Holy Mackerel Batman!

Video by Big East Bass Fishing with Mark Burgess

First hand account of where the Massachusetts State Record Largemouth Bass was caught..

Summary: The LMB was caught in Florida and brought to Massachusetts.

Sending this to Ken Duke!  😂😂😂

So I assume it would be wise for me to cancel my ice fishing gear order, and stop looking for cheap flights from Mexico to Massachusetts.

The record has always been suspicious to me. Nothing else has even come close, I don't think there's a single credible report of anything over 11 coming out of the state since. Anything in the 9-10lb range is like a once-a-season fluke for the entire state. The rumor for ages has been that the record fish got fat on the abundant herring runs that used to take place in the Agawam river and they just lied about where it was caught. The herrings runs still happen but to a much smaller extent due to overfishing commercially in the ocean and the secret of herring fed freshwater bass hasn't been a secret for a long time so those fisheries see a lot of pressure.

If Massachusetts could grow a 15.5-pound bass, it could also produce the occasional 14, 13, and 12-pounder. It doesn't. I always felt it failed the sniff test...by a lot.

Interesting turn of events.  

Seems to make it somewhat complicated to know who or what to believe.

I'm up for the idea of state records (and maybe even world records)

being grouped by century.

We could have the fish recorded as records catches during the 1900s,

and then another list of record-caught fish recorded in this century.

Doesn't mean one catch is better than another, but it might reinvigorate 

the pursuit of catching record fish again.

Especially as the world has changed and there seems to be so much—let's call it mystery—surrounding some of the oldest deals.

Like this one—half a century later.

Remember kids, you heard it here first.

A-Jay

 

Is that the first bass to travel the length of I -95??

1 hour ago, Swamp Girl said:

If Massachusetts could grow a 15.5-pound bass, it could also produce the occasional 14, 13, and 12-pounder. It doesn't. I always felt it failed the sniff test...by a lot.

This, there's a couple reports of teeners, like the alleged 14.2 out of Wampanoag, but there's literally zero proof other than the guys word. I suspect anything over 11 to be a case of "brokenscaleitus". 

1 minute ago, MassYak85 said:

This, there's a couple reports of teeners, like the alleged 14.2 out of Wampanoag, but there's literally zero proof other than the guys word. I suspect anything over 11 to be a case of "brokenscaleitus". 

 

I suspect the same. I'm even suspicious of Maine's record.

17 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Is that the first bass to travel the length of I -95??

I did it a few times. 

So just remove the b.

😀

A-Jay 

There are likely still some other dominos out there that might fall one day…

Whenever money is involved, dishonesty usually isn't too far away. I don't subscribe to this but I do understand. Human nature is real. 

 

This makes no sense to me. What did this guy get for the state record? My guess, nothing but recognition. Who would want to be recognized for a lie? How do you live with that?

1 minute ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

I suspect the same. I'm even suspicious of Maine's record.

The guy who claims the 14.2 even discredits himself a bit in the story he tells the articles at the time. He claims he caught it in 80 degree water, mid-June, in the post-spawn. You're telling me a spawned out northern strain likely living it's last season of life weighed 14.2lbs, was 28" long and had a 30" girth? Not a chance. Most bass weight calculators would put those measurements north of 20lbs. 

 

The article: https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/north/2013/07/30/outdoors-gardner-fisherman-8217-s/44402471007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z114015d00----v114015d--45--b--45--&gca-ft=195&gca-ds=sophi

1 hour ago, MassYak85 said:

The guy who claims the 14.2 even discredits himself a bit in the story he tells the articles at the time. He claims he caught it in 80 degree water, mid-June, in the post-spawn. You're telling me a spawned out northern strain likely living it's last season of life weighed 14.2lbs, was 28" long and had a 30" girth? Not a chance. Most bass weight calculators would put those measurements north of 20lbs. 

 

The article: https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/north/2013/07/30/outdoors-gardner-fisherman-8217-s/44402471007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z114015d00----v114015d--45--b--45--&gca-ft=195&gca-ds=sophi

 

His mistake was sharing a pic of the fish:

 

^^^^^bass lost about 10 lbs^^^^^
Tom

35 minutes ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

His mistake was sharing a pic of the fish:

 

I've caught 5s that have a bigger belly than that fish lmao

5 minutes ago, WRB-2.0 said:

^^^^^bass lost about 10 lbs^^^^^
Tom

 

Could have been a publicity stunt, staged by the Chamber of Commerce.  Probably attracted a lot of tourists/bassheads.

Here's a fourteen-pounder, caught in Texas:

 

Yeah, there is zero chance the fish in that picture is 14#. Pictures are always tough but a couple things stand out. First, he’s long arming it a bit. Second, the mouth isn’t much bigger than his hand/fist. Third, we dont know how tall he is but once he’d bring that fish closer it looks like it would stretch from the base of his neck to above his belt buckle. I’m 5’10” and that distance on me is about 21-22”. Generously you could call that fish a spawned out 24” fish. If you told me it was 8# I’d believe you from that picture. 14?  No way. 

Pro Wrestling seems to have more credibility then bass fishing . 

6 hours ago, Bass Junke said:

Whenever money is involved, dishonesty usually isn't too far away. I don't subscribe to this but I do understand. Human nature is real. 

 

 

What you are implying is “human nature” is not.  It is simply the nature of some humans.

13 hours ago, bowhunter63 said:

Pro Wrestling seems to have more credibility then bass fishing . 

 

Now how could you say that??? I fish with restraint and decorum. I'm down to earth! Want proof? Here's a photo of me walking down to my canoe:

 

 

P. S. - Just because I've hit a few tournament referees with folding chairs doesn't mean I don't follow the rules.

3 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Now how could you say that??? I fish with restraint and decorum. I'm down to earth! Want proof? Here's a photo of me walking down to my canoe:

 

 

P. S. - Just because I've hit a few tournament referees with folding chairs doesn't mean I don't follow the rules.

Atta Girl 

Boy, it sure is winter, isn’t it….