Mattlures

I got no problem with keeping bass. They are good eating keep the small ones. I do think all trophy bass should be released though. Like I said I wouldnt do anything bad to the guy. I just know that sombody else would. Muddy your a good example of why attacking the fisherman doesnt work. If you act like a jerk, he will keep the fish just to spite you. If offer to take the mans picture and maybe give him a lure and try to edjucate him on how important or rare a gaint bass is, there is a chance he might release it. I am all for having the right to keep fish and I pay for my licsence just like everybody else. I understand that fish are good to eat but a little common sence goes a long way. Keeping a huge bass is an extremly selfish act. you wanna brag? take pics. You wanna mount it? get a replica, they are superior in every possible way. You wanna eat it? go cathc a few smaller fish. here is what you do with a huge bass

Look at Ottis's hand thats holding the fish. His hand is not huge. It looks about the same size as his left. He is not sticking that fish out. That fish is LOOOOOONG. I have personaly caught 3 fish over 15lbs and weighed and photgraphed them. My opinion is that 18 1/2 lbs is within reason. No of course I feel he has done a horrible thing by keeping it even if it is his right. That right there is why CA. produces so many more giants then anywhare else. If Otis were to keep and eat that fish in so cal, he would probably get his tire slashed and many other bad things. I aint saying its right and I wouldnt do it but I wouldnt be suprised either. If I saw him catch it I would offer to buy it from him and take his picture with it and then release it

Give KVD all his gear and I would take him on even, but my rules. 1 year to fish. Biggest 5 or biggest single fish throughout the year. All have to be caught in lakes in the USA no guides no private water. I would be the favorite and I would bet on myself Now a regular tournament, well I think I am above average and I am confident but I am also realistic. He would beat me 19 out of 20 times. on nuetral water. His water 49 out of 50. My water 9 out of 10. He is that good and a zebco wouldnt slwo him down much. I would refuse to fish against him with that handicap. If by some chance I got on a good bite and won, it would mean nothing because he was handicapped. Sure he can and does get beat and its possible for most of us to have a chance at beating him. But we are not supossed to beat him and it wouldnt happen very often. Now anytime we go into competition we have to believe we can win. Why even try if you dont think you can win. Even though I would loose to him those 49 out of 50 times I would still think I can win each time.

Thanks Paul, not just another day but I have spent so much time chasing bass and there are so many other cool fish to catch. the good thing is a lot of big fish habits are universal. Each new fish is easier to figure out then the last one. Once I get a few trophies of any one species I start wanting to conquer a new one. Bass will probably always be my #1

Your daughter is as pretty as her momma. Great report as usual

Prety sure those holes are there from pins used to hold the internal rigging in place while the bait is being made. They serve no purpose once the plastic has cooled and the pins are removed.

I used to spear fish a lot when I was in my 20's. One day I decided to shoot an eel to eat. Very greasy and mostly fat. Not worth eating. Our cudda out here dont get very big. a 10lber is huge and the meat turns mushy real fast. They are an absolute blast to catch though! That cudda of your is a beauty

My record is an all tackle world record. After I caught the fish(goldfish ;D), I joined the IGFA and sent in my application. I have my pretty certificate framed and on my wall I dont think the IGFA would turn down a paying customer.

LBH you can join the IGFA after the fact and then send in your aplication, I did

Chris I think we have a lot of our fishing in common. I like to catch big fish of every species availible to me. I am honestly a little burnt out on bass soo I am going salty hunting this year. I still have 2 more good bass bites left but I want some salty trophys. Here is my biggest bat ray. I guess it at around 140 but who knows And here is my Angel shark. these guys are pretty rare down here, do you have any of them up by you?

Chris I weighed the hali in the boat and the scale was reading between 30 and 30 1/2 lbs so I am just calling it an even 30lbs. There are lost of other cool fish to catch right now. I might go get a big ol leopard shark next!

Thanks fellas. The bass arent that big. They are very fat so they look bigger then they are. They just arent very long. The big ones are around 7-8 and the last little guy was around 4. there was another 1 also around 4. I think the bass are the least impresive. The biggest cat went 19 .8 and thats big for a channel. small for a blue but a big channel. I actualy sight fished those cats on purpose with a jig. I could see them cruising in about 20ft and I would pitch my jig out in front of their path. When they got close I would give it a little hop and they would hit it. I had 1 qwick chance to stick them because they wouldnt hold the jig. It was a blast. I missed several more. The best fish by far is the big Hali. They are a different species then the Alaskan ones and that 30lber is huge. A fish of a lifetime for most. Bass will probably always be my number 1 but sometimes its hard to work for them when I can go play in the salt and catch fish all day.

