Great article and lots of fun to read through.  Thanks for posting it.  It is very easy to overestimate the weight of a bass.  I can't tell you how many 10 pound Florida bass I have seen that actually weighed 7-8 pounds.  It is never a good idea to dispute these weights as the angler is convinced he/she has caught a 10 pound fish and I am not going to burst their bubble.  As they repeat their story a few times, the fish grows with each telling.  To someone who is not used to big fish, an 8 pound bass is gigantic.  Any large bass is a wonder to see.  

 

It's interesting to talk about extra long fish.  One of the longest fish in this article weighed about 14 pounds.  I caught a bass in Banana Cove on Big Lake Harris that wouldn't fit in a 18.5 foot skeeter live well.  I was going to take it home, weigh it and release it at my dock, but I couldn't get the fish to bend enough to fit without hurting it.   I have no clue as to it's actual weight, but it wasn't near a record fish.  Eight pound bass are caught all the time in my back yard on Lake Eustis.  Many grow ten pounds on the drive home.  ?

I had a stranger on my lake tell me he just caught “around a 17 pound bass” 

When he said “around”, I knew he was off by 10 pounds, probably more.

He may not have even caught a fish at all. ? 

The lake record is 13 1/2 , caught in the lake’s heydays in the 70s.  But nothing close to that in years. 

Well, I think exaggeration is expected, but 10lbs is a benchmark throughout

most of the country. If you are going to claim double digits 1) you need to

weigh it and 2) have a picture. Otherwise, I'm good with whatever you want

to call it because I don't really care to challenge your bluff.  I really like AJ's

videos with the fish being caught and the actual weigh-in on display.

On 5/2/2022 at 3:11 PM, N Florida Mike said:

This is much of what I’ve heard about Florida’s biggest bass and then some.

https://sites.google.com/site/biggestfloridalargemouthbass

There isn’t any doubt in my mind that 20 lb FLMB have been caught in the Sunshine State. The issue is validation and biggest part of that is examination of the bass by a authorized expert like a fishery biologist to verify the species, weight, record and girth and most importantly validate no extra weight was added.

To do all the bass must kept alive or on ice, not an easy task back in the day.

SoCal started it’s run of 20+ lb FLMB with Zimmerlee lake Marimar 20.98 lb bass in 1973. Followed by Easly lake Casitas 21.03 lb bass in 1980. Heavier LMB have been caught since State recode 21 lb 12 oz Araujo bass in 1991. Bob Crupi claimed he caught and released a 22.01 lb bass from Castiac in 1991, a good photo was taken, no validation by a biologist because the bass was released.

None of my top 5 bass were officially examined and all released. With several 20+ validate bass already caught I couldn’t see any reason to kill the fish just to get it validated.

For this reason a lot of giant bass go unrecorded officially.

The issue with length measurements is only since IGFA started keeping fresh water records the length measurement has been standardized with mouth close to end of tail. Back in the day the bass was measure mouth open and hanging down on a stringer adding several inches to the length.

Always an interesting study the history of giant bass with more tall tales then fish caught.

Tom

 

I was wondering what happen to my mailbox. 

1 hour ago, WRB said:

There isn’t any doubt in my mind that 20 lb FLMB have been caught in the Sunshine State. The issue is validation and biggest part of that is examination of the bass by a authorized expert like a fishery biologist to verify the species, weight, record and girth and most importantly validate no extra weight was added.

To do all the bass must kept alive or on ice, not an easy task back in the day.

SoCal started it’s run of 20+ lb FLMB with Zimmerlee lake Marimar 20.98 lb bass in 1973. Followed by Easly lake Casitas 21.03 lb bass in 1980. Heavier LMB have been caught since State recode 21 lb 12 oz Araujo bass in 1991. Bob Crupi claimed he caught and released a 22.01 lb bass from Castiac in 1991, a good photo was taken, no validation by a biologist because the bass was released.

None of my top 5 bass were officially examined and all released. With several 20+ validate bass already caught I couldn’t see any reason to kill the fish just to get it validated.

For this reason a lot of giant bass go unrecorded officially.

The issue with length measurements is only since IGFA started keeping fresh water records the length measurement has been standardized with mouth close to end of tail. Back in the day the bass was measure mouth open and hanging down on a stringer adding several inches to the length.

Always an interesting study the history of giant bass with more tall tales then fish caught.

Tom

 

The way I understand our 21.13 is that it was the state record for years, but then according to new criteria for judging, it isnt now. According to what I think the  article said possible record bass must be examined by an FWC employee, and that one wasn’t. But they didn’t have to be in his day. Somehow, it doesn’t seem right.

 

On 5/2/2022 at 6:11 PM, N Florida Mike said:

This is much of what I’ve heard about Florida’s biggest bass and then some.

https://sites.google.com/site/biggestfloridalargemouthbass

Very interesting, thanks for sharing that.