Tennessee Boy

Fishing is more complicated than we like to admit. Here in Tennessee, the power generating schedule on the local lakes plays a big part in timing. Wind, sun position, and countless other mystery factors also play a role in timing. If you watched the final round of the last BPT tournament at Chickamauga, the leaders were all on fish. They all went through periods where they were catching fish on almost every cast and then they would go an hour or more without catching anything. The fish didn't move, they just stopped biting. That's classic Tennessee river ledge fishing. Some of the anglers moved when they stopped biting. Others, like the winner KVD, stayed put and waited. Rick Clunn recently said that he has adjusted the way he fishes in recent years to catch bigger fish. He finds the best locations for big fish and then makes sure he's there when conditions are the best. It's a fact that timing matters. How to adjust your fishing to account for that fact is important and very complicated. Someone who has mastered timing (if that's even possible) is truly a master angler.

Trolling motors sometimes cause interference on fish finders when connected to the same battery but not always. If it was me I would wait till I saw a need before adding another battery but that's just me.

If you catch a world record largemouth or smallmouth you’ll want to hire a lawyer, publicist, body guard, and agent. Eventually you’ll also want a biographer and a psychiatrist.

It’s one of my favorite bass fishing book. I don’t understand why they don’t print more of them.

That’s an interesting point. Was it easier to catch a 10+ or 20+ lb bass in the 1930s? It’s an important question in this discussion and one I’m not sure about. I suspect it was easier to catch a 10+ bass for the reason’s you mentioned. Less pressure. I’m not so sure about 20+ fish. Fish need optimal conditions to grow that big. Here in Tennessee I think the conditions needed to grow bigger bass improved when dams were built. Especially in the years right after the lakes were impounded. We still can’t grow one over 20 lbs. I don’t know about the waters Perry fished. I would tend to think the same is true. Obviously, there are some bodies of water that have gotten much worse due to pollution and other factors.

George Perry said that two photos were taken of the fish but he didn’t know what happened to them. The photo with the little boy turned up in 2006. The man in the photo is not Perry. Another more mysterious photo was emailed to Bill Baab in 2013. Baab is the outdoor writer at the Augusta Chronicle and has done more research on George Perry than anyone. The email said the photo was found in a family barn in Florida. It contained no further details and it’s unknown who sent it. When Baab replied to the email he got a reply that the account was no longer active. The photo shows Perry on one knee holding a fish. Family members have confirming that the man is Perry and the date "June 2, 1932" is written on the photo.

I’ve done a lot of reading on this fish because I think it’s one of the most interesting stories in bass fishing. Two country boys go fishing way before the modern bass fishing craze and before there were world records. They were just hoping to catch something for dinner. One of them caught a big fish and a friend suggested he enter it in a magazine contest. If not for that friend we would have never heard of George Perry and his fish. The contest entry became a world record and George became famous. It’s a great story with a lot of mysteries. I’ve enjoyed this thread. I’m also fascinated and a little surprised how emotional folks get on this subject.

Just catch a small fish, hand it to him and tell him it’s his participation trophy.

Technology is constantly improving which makes record keeping more accurate and easier. It’s true in all sports. In Track & Field times are measured with extremely accurate automated systems that eliminate the chance of human error. This was not true 75 years ago. The problem is you can’t just throw out the old records as being inaccurate every time new technology brings a higher level of accuracy. The same is true with new rules and processes that are added to insure the authenticity and accuracy of fishing records. The old records are a big problem that the IGFA has struggled with. The smallmouth record set in 1955 was stripped from DL Hayes then later reinstated. The walleye record set in 1960 was stripped from Mabry Harper and then later reinstated. It’s a mess and I don’t see a solution. Like I said in an earlier post on this thread, I think it’s unlikely that the record is legit but I don’t think there is evidence to justify overturning it.

