WRB-2.0

The smaller male bass will guard it's own fry brood for a few days then leaves them. The larger females feed on fry as soon as they have recouped from spawning. Try both hard and soft jerk baits along the weed lines, don't bother with trying to get post spawn sight fish to strike. Also fish the deep break lines below the depth of light. WRB

Length to girth ratio based on your reported info would indicate the bass should be in the 6 1/2 to 7 lb range. The photo looks like this bass has a big head and small body, photos can be misleading. Nice bass regardless of it's weight being less than expected. Bass at night seem to fight harder and look bigger. WRB

Lets play this back; muddy water on the rise and 2lb to 4lb bass tailing with backs or dorsal fins out of the water, very shallow water. About right? I have only been bass fishing about 60 years and can't remember ever seeing bass tailing or having their dorsal fins up while swimming in shallow water. Catt had right; are you sure you were seeing bass? Catfish are a possibility and so are carp, bass....very unlikely. Bass will cruise spawning flats, not so shallow that you see any part of the fish out of water, unless they are feeding aggressively and pushing bait against the bank. If this was the situation the bass would be extremely fast swimmers, you couldn't get close without spooking them. Bass in the act of spawning, not likely that tight to the bank in rising water. Carp and catfish act exactly like the fish you witnessed. All these fish, including bass have dark silhouettes in off color water, very difficult to determine the species from a short distance without seeing the fish come out of the water. Just curious; how did you estimate the weigh in off color water with poor visibility? Water distorts the fishes width, so the only method is judging the length. WRB

Bass will attack any egg eaters that get near their eggs. Crawdads, minnows, bluegill, salamanders, carp are egg eaters. White/chartreuse jigs have been a standard bed lure for decades. WRB

Out west most tournament anglers use the X-Tools digital Pro weighing system; Google; XTools, gripNweigh. WRB

My son gave me a fisherman scale that is 18" long with measurements to 36" ( 1/2 scale). This should work well for you in CO! Tom

I found this scale last year; http://www.jscale.com/product/_ultrasport_series.html Back in the 70's & 80's I had a yard stick screwed to the deck and just laid the bass next to it for a photo, work good. Back then I used the brass Chatillon 25 lbs spring scale in 2 oz increments, accurate enough for my use. Today the compact UltraSport 30 works good for me and it can be certified by the local weights and measure people. Now I just need to be able to catch a new PB and use the new tools; scale and digital camera, that is easier said than done. WRB

Matt, give Doug Stange a call; Editor for In-Fisherman. Doug should have contacted you before publishing the article, who knows he may give you some free ad space. WRB

Having fished through the million dollar WR bass days with magazine contests offering $$$$$$$$$$$ awards, I can give you first accounts of rampant cheating going on. Money often brings out the worst behavior in fisherman. Today's big bass catches are not at the forefront they were when the big bucks were being promised. To make money on a record bass catch, the angler will need to be a good marketeer or have help marketing the catch. Manubu Kurita's new world record bass is proof of today's market place; he has received very little money for his catch. If memory serves me, there was a reported new world record rainbow trout caught in B.C. Canada last year, what happened with that catch? You would think that the tackle manufacturer's would be having full page color ads in all the magazines for all these new fresh water world records; LMB, brown trout and rainbow trout are prime market fish. WRB

When you discuss record fish it can become a Pandora's box in a hurry. Just consider the Perry bass for example and arguments start and tempers flare. State records and line class records are clouded in more innuendo and finger pointing. Throw in lure manufacture claims based on anglers submitting catches for free lures and you start digging a deeper hole. Ever try to verify a local lake record? Now that can take some time and uncover a lot of different claims. The old saying "All fisherman are liars, except me and you, and I'm sure about you", is as true today as it was 100 years ago. Just trying to get a few bass validated years after they were caught, with pictures and witness statements, has become more of a hassle then it's worth. My advice; catch the trophy fish, enjoy the moment. If you choose to share it, be ready for both praise and criticism. WRB

Any good 6 1/2' to 7 1/2' med/hvy casting rod designed for spinnerbaits or plastic worms should work good. You may need a little backbone in the middle 1/3rd of the rod than a crankbait rod to get a good hook set. Good price rods are; Lamiglas Excel or Dobyns Savvy series, 704. You have a lot of choices. WRB

Summer thermocline depth is extremely important in deep structured hill land or high land reservoirs. In reservoirs that have power generation dams, the thermocline can be in multiple layers and depth ranges however the top primary layer is where most of the bass and pelagic prey fish will locate. So it's sonar time. Adjust your sonar unit so you can easily read the thermocline layer, the depth the water makes a quick temperature change is shown as a dark line or darker fuzzy zone about 2 to 4 feet thick, depending on your sonar unit and lake. During the summer the bass will gather just above the thermocline depth and suspend waiting for prey fish like pelagic shad schools to come near structure like points and humps. Simply survey the marina where you launch, determine the life zone, the depth of the thermocline and you will know what depth and where to start fishing. Remember the bass will follow the bait fish towards cover during low light and at night, so there will always be some bass tight to cover and bass suspended in deeper cooler water near the thermocline. Keep in mind that wind and time of day can affect the thermocline depth, so check it several times during the day on the water, during those summer dog days. WRB

Mike doesn't need to worry about Manabu fishing his spots. Did they stick any good fish? Tom

Thank you taking the time to ask the questions and posting the answers. It's a shame that this historic catch doesn't get the attention or recognition is deserves. Making money from a record catch isn't automatic and will take a lot of marketing skills. It's is a difficult task to interact with someone who doesn't understand the local terminology, let alone the language and culture. Being reserved is a sign of not understanding of what is being asked, Manubu looks to very animated in his own surroundings. Again thank you for asking a question that was not related to the products you make. Any bass over 30" long will more than likely exceed 24 lbs. Congratulations Manabu and good luck. WRB

If you get the opportunity ask Manabu if crawdads are a common prey for Japanese giant bass and if so; do they fish old school hair jigs with pork rind trailers? WRB PS; Robert Munoz is back to painting bass mounts and has new spectacular colors.

