Dead River

the fish is actualy held away from the camera as well. no embellishment. not great photos, but without a go pro and a tripod you do the best you can when you're alone.

there is no way the pictured fish weighs 11 lbs. here are some photos of my 12 lb 4 oz 25"x 21 1/8" Bass - not a tail pinched total length measurement either. as you can see in the first photo. I was having some trouble with her due to adrenaline and self portraits. released.

btw, I have a replica for a 10 lb 8 oz F1 Largemouth on it's way here. The paintjob on it is nearly competition grade, we're talking scale tipping and iridescents galore. The type of paintjob where the scales are individually painted four times. i'lll share when it arrives.

right, I read something about Munoz being out of the business. is that permanent?I've read that he was the best for giant bass. So, what's a man supposed to do if he wanted a replica of a giant fish these days, kill it? Not me. Do you know if Munoz did Dottie when she was caught more than once and replicated prior to being foulhooked and later dying? he I had a discussion with a friend the other day that is a world class taxidermist. He told me that if I caught say a perfect 14# that I should have it cast. Moreover, if he and I were fishing together and I caught a perfect 10# I should also have it cast. the closest I've come to killing a fish that big was donating a couple of 10#s to bass pro. As far as I know those fish are still alive. interesting thread here, thanks for the information. if anyone else knows anything feel free to contribute. p.s. 19-3 - my god, did that come out of the lagoon or the lake proper, I'd need a defibrillator if I caught a bass that size. great fish, dude!

I own four replica mounts, I have two more forthcoming. Granted they are in the 10-12 pound range and my fish don't appear to be smiling if you will. that's good to know that your blank was cast from a real fish. I wonder what they've done for fish over 20 lbs. I cannot remember if crupi released his giant fish or had them cast. I do recall a south African taxidermist making a Frankenstein replica (a hodge podge of different blanks and heads) for a Dottie blank. I believe there are photos of it on taxidermy.net p.s. nice fish btw

I've seen some photos of some of the giant California replica blanks on this forum, both of which were painted by Robert Munoz. I also saw Jed Dickerson's Dottie replica displayed beside the carcass. Are these blanks cast from real fish or sculpted? Judging by the looks of them I could see it going either way. On one hand they look sort of realistic, on the other hand, they look a bit goofy and sculpted particularly on the heads (jaw area - fish look like they're smiling) a la some of the cheap Archie Phillips blanks. However, the southern colloquialism "that a double digit fish doesn't look real when it comes out of the water" due to its size can be true, I'm thinking a bass that large might appear grotesque and goofy looking if you will. One of the big fish Crupi caught can be seen via an image search does indeed have that almost alien fake look due to being so morbidly obese. Who all has casts of fish in the 18-20 lb + range? thanks

I seriously doubt the IGFA won't recognize a record from private waters. Private waters aren't sanctuaries. Here's one for you. I used to fish Ocmulgee Pfa a lot last year before it was drained by the state due to low water levels . This was a biologist managed female only trophy largemouth bass lake with a complex forage base. Was it like shooting fish in a barrell? absolutely not, the fish were stocked at a rate of 10 per acre as opposed to 100 per acre. Annually smaller supplemental stockings were added. So, the recipe was for maximum growth of fewer fish. The lake was low when I started fishing it, probably 75 acres or so, but in february of 2012 I caught 20 bass that weighed 170 lbs combined, five of them were over 10 lbs. The biggest being 12-4. Normally, at full pool the PFA was deemed a "two bite" lake. With the lower water the most I landed was 7, but usually 3-4 fish a trip. After feb the pattern changed. Additionally, I was fishing without sonar just covering water. So yes it was a pigpen but it was often difficult to get a bite. I guess it's like going to a casino that you know if it hits it will hit big... but you also run the risk of losing a lot of time and energy laboring at it. In short I am very proud of all those catches and commend the state for designing and managing such a wonderful public trophy bass fishery. A license and a wma stamp got you in. Another point, what about public small water. I catch a lot of my good fish from public small water, non trophy lakes that is. Some on bed, some regular, some from the bank, some from the boat. Just because I didn't use videogames electronics to find those fish doesn't mean they don't count. As for ponds, unless you get on them during the spawn, big bass are notoriously tough to catch in ponds, esp if the water is clear as is the case with many un-managed waters. Private ponds usuallly fish easier both during the spawn and regular. The public ones, particularly those that are undermanaged represent some of the toughest bed fishing to be had. Seen two many giant sows that I couldn't even make a presentation to... AND, if people are gonna crack on private water and managed fisheries then they ought to make sure the LM bass and the trout they're gorging themselves on are indigenous to the area... if not, then that's a hypocritical argument. LM bass have obviously flourished in cali and japan by virtue of uniquely fertile situations. Managed fisheries aren't like fishing in the bathtub, esp if they're designed for maximum size as the one I described above. It's not like these biologists are hand feeding dolphins at seaworld, it's about establishing a solid forage base, the right ph, the right algal bloom to maximize productivity and the appropriate population dynamics. I've got 8 bass over ten pounds. Three from old farm ponds, five from a trophy pfa. I'm well aware that there are people on this forum that have caught hundreds of them. That observation nor the location of the catches invalidates or makes any of them any less special. A ten lber is still a ten lber.

this is not totally accurate... your method 3 is called "standard length" but it IS NOT the way freshwater fish are measured by fisheries biologists. they use total length which is nose to the end of the tail fan pinched closed. this actually makes your catch a bit longer but this is how fisheries biologists measure their fish when they are doing surveys. I have done some volunteer work for ga dnr wrd and this is how it's done. I used to measure using method 2 which is good for shopping for replicas, but i now used "total length" since I've gotten to talk to several biologists and learned their ways. Length measurements depend on how the bass length is measured. Laid on the flat surface, mouth closed; Method 1. IGFA; the length is measured from the tip of the lower jaw to the center of the tail V down the lateral line. Method 2. Bass tournament; same as 1, except to the longest length of the tail, imaginary line from tail end tips, not the slight V depression. Method 3. Fish biologist; similar to method 1, except to the start of the tail base. Bass are not measured hanging downward with mouth open to the tip of the tail, as was more than likely how the George Perry bass was measured! The fact remains no authentic photo of George Perry holding his bass has ever been published. There was a photo of someone unidentified holding a big bass along side a young boy from that era, however the basses body mass doen't come close to a 22 lb 3 oz LMB. With 32" length and 26" girth reported for the Perry bass. Dottie was 29.25" long. The Kurita bass, current WR is 29" long (method 2). My maximum length measure to method 1 = 30" Tom