earthworm77

Earthworm. If Cali breaks it, they break it. I just hope the record stays in the United States. If Japan ever takes it, I'll be telling California to stock more trout. LOL Dodge, I absolutely agree, I'm not going to re reiterate why I posted this. I understand it is the accepted record. Unlike so many who think the record will fall anyday. I don't think it will fall for a long while. I believe the heyday of the trout fed bass peaked in the early 90's. There is no doubt in my mind that there are 23lb bass in California, Mexico, Cuba and even on the St. John's in Florida. I just think the number is so finite and so small that connecting with one of these fish is near impossible. If you think about it, the hunt is for a single 30" fish that lives in hundreds, thousands to ten thousands of surface acres to cover, add water depth to that and the area can quadruple. It just isn't going to be easy. I don't care to hear somebodies "I hooked the record but it got off story". You hook the record when you land and weigh it and it is certified. No single person can accurately guess the weight of a lost fish. Bob Crupi fished all his life to catch 2 20lb+ bass. Mike Long hunted giants for 15years before he got a 20+. It certainlt will not come to someone throwing a nightcrawler while fishing for perch. It won't be an accident. Even the last real big fish of over 19lbs caught by Paul Duclos??? I think, was a few years ago and taken off a bed. These are not like 5 lbers. They simply are not common and in California, there may only be one fish this size in even the best lakes with the highest record setting potential. Just a comment on Texas, there is no chance of a WR bass coming from Texas anytime soon. They've got a great program but you need to start producing high teeners to even consider the chance of a 20+ being produced. I am not a biologist but Texas is still decades off the mark. A dead 20lber would make the pages of Bassmaster and I haven't seen anything about them. This is purely speculation without any credible background, kind of like this record! lol

I think it is a little comical how some of you guys are truly threatened by the thought of the record falling to trout fed bass in California. Is it really that intimidating? Are they such a strange anomally? I think it is good management. If it is so easy to do, why hasn't the Lone Star Share a Lunker Program produced a true high teen heavy weight? Ironic to be talking about un natural when most of your fish are likely F1's which are not native to Georgia anyway. Just FYI. You can't have it both ways.

I've used Please Release Me for several years and its been great.

Dude, now we finally agree on something!

The con side of the argument is that 1 there are not any other fish close to that size in GA and 2 there is no picture of the catch. Mr. Perry claimed he caught the fish on a Creek Chub Wigglefish, in a later interview he claimed he caught it on a different crankbait. I'm not sure there are any eyewitness accounts of the catch on record. Mr. Perry told the people at Creek Chub that he would provide them with a photo of the record fish if they sent him free baits. He never provided the photo.(This information was provided by bassmaster interview.) I don't think there is accuracy saying there are no fish that size in Georgia, the fact of the matter remains there is such a tremendous gap between the size of this fish and the second largest that it seems suspect. So essentially in the past 75 years, nobody has taken a fish over 16lbs or so. This makes it seem more unlikely. The catch was said to have been weighed on a feed scale, was it certified? Who knows. Was it as accurate as today's scales? The bass was eaten for dinner thus never taken for verification or proper certification. Because nobody except Perry and perhaps a small number of people saw the fish, how can it ever have been certified for a record. My opinion is that at the time there was no record for LMB and that accepting it was really no big deal. Who would have thought that this leiniency would cause the longest standing all tackle record in history. Playmaker, you are right, it may be valid, but it also may not be. It really is food for thought.

I don't think he has a problem with Georgia holding the record. He has the problem with the RECORD itself no matter where it was. The record (story) just happened to come from Georgia. Thank you KU, you got the point. rattletrap, If you look at my avatar you'll clearly see that I am from Georgia myself. I have no issue withwhatever state that has the record. Just the facts or lack of that surrounds the so called record. R/T I stated repeatedly that this had nothing to do with Georgia or California or even Florida, you simply didn't comprehend that or chose to beam your state pride. I'm glad that T-Mike also saw the point I tried to make. Here is another point, there have been 2 Florida state record fish denied record status due to fuzzy details and lack of proper documentation. One over 20lbs and another a 19+. No problem with me. If it can't be proven, and properly documented, it shouldn't be recognized in any and all states.