Debates about which company has the best technology are interesting. The practical fact for me and many of us is this. If I want live sonar I have to get it from Humminbird. If I buy another brand, I have to buy a new fish finder to view it with and accept that it will not be integrated with my network. Another very expensive option would be to replace my Ultrex TM and all of my Humminbird equipment with either Garmin or Lowrance products and give up 360 imaging and LakeMaster maps in the process. Once I see evidence that MEGA Live works reasonably well, I will be buying one. Getting a Garmin or Lowrance is not something I’m considering. I have a love/hate relationship with my Humminbirds. They are unacceptably buggy but they offer 360 Imaging which I love and they have LakeMaster maps which I cannot live without.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we all have a propensity to hate. For most people it’s politicians and preachers not fishermen. A while back, after hearing so much about the Googan Squad, I went to their YouTube channel to check them out. I watched about 2 minutes of a video and found it annoying and not the least bit informative. I thought maybe I had just picked a bad one so I tried another one. About 2 minutes was all I could stand of that one. That was it for me and the Googans. I’m sure it’s just a generational thing. If you’re in your 20s and people in their 50s and 60s think you’re cool. You ain’t cool. I suppose I could watch all their videos and develop a strong hate for them. Some people seem to enjoy doing that. I don’t think it’s healthy.

He certainly knew how to win magazine contest, there's no doubt about that.

He won the same Field & Stream contest again a few years later with a 13 lbs 14 oz fish from the Altamaha River.

It's very hard to spend money right now. A couple of weeks ago I logged into Tackle Warehouse and submitted a large order. It hasn't cost me a dime. They haven't shipped the order yet.

Seems like everything is getting scarce. I bought mine a couple of months ago. Had to go to four Walmart before I found one were the box didn’t look like it had been thrown out of a moving truck. I wish I had bought one years ago. You can do so much with it.

I love mine. Enjoy

If I had to guess I would say it’s the transducer or possibly the cable. I assume you’ve checked the transducer for damage.

I have two Humminbird Solix, 360 imaging, an ethernet switch, an GPS puck, and a heading sensor puck running off my cranking battery. The Solix are touch screen fish finders and use a good bit more power than most fish finders. I've fished hard for 14 hours before and didn't have any problems. I have an X2Power 27M battery so it's a good one. My guess is you will run out of juice before your battery does.

I'm not calling the man a liar. We will never know the facts on this. I'm saying it's the most logical explanation. There are many possible explanations. Today a world record is a big deal and would be worth a lot of money in endorsements to the angler. To try to make a fraudulent claim to a world record largemouth today would be a serious crime. Perry was not claiming a world record at the time. He was entering a Field and Stream contest for catching the biggest fish of the year. He obviously won and he won this contest again in a later year. Field & Stream did not keep world records at the time. They started doing that a few years later and awarded the record to him because he submitted the fish in the contest. I don't think they should take the record away from him. There is no evidence to support doing that. It would have been nice if someone (Field & Stream or IGFA) had done some research when witnesses were still alive before awarding him the record. My question is this. What's more likely? A 20 year old lied to win a shotgun or he caught the biggest bass ever caught and a fish 4 lbs bigger than the 2nd biggest fish ever caught in the state. We will never know the truth.

There were no records at the time. Field and Stream started keeping fishing records a few years later and at that point declared his fish as the world record.

If I remember correctly, the second biggest bass ever caught in Georgia was 18 lbs. That’s a 4 pound difference! I think the most logical explanation is he lied to win a magazine contest. He won a shotgun if I remember correctly. He had no idea that lie would turn into fame and a world record. He has the IFGA record. That’s a fact. Do I believe he caught a fish that big? No

When I first got my two Gen 1 Solix units they were very buggy. Humminbird has a history of shipping stuff before it’s ready. What surprised me about the video was how little they showed MEGA Live. It was a good promotional video for 360 Imaging and Brandon Palaniuk though. ?

He caught a 5 lber that moved him up to second. He rushed it in and got it in the boat with maybe 2 seconds to spare. He got a fish landing violation but it didn't matter.

They need to check Wheeler's last fish on the instant replay. Man that was close. It was a great tournament.

I just got an email from Humminbird saying MEGA Live will be available in September 2021. I hope Santa Claus is an authorized distributor.