I have actually gotten out a little bit and did some fishing. I am not super motivated on bass right now so I mixed it up with some different species caught 4 nice bass on my swimbait Then I caught some pretty big channel cats then I caught a monster butt

I went on a DFG shocking trip on lake Skinner last year. We shocked up probabaly 500 bass and many other fish. We weighed one 13lber and a couple of 10's. The biologist told me they rarley get any monsters and he didnt belive any of the stories of rumored records by other states shocking. Matt Fly you do have 1 detail backwards. the larger fish absorb more electricity and get shocked much harder then the smaller fish using the same amount of current. The big ones looked almost dead while shad were unefected right under the booms. most bluegill just darted away, only the very biggest gills would get shocked hard enough to scoop up but it only lasted a few seconds. The big bass, catfish, carp looked like they were stiff and dead when they got shocked. Aslo the shock boats have to go shallow, they only have about a 10-12ft range. It was definatley interesting and fun. I recomend going with the state fish and game guysif you ever get the chance. I would imagine if you emailed them and asked if you could volentier you would have a good chance of going. It is work though.

It shouldnt be that hard to get in. You just have to know sombody who is in the industry and is going. Start asking them ow before all their passes get snatched up. Also nothing is for sale there. Its for manufacturers to show their goods and for buyers to place orders

A real store would have to beat Ebay and that is hard to do. Probably the best way to do it is through Ebay. Put out ads that you buy used gear and then you clean it up and you sell it on ebay. A very wise and RICH man once told me that anytime you talk about an idea or a buisiness you will get everybody telling you why it wont work. The smart and RICH ones think of ways TO make it work.

I always start big and then work my way smaller. I also always start agresive and ease up when I need to. I DO NOT throw any type of plastic worm or lizzard at them when they are on their beds. There are much better baits. I make my own jigs and they are heavy 1/2 ounce with EWG hook and no weed gaurd. My tiny baits are usualy some type of soft plastic fish or small grub. I will either dropshot them with gammies or owners mosquito hooks. Anytime I am bedfishing my baits are rigged so the second they engulf the bait I can stick them. Big hooks are not aways better. Strong sticky sharp hooks are ideal. Of course the most important thing is being able to read the fish.

It could be your hooks or your baits. I always have exposed hooks and usualy some kind of exposed smaller treble hook, like a size 4 I generaly bed fish with 3 different baits. My soft gills, jig, and a little bait. I will work them insuccesion untill I get the reactions I am looking for. It all deoends on the fish. IMO long lures like worms or lizzards are the worst possible bed baits. Fish know your there and they see the hook and line and they will pick up the bait by the tails without having the hooks in thier mouths. I dont give them that option. When they pick up my bait , they are going to have an xhvy VERY sharp hook in their mouth and I hit them hard. If your using a light wire hook or a cheaper one you just might not be getting enough penatration to keep the fish on. Dont get me wrong I have dumped a fish or two, but usualy It is hard to get the female to pick up the bait again after she has felt it and taisted it. Males are stupid and it doesnt matter, they will hit it again on the next cast. Females may only pick the bait up once so you have to be ready and you have to hit them fast and hard with a good powerful rod on hvy line. unless of course you get them on the little bait then its scary.

Iset the hook as they are engulfing it. I absolutley do not wait. Litteraly, I hook them within 1 second of them taking it as long as I can see whats going on. If I cant see good I swing when I know she has it. Why would you wait? Use better hooks and heavier line and hit them hard. Be ready and cocked, Know when she is going to bite and swing as she is bitting. If you wait it will end up costing you.