George, I'm saying the facts around this fish are suspect, I'm not knocking Perry. He may have been the most honest man in the world, or he may not have been, I don't think anyone commented on his character in this thread. My problem is the authenticity and facts or lack of surrounding the record the reason it stands as opposed to the reason the Smallmouth record was struck down. I'm certainly not accusing Perry of wrong doing although by changing his story and not providing a photo he claimed to have, one would be well within his right to at the very least be suspicious as I am. If you are sound with it, more power to you. I'm not. As long as the record doesn't fall to Cuba, South Africa or Spain, I can at least be happy that a fish this large came from the USA.

Hey. We own the record. George Perry owns the record. Rattle Trap, just curious, do you believe the WR was a Northern Strain Largemouth? That asterisk would likely apply to the current record. And a sidenote, as a former police officer, I spent a great deal of my time having to prove cases beyond a resonable doubt to make sure they were legit, this record doesn't even show a proponderance of evidence to support it. I'm from Florida, and I would want nothing more than my neighboring state to have a credible record. All points suggest otherwise though. Sorry, be proud for the time being, you have every right to. But don't you question why the second largest Georgia bass is more than 5lbs lighter? Nothing has come close and there is a reason for that.

Let me reiterate, this has nothing to do with any specific state, it has everything to do with credibility. d**n, some of you are so accepting of it that it is scary. If there was a photo.......

RoLo 100% correct.

Canada, that is a good choice. Although it might as well be France, I ain't getting there anytime soon. I will also support Central Florida. Do you know that there are more bass species in Florida than anywhere in the world? Largemouth, Striped, Hybrid Striped(Sunshine), Suwannee, Shoal, Red Eye, Peacock, Spotted, likely some smallmouth leaking in from interstate waters.

Listen, Georgia guys, calm down, don't take it personally. I believe none of what I read and half of what I see and since this formula equates to a faux World Record, I don't buy it. It's my opinion. You can cry all you want about hand fed bass but when a California fish breaks the record, Perry's will be officially a footnote in history and nobody will care about the vitamin "T" raised bass in CA. After all these fish aren't in a 1 acre pond and you still have to catch them yourself. This being said, Triton Mike brought up a great point about the next largest bass being 5lbs smaller than the WR. The facts against this fish are suggesting it was not this large. I'm not saying Perry was a liar, maybe he was, that would explain the lack of a photo evidence despite his maintaining he had them. I'm sure he caught a big fish. I'm just convinced that the steps taken to acurrately and correctly verify this fish were not legitimate or lack too much detail for it to even be considered a record. Had it been done correctly we likely wouldn't be talking about it now. This isn't some guy coming on a website and piping off about a 10lber he caught and doesn't show photos, this is the most cherished of records, maybe at the time it was an afterthought but to make a claim and actually be given this record, without proof casts doubt on the credibility of this sport. Most of you guys who are OK with this are from Perry's home state, it is understandable but looking in from the outside, it is a shame that this hasn't been challenged for almost 75 years. I just want to see the photos that Perry claimed he had. Why hasn't one surfaced. How can anyone be OK with that? I wanted to compare the smallmouth and largemouth record. I couldn't understand why the smallmouth record was thrown out despite far superior documentation. I also thought it was laughable that it was reinstated after much public dismay. Politics swaying the IGFA? if that's the case, I just can't understand any record on the books without meeting a proper standard of documentation. Can anyone wholeheartidly support the mere story of the events that took place. Even if you are from the Georgia Motherland, you have to have doubts. Bassnut, the first thing I would do is contact my Fish and Game commission to get an officer and certified scale and witness verification to certify the fish. IGFA has specific rules to follow, of which I am not too informed about. However, if you take that first step it will hold a lot of weight in the long run. When I lived in NY, I certified a tremendous number of fish over 5 pounds this way. Unless you get a true giant, it becomes a hassle. If you are shooting for a record, you deal with it. I took the steps to correctly certify several hundred large bass so I could provide a sense of credibility in case I did come across a record. I wanted to cross the "T"'s and dot the "I"'s. Like Mike Long, nobody is going to be too surprised when this guy catches the record, we all see it as when, not if.

