hitch in those Western fish stories.
Someone will surely get it right someday. Maybe. Until then, the late George Perry can rest easy. My guess is his record is safe for at least another year.
 
#41 ·
This is the state historic marker on Highway 117
between Jacksonville and Lumber City,
about two miles from where the record was caught.
This is not the record fish.
Perry, a poor farmer from McRae, Georgia,
neither took a photograph of his fish nor
had it mounted. He simply caught the fish,
had it weighed at a country store, took it
home and ate it.
George Perry

Largemouth record List
 
#42 ·
Big fish in the Brockton area

Hey CSV, that little spring fed pond you're talkin' about, is it off Spring Street in Holbrook? I use to fish there as a kid. Caught some nice bass there over at the excavator at the end of spring lane. Also there are some nice fish at the res in D.W. I fish Massasoit State Park, The Nip, and Morton Park mostly now though.
 
#43 ·
More info on the fish CSV was mentioning.

I remember the news article. There were two caught there within a couple of weeks. The fish your buddy caught is known as a Bow Fin (A.K.A. Mud Fish). They are numerous in Lake Okachobee, and can be found in Lake Champlain. It was probably transplanted there by some jerk that doesn't reallize that the fish could destroy a good fishery if it became established where it has no natural predators. Hopefully those were the only two, although I fear that they weren't. Look them up on the net. They are a fascinating fish.
 
#45 ·
I have 4 over ten on the wall, with one 13.6 oz that dwarfs the the 10's. All from the Cooper River and Lake Moultrie in SC. I caught two of these in BASS events. A 20+ is just plain huge!!
 

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#47 ·
Me said:
I just watched the Espn Bass Pro tour on Lake Amistad, Texas right on the U.S. - Mexico border. No doubt that is the bass capitol of the world. Every fish they pulled out was huge. i thought they were stripers at first.
The $50M question: Can the lake take it?
http://www.delrionewsherald.com
By Karen Gleason

Del Rio News-Herald Published December 14, 2006
With increased pressure on Lake Amistad from record numbers of fishing tournaments, park administrators say they want to make sure they don't kill the goose - or in this case, the fish - that lays the golden eggs.
"We're starting to become a little concerned about the sustainability of the fishery," Alan Cox, Amistad National Recreation Area (ANRA) superintendent, told county commissioners court Monday.
"And all indications are that this will be one of the busiest years in the history of the park," Cox said.
The previous record year for visitors, he said, was 1994, when the ANRA logged a total of 1,591,903 visitors.
He said through the end of November, the number of visitors to the ANRA has come within 40,000 of the 1994 record "and at some point in December, we're going to exceed that 1.591 million number."
Cox told the court the number of bass tournaments on the lake has increased as well. He said the lake hosts an average of 150 bass tournaments a year, but in 2006, that number rocketed to 190 tournaments
"We already have 14 major tournaments booked in 2007, and four or five of those tournaments will be televised nationally," Cox told the court.
Cox said the park is studying alternative methods of releasing tournament-caught fish after a joint study between the National Park Service and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department earlier this year found a high mortality rate among fish released back to the lake through a waterslide-type chute.
The study found a delayed mortality rate of 64 percent in the chute-released fish, twice that of fish carried back to the lake and released by hand.
"We want to make very sure we keep that economic engine healthful," Cox said.
Commissioner Precinct 1 Ramiro Ramon wanted to know what alternative release methods the park is studying.
"We're looking at maybe a permanent facility, with tanks, or a live-release boat," Cox replied.
"Is there a chance this lake could be over-fished?" County Judge Mike L. Fernandez asked.
"That's always a possibility," Cox said.
Commissioner Precinct 2 Roy Musquiz asked Cox if the lake is regularly restocked.
Cox said the National Park Service works in conjunction with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to restock the lake.
He said there is some controversy about restocking striped bass fingerlings in the lake and that the park is planning a public meeting on the issue sometime in January.
Commissioner Precinct 3 Beau Nettleton asked about the economic impact that visitors to the park have on the community.
Cox said the most recent study on the ANRA's economic impact is about three years old and at that time, the park was found to contribute about $40 million a year to the county economy.
"It's probably bumping $50 million a year or more now," Cox said.
Cox told the Del Rio News-Herald park administrators also are planning a 2007 study of the economic impact of fishing tournaments on the lake.
Fernandez asked Cox if the park anticipated an increase in the number of fishing tournaments held on the lake next year.
"Yes, and that increase is the direct result of tournaments that are televised nationally. We know that based on inquiries that come in to the park," Cox said.
 
#48 ·
George Perry caught his fish on a shared rod and reel that cost $1.33 with a $1.35 lure. This with some 25-pound test waterproof silk line from a row boat built from 75 cents worth of second-hand lumber scraps. It was 1932. The depression raged. Perry took his fish home and ate it. His bass was so big it took his family two days to finish the fish.


