4 minutes ago, Dwight Hottle said:

 

I understand your logic & don't disagree with it but in defense of the IGFA's rule for fish under 25lbs an old record must be beaten by a 2oz minimum. I have always felt this was in place to allow for weighing discrepancies between scales & changing technologies. In other words don't let a less than 2 ounce differential decide who gets the record. If you beat me by half a pound for big fish in a tournament I accept it & don't have any bad feelings. But if you beat me by one or two ounces my mind says maybe your scale was reading more generously than mine. It raises doubt as to who was the real winner. Maybe if read on the same scale both fish were the same weight? Maybe the flopping fish weighed differently than the the fish that wasn't flopping? Scales are excepted for accuracy for records but there is a + or - tolerance level of difference. The 2 ounce rule helps to eliminate that difference.  

Wouldn't the discrepancy not be a thing since the scales must be certified?

 

I would understand it more with fish over a certain weight. Say a new world record blue marlin or Mako. They could hold quite a bit of just water just on their skin that would add to their weight several ounces I'm sure.

3 hours ago, Captain Phil said:

Even if his fish was a hoax, it has been inspiring bass anglers for nearly 100 years.  As a small boy, I used to dream that I would catch a bass like that.  It never happened, but that dream kept me fishing.

Even though I got away from fishing for a long time, I also dreamed as a boy about catching a bass as big as Perry’s, or taking a typical whitetail bigger than the Jordan buck. Speaking of which, if you think this debate was “uncivil”, Google Mitch Rompola lol. 

25 minutes ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Wouldn't the discrepancy not be a thing since the scales must be certified?

 

I would understand it more with fish over a certain weight. Say a new world record blue marlin or Mako. They could hold quite a bit of just water just on their skin that would add to their weight several ounces I'm sure.

 

I don't pretend to be an expert about scales. But maybe the + or - discrepancy on an above 20lb weight is an ounce or slightly more. 2 ounces is a lot on a weight of one pound but not so much on a weight over 20 lbs. 0.125 versus 0.00625

The Kurita fish is the record. The Perry fish has more questions than answers. The fish was submitted to the Field and Stream contest and grandfathered in when IGFA began and was starting their freshwater record-keeping. Simply put, there was zero scrutiny applied to it when accepted. There are zero pictures, zero witness statements, zero lie detector tests (he declined to take one before his death) and I have zero faith in that fish. 22-4.97 is a verified, certified record and, as such, is THE record.

On 12/25/2020 at 9:01 PM, NittyGrittyBoy said:

Georgia is the best still. ✌

 

Change my mind...

Georgia is the best place in the world when it comes to variety of black bass species. It is one of my favorite states to fish for bass and I will not be surprised if a future world record bass gets caught in Georgia or Florida. With that said Florida is well known as ''The Fishing Capital of The World'' and it earned that title since it has the best overall fishing opportunities.