Playmaker, that's where I will disagree with you. I've done a ton of research on this "record". Perry told Creek Chub he had photos of the fish in his many letters to them requesting free baits. He seemed to be hellbent on getting his due for catching this fish, he knew how or attempted to play the system, so he was at least aware that there was some stake in this record and tried to benefit from it. He was even quoted several times telling people he caught the fish on several different lures. The thing was that he never produced that photo. Any idea why? Because he never caught a 22lb 4oz bass. The only photo I have seen of Perry holding a fish was one of him and a good fish of about 10lbs. Perry didn't submit this fish for the record, Field and Stream did and it took about a year and a half to be recognized. Take this a little further by considering the recent trashing of the World Record smallmouth by the IGFA and its sudden reinstatement. Now this fish was indeed legit, weighed and photographed but a feud between fish camp owners suggested there were discrepancies in the story. The only thing was that it was an issue that had nothing to do with the fish or the gent who caught it. This record was ultimately reinstated due to pressure and public outcry. My question is this and it is the point why I made this post in the first place......how could the smallmouth record be tossed despite the steps taken to certify it and the largemouth record has not been challenged in light of the holes in that story? No photo? C'mon. This isn't a Cali vs. Georgia thing, the story just doesn't jive. I'd love to see a photo and since Perry claimed to have them, why hasn't one ever surfaced. Oh yeah, I caught a 40lb largemouth here in Florida on a golf course using a Chuck Woolery Moto lure. I have a photo but I'm not posting it, can I have my all tackle record please??? LOL.

I have a hard time believing in this, the most sought after record, with no photographic proof. Why wouldn't those other fish be recognized? It would be nice to believe in, I just can't.

Does anyone think it is truly a legitimate record?

The problem is that everything you read or watch is geared to catching smaller fish. Years ago I started to change my mindset and target larger fish exclusively. If you can commit to it, you can catch them consistently....maybe not right away but it will happen. K- every dog can have 1 day, so any angler can catch a good fish at least once. Consistency is the key to doing it regularly.

B.A.S.S reprinted it about 12 years ago or so. I would guess it isn't worth anything except nostolgia. They also reprinted another but the name escapes me, a grey cover possibly Black Bass? Anyway, one has a red cover the other grey.

Dodge, you've read some of the stuff I wrote and you've sat in on a few of the lectures, this book is scarily similar to what I've been preaching for years regarding targetting larger NY fish. I've been on point about this mindset and if anyone has the discipline to follow it, they should catch bigger fish with more consistency. You are absolutely correct that most fisherman simply do not have the patience to stick with the mindset that they may go fishless or biteless for weeks on end. BD, locating bass is pretty much based on seasonal patterns for the most part. The thing about the book is that there is huge emphasis that larger bass run to the beat of their own drum. While I agree with this, they are not as unpredictable as the book leads you to believe, they can be patterned if you are observant enough. Of course, these patterns may not be as general as smaller fish, they may be water specific. You may have bodies of water only a few miles apart where the larger fish do totally different things at the same time of the year. Obviously this is where knowing your water comes into play.

My friends, the book is not about learning a technique that will allow you to catch more bass. Instead it is about changing your whole mindset and approach to place yourself in position to catch larger bass. The reason 99% of all bass fisherman do not catch large fish with any consistency is because everything they read or watch on TV is tailored to tournament angling which is a catch'em as fast as you can type of fishing. This book is all about breaking the mold and approaching from a totally different angle. IMO, it is one of the best bass fishing books I've ever read. Then again I've subscribed to these philosophies long before I read the book.

Nick, this guy has no clue. In almost every state in this country, bass do not garner much attention in the budgets of fish and game commisions. Trout and Salmon command most of the monies allotted for state sport fishing. Don't sweat it.

agreed Glenn!

Actually it's kinda cold here in Florida too, it didn't hit 80 today. Break out the long sleeves!

DD, I think your is the best response, It is based on consistency, something I always preach. I have more respect for the guys who go out there everyday and do it with consistency. Winning a tournament means nothing, especially if you are not a high dollar pro. Anyone can win on accident. Do it regularly like KVD or catch the biggest fish all the time like Long, Crupi, Arujo, Siemantel or become a legend based on what you accomplished during your life Mann, Rolaand Martin, Brewer, Westmorland. That is worthy of kudos. And guys, don't look at this as a tournament angler vs. recreational angler. Only the top Pro's are tournament anglers, you guys who do it on weekends are still just weekend warriors like the rest of us. Having the title of tournament competitor doesn't mean you are more skilled or less skilled for that matter. It only means you compete. Nothing more.

Obviously Ike has skill. I don't dislike him but I have grown tired of his antics. Pump your fish and crow when you win, not when you boat a 12 inch fish.

Check the weight on that fish, a 22-8 is a world record.