The state should have done a more thorough investigation. The weight of that bass alone should have raised a few eyebrows and brought it into question. It's been 50 years, the record is probably never going anywhere. 

Pat Brown mentioned early on the conversation Ken Duke.

 

Ken Duke mention the Massachusetts record on his The Big Bass Podcast about 2 years ago. 

 and also the 2nd largest fish in Massachusetts (the 14lb'er mentioned by  MassYak85) too.

 

There’s a chick that said she caught a few teeners in the 90s with some record weight! This was a few years ago on a different for

Summary and his conclusion on the matter.

Update on the search of the The true story of the 15.8lb Mass State Record Largemouth Bass?

by Big East Bass Fishing with Mark Burgess.

(16 minute video)

On 12/18/2025 at 10:22 AM, A-Jay said:

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

 

I would agree with this 100%

The debacle that is the Muskie World Records, we now have "Modern Day World Records" as it is believed that the old one was fraudulent. So they are already doing as you suggest with Muskies, why not everything else!

https://www.modernmuskierecords.org/

On 12/20/2025 at 2:50 AM, Don51 said:

The state should have done a more thorough investigation. The weight of that bass alone should have raised a few eyebrows and brought it into question. It's been 50 years, the record is probably never going anywhere. 

I have always said it's the most unbreakable state bass record (probably because it wasn't caught in MA.

Look at records from surrounding states. CT is 12 lbs 14oz (they have more herring in CT too), VT is 10lbs 4 ounces, NH is 10lbs 8 oz, New York is 12lbs 6oz, and Maine is 11lbs 6oz. None of that is close to MA. I'd wager I have a better chance of catching a 12 pounder in Vermont than I do in MA as well, part of it is they have all of lake champlain, but they probably have Champ eating all of the big ones.

On 1/9/2026 at 1:17 PM, Mr. Aquarium said:

There’s a chick that said she caught a few teeners in the 90s with some record weight!

@Swamp Girl ... YOU lived in MA?

3 minutes ago, DogBone_384 said:

@Swamp Girl ... YOU lived in MA?

Ha! I actually did for a couple years: Brighton and Brookline. However, I've never caught a DD and likely never will. Just too far north.