The primary difference is the current; the bass will be facing into it. Bass do not like anything sneaking up and surprising them from behind them, they spook easily. Whatever you use, bring it to the face of the bass and give the bass a chance to strike it. Otherwise bass are bass and will relate to lures that look like the forage they are targeting, whatever that may be. WRB

The northern strain largemouth bass were introduced to California about 1890, bass from Minnesota. The Florida largemouth bass were introduced in 1959, San Diego city lakes only. FLMB have not been widely or officially planted statewide outside of Southern CA, however unofficially transfers by fisherman have spread FLMB throughout the state. Lakes that freeze over or never planted with FLMB have NLMB and several bass lake fall into that category in CA. NLMB in CA are not uncommon considering they have been here over a 100 years. WRB

Various bass fishing shows around the country there is usually a bass boat set up for pitching contest into target rings at distances; 20', 25', 30,' 35' and 40'. Prizes are awarded for any angler who can hit all 5 targets. WRB

Without knowing how the bass was measured, the numbers can be misleading. The one thing a good formula does is validate the numbers within some reason. It's been my experience that a NLMB can grow to nearly 28" length ( mouth closed to V in the tail, etc.). My PB NLMB weighed 12 lbs 4 oz., was 27" long and 20 inch girth. If someone wants a picture, email me. The facts are the facts and fact is NLMB rarely have a girth that exceeds 80% of the length. The Walbel bass in the photo looks to be close to 75% girth, it's not a heavy bodied bass. Under ideal conditions, if the pit lake was deep enough, had year around running springs and a lot of forage and pre spawn, it's possible for a NLMB to grow to 28" length and weigh 13+lbs. However...there would be several NLMB close to this size caught in the same area, not necessarily the same pit lake. The mount appears to be your average FLMB caught in Florida. This would be a skin mount and easy to verify via a lateral line scale count, as noted earlier. WRB

If you asking about a world record, all tackle or line class, the IGFA requires your name and a witness name, photo, certified weight, 100' of line or leader and lure or bait type and how the lure or bait is rigged. Every state has different requirements, in California a state record must be validated by a biologist or DFG personal. Your name is a requirement for most records. Record bass caught by unknown or anonymous angler; this actually happen at Wolford in CA, when a giant bass was left hanging on the entry gate several years ago. No angler ever claimed it and it was more than likely caught illegally or poached. Sometimes it's easier to catch a record then to verify it. WRB

Estimating a fishes length and actual measure is one reason information gets into question. Another is how the fish is measured; fish biologist for example tend to measure a fish with it's mouth closed, laying on a flat surface from the tip of the lower jaw to the base of the tail. This eliminates the tail irregularities. Most casual anglers measure fish hanging by it's jaw and measure the fish from the opened mouth, tip of the lower jaw to the longest part of the end of the tail. A bass for example measured both ways could easily be 4" different in "length". The IGFA uses closed mouth, laying on a flat surface, down the center of the fish from lower jaw tip to end of tail. Just what is the end of a basses tail, it is slightly V shaped? Tips of the V or base of the V? can be about a 1/2" or so. Sketch of the fish to be measured helps to resolve all these differences and it would be good to have a standardized length measurement when records are established for catch and release. I have always measured LMB "length" from the tip of lower jaw with closed mouth, laying on a flat surface to the base of the tail V. Just pointing out there is room for error .

Hiroshi is a well known trophy bass fisherman in Japan and has caught 18+ lb bass before this 20.15 lb fish. Japan is about 2 months away from the primary spawning season in May/June. Congratulations Hiroshi! WRB

A good replica largemouth bass mount should look like the bass you caught. Like any art work, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder; how you see it . Look around and study the mounts people have displayed and ask where they had it mounted. Most good tackle shops, and some marina coffee shops or restaurants display local mounts. The picture of your bass is excellent; good color. The bass doesn't show any signs of stress; like no diamond shaped dark blotches above the lateral line. You can expect to pay about $14 per inch for a good quality replica LMB mount; $350 for a 25" bass. WRB PS; send the taxidermist a good photo of the bass, length and girth measurements to avoid the wrong shaped or colored bass.

No calculation can replace an accurate weight on a certified scale or even a scale within 2%. If we use the BR calculator or the IGFA formula on the current 2 world record largemouth bass, they differ by several pounds; BR Perry bass = 28.61 lbs, Kurita bass = 24.24 lbs IGFA Perry bass = 32.49 lbs, Kurita bass = 30.69 lbs My formula Perry bass = 24.32 lbs, Kurita bass = 20.60 lbs. Keep in mind the 5% factor when calculating bass; a 22.25 lbs bass = 1.11 lb error factor @ 5%. 8.9 lb @ 5% = .44 lbs or 8.4 lbs 9.3 lbs using my formula L X L X G /1200 = weight. Buy a accurate scale if you expect an exact weight. Perry bass = 32" X 28.5" Kurita bass = 29.2" X 29" Normal bodied LMB girth = 75-80% of the length. Heavy bodied LMB girth = 90-95% of the length. WRB

How sure are you the jumping fish were bass? Carp often jump and make a load slapping noise, largemouth bass don't often free jump completely out of the water. WRB