When choosing a swimbait you should look for a quality proven bait that resembles the big bass prey the closest. by going with quality proven baits you know it will have fish catching action, the next thing to do is match the size and color. However this does not mean they wont eat this or that color. Bass will eat a trout colored bait anywhere. if all you have is trout colored bait and your lake is full of golden shinners then throw the trout, but if your shopping for a bait I would buy the shinner colored one. another way to look at it is, if your non trout lake was stocked with a 1000 8in trout do you think your bass would eat them? You bet they would.

cold lead dropped into molten lead will also do that

Actualy George, Field and stream did just that. they published several world record, contest winning claims around that same time. Then they had to go back and publish retractions because they were found to be frauds. So obviously people were trying to cheat to win that contes for a neato rod. It is rediculous to say times were different back then and that somehow people were more honest. People have been corrupt since they were created. There have been dishonest cheets throughout recorded history. In that small town where everybody knew everybody and they were all friends, it would be easy to fabricate the story. Just look at all the stupid world records that people do now just to be in a book. Like who can stick the most cloths pins on their faces. There is motive and the means for Perry to have faked the record. Remember he only had 1 lure between himself and Page so a brand new rod and reel to poor farmboy would be a huge prize. Now dont get me wrong I am in no way what so ever saying they lied or faked the record. all I am saying is it could have easily been done. And it had been atempted by several other would be record breakers, contest winners. I have done a lot of research on this subject and at one time I was 95% sure Perry was a cheat and a liar. Now I would say I am about 60% thinking he caught the record. The biggest change in my opinion is that picture. It might not even be Perry's fish it could just be a floater that some guy found and took a pic with his son. But for me that picture refutes 2 of the bigest arguments against Perry's fish. #1 was the measurements. They never stacked up comparred to documented 20lbers but when I look at that fish it looks different then our Cali bass. The measurements become possible. #2 is that GA has never produced another big bass even close to the record. Well to me that fish looks 20+lbs so it has produced at least 1 fish that big. As for the fish being northern strain, well FL is right next to GA so the fish very easily could have been a pure FL strain or a n F1 just like George Welcome said.

shaner1988 are you for real? It is a fact that is not Perry, Period. It has been proven . you are the only person on the planit that would argue against this fact. Perry's famaily has confirmed its not him. Fact. You can see from the pictures its a differnt man. Fact. Perry was only 20 when he caught his fish. its a different man. Do you know why his son knew from the second he saw the cigarette? because George Perry watched his dad die from lung cancer from smoking and he cared for him as he died. He became the man of the house and took care of his family. He vowed never to smoke. Your continued defence is absurd and rediculous. You sir are wrong. deal with it. It happens to all of us, myself included. However when somebody proves to me that 2+2=4 instead of 3 or 5 I admit I was wrong and move on. And No I am definatley not having any anurisms. I am actualy enjoying this thread and I am not upset at all.

I started taking pictures of my fish. Its realy cool to look back through my photo albums and remember all the fish I have forgotten about.

Members of Perry's family have stated that the man in the picture is not George Perry. There is your proof. FACT FACT FACT. plus anybody who is not blind can see it is a different man. arguing against this FACT only makes sombody look unreasonabl and their other arguments loose validity. As for the picture itself. I feel the fish looks big enough that it is in the realm of possability that it is 22.4. I also feel it is possible that that is a picture of Perry's fish. However there still id no proof where that piture was taken and nobody can identify who is in the picture. That picture alone tells me that it was possible that a 22lber existed and that it was caught in GA by Perry. The problem is there are so mant strong arguments against the record being legit. I just dont know. If that were Perry in the Pic that would be good enough for me. It is also possible they found a floater? heck maybe they used dynomite? I highly doubt it but its not impossible. George welcome said it best. The IGFA says its the world record. They keep the records. We all know the weight to beat. like I said before I have accepted the record. I am not sure if I believe it but I accept it. Did you guys know the freashwater hall of fame lists the Trew bass as the world record? I am thankful that the IGFA keeps the records becuase if they didnt kooks like hall of fame would accept anything as a record. quote author=537862707F75786E26222726170 link=1240098315/69#69 date=1240200231]Gotta love a bass caught so long ago causing such a controversy to this day. For all of the people out there stating that it's a "FACT!!!11" thats it's not Perry in the picture, prove it. On the other side somebody needs to prove it is him. Honestly though, does it really matter now? The record is the record and it will be until somebody lands a bigger fish. Personally I could care less about catching record fish as cool as it would be. I'm sure theres bigger fish floating around some of the remote areas of the world. It wouldn't surprise me if theres a few massive fish floating around in the unmolested parts of the Everglades or some of the swamps up in northern Florida. Nobody will ever know for sure. One day it will be broken and people will be calling whoever the person is that catches it a cheater, lier, etc etc.