Mr. Perry's wife, now deceased, and daughters holding a replica of his record fish.

story told by Louis Bignami
As Perry noted, in interviews before his 1974 death in a plane crash:
"We were out to catch dinner. We only had one lure, so we shared the rod and the rowing. When it was my turn I tossed the lure back into a pocket between two fallen trees and gave the plug a couple of jerks.
"All at once, the water splashed everywhere! I do remember striking, then raring back and trying to reel. But nothing budged. I thought I'd lost the fish -- that it had dived and hung me up. What had me really worried was the lure, it was the only one we had between us."
As Perry remembered it, the fight wasn't much. It rarely is with really huge bass. After the fish was landed, Perry toted it over to the J. J. Hall and Co. General store. In a Sports Afield article Perry said, "It was almost an accident that I had it (the fish) weighed and recorded." A buddy mentioned the Field & Stream Contest with its $75 merchandise prize. So Perry took his fish to the post office where, several hours after it was caught, the big female weighted 22 pounds 4 ounces and measured 31 inches long and 27 inches around.
As Perry remembered it, "It created a lot of attention that day in Helena. The old fellow in the general store weighted it. He was also a notary public and made the whole thing official."
Perry's family remembers the story a bit differently, According to Baab's report in the February, 1989 Bassin',
"Someone at the store mentioned the (Field & Stream) Big Fish Contest and urged Daddy to enter it. He had the fish weighed on a set of certified scales at the post office. According to the contest rules, he had the fish's dimensions and weight notarized. The fish weighted 22 pounds four ounces."
"Then Perry took his fish home and his mother, Laura, fried one side for supper, along with onions and tomatoes from the garden. They ate the other fillet later. Nobody took a photo, but the family does have a replica of the record bass and the lure Perry used."
There does seem to have been much confusion about the lure. According to Baab's Bassin' article -- he is the top authority on Perry and other bass record holders -- "The lure was a Wiggle Fish in perch scale manufactured by the Creek Chub Bait Co." For a time, few could agree on the lure's identity. It was variously identified as a Fantail Shiner, Jointed Wag-Tail, Creek Chub Minnow, Creek Chub Wiggler and Creek Chub Wiggle Fish. Baab discovered a letter from the son of one of Creek Chub Co. co-founders that, on the basis of conversations with George Perry, identified the lure as a # 241 jointed perch Wiggle Fish. Even today the makers of the line, rod and reel used by Perry remain unknown.
Perry, except for his name, remained relatively unknown too. He never seemed very impressed with his record. Such shouldn't be a surprise. Perry, according to George Baab, then Outdoor Editor of The Augusta Chronicle, "Was a quiet, modest, but confident man."
In 1932, when Perry caught his big bass, he was a poor youngster of 20 whose father had died the year before. Perry had to help support his five brothers and sisters. With only an eighth grade education, and barely literate, he educated himself and worked his way up to owning Perry's Flying Service at the local airport. He eventually died in an air crash.
Naturally, he won the Field & Stream contest with his 22-pound fish. He took his $75 prize out in a Browning automatic shotgun, a rod and reel, shotgun shells and some outdoor clothing. Prices have gone up! At the time this seemed to Perry like all the gear in the world. Then, just to show his first fish was not entirely an accident, he won the Field & Stream Contest again in 1934 with a 13-pound 14-ounce largemouth.
Today there is a commemorative marker next to Georgia Route 117 just 2 1/2 miles from Montgomery Lake, a side channel wide spot in the Ocmulggee River near Perry's home in Helena, Georgia. Perry might not have understood that. Like most brought up in the depression, he knew the difference between the necessary -- shelter, family, food and job -- and the merely nice, like record fish. He did understand the changing economics of recreation. In 1973, when interviewed by Baab just before his death, he mentioned that the record, if caught then, might be worth $10,000. Today, the record is clearly worth 100 times that. Even so, his daughter noted, "If Daddy had been a different sort of person, he could have made a pile of money doing public speaking about his record." Another friend, Dr. William F. Austin of nearby Brunswick noted, "George was never very impressed by the fish, or interested in impressing anyone about it."

THE LOST RECORD
Most bass fishermen know, and many lust after, the Perry Record. Almost nobody every wondered about the record Perry broke. Bill Baab did wonder. While the old Field & Stream records -- from days before IGFA and NFWFHF handled this chore -- had been destroyed, Baab turned up a 20-pound 10-ounce largemouth. It was caught by Fritz Friebel and had held the record for nine years prior to Perry's fish. It reportedly came from Moody Lake in the Florida panhandle. Friebel's brother claimed the fish came from nearby Big Fish Lake though. This record is listed by Florida, but is considered "uncertified" under the Sunshine state's new, tough rules.
In any case, Friebel, a traveling hardware salesman who always toted fishing gear, fished Sunday morning in May of 1923 with a couple of friends. Friebel took his fish with a Creek Chub Straight Pikie Minnow. It measured 31 inches long with a 27 inch girth. The girth might have been off. Friebel's daughter, in a later interview, noted, "A fellow accused Daddy of loading his fish with lead sinkers. So daddy cut the fish open and let the fellow feel inside." Like the Perrys, the family ate the fish soon after.

RACCOON FISH, WEIGHT EATING BASS AND "MAYBE "RECORDS
When Baab researched bass records, he discovered an account in an Indiana newspaper of a 24-pound 12-ounce fish caught from Lake Tohopekaliga near Orlando, Florida in April of 1974. This suggests DisneyWorld visitors who skip the fishing might be missing out!
Raymond Tomer reportedly caught the fish on a dark plastic worm. His fishing partner and two witnesses testified to the weight, and that it measured 39 1/2 inches long and 30 inches around. Tomer put the fish in his cooler, but the cooler lid wouldn't shut. So when he filleted the fish to cook it, it had spoiled. So he threw it out. He did nail the head on a post, but raccoons ate the head that night. Without the fish, its head and supportive photos, Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission, and others, refused to recognize the record.
While all of these records are in the Southeast, you can make a case that the next world record bass will come out of a Southern California Reservoir some time between December and April.
 
#49 ·
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