Live bait record VS. artificial lures???????

I should clarify......

A seperate record for live bait and artificial lures?????

According to this post, the guy has a permit to use/release bluegills, so I feel that's a moot point. If he caught it legit, it should stand.

My source Greg Vella was the first person to report the Japanese bass to united states, hours after it was caught on site called bloodydecks.

He has also been the most accurate regaurding all the details. He lives in Japan and has fishing related buisinesses over there. I dont know if he is a memebr of the IGFA. I dont realy care if he is. He has been the first to report on this fish and the first to report on updates and so far all of his info has been accurate with one exception. On one of his first updates, he reported the fish was caught on a koi. This was inccorect, as we now know it was bluegill. I sent him an email asking about the catch and he has been keeping me updated ever since. Because he once lived in CA Muddy probably hates him to ;D

I believe this info to be accurate that is why I posted it. If I thought it was spreading rumors or being negative towards Korita I would not have posted it.

As far as bouy lines and off limits areas go that is a grey area. I do not know how it is in Japan but in the lakes I fish there are bouy lines preventing boats from entering certain areas of the lakes. These are mostly to keep baots away from the dams. Eveybody casts over the bouy lines and I have never heard of anybody being told not to. I have even asked rangers and they said as long as you(go around on shore) or your boat does not cross the line then you are fine. We are allowed to cast over the bouy lines though.

However the launch ramps are different. They rarley let you fish them and there are usualy y signs saying not to, plus the rangers will tell you not to fish there.

Matt, let me clarify my buoy line statement. Castaic has a few such lines, the jet sky area and the Elderberry foredam area. There are also spawning areas buoyed off. I had used my bow trolling motor to move the slack out of the buoy line so I could cast to a certain spot, the wind had blown the line the opposite direction. Not fishing a tournament, so who would care? It's not illegal, the ranger may have said something to me, never had over the years.

When I went to weigh the bass, 2 fisherman started telling the few people gathered to see a big bass that I poached the bass from a closed area and it upset me. Should have ignored them and weighed, photographed the bass properly. I believe Crupi made a similar mistake trying to quickly release his 22 before properly documenting the catch, do to intense pressure at the time. Dottie was snagged, a certified weight would have been a good idea before releasing the bass but Weatley was also under extreme pressure to release the bass.

If I'm ever blessed with a 20+, it will be documented, over 22 it will go on ice.

Thank you for all your accurate information and we will wait and see as GK noted earlier.

WRB

Live bait isn't the issue with the Kurita bass. The problem is where he caught the bass was a restricted or closed area to sport fishing. According to Matt's post, Kurita had a permit to fish with bluegill, or whatever live bait he used to catch the bass.

The Japanese do a lot of net fishing under docks and bridges, those areas are closed to sport fishing so the nets are not damaged.

WRB

Not true, bluegill are big no no's in Japan, so using bluegill as bait was big issue as well.

There is no release on bluegills as well, so this little issue isn't clear either.

Heres what I got from Japan site that had to be translated.

     The scale that was used to certify the bass was tested on 7/11/09, it showed to be light, which by standards is okay. Better to wiegh lite than heavy. Scale paper work is ready to submit.

     A tackle store, Deps, has bought all rights to the catch and story that is to follow. All info is being put to DVD for purchase.

Rep from Deps said they have 90 days to cross all the T's and dot the I's.      

     Also on US websites is specualtion of the red spots on the bass.

This doesn't come out of Japan but off the Delawarebass site, this guy said he studied films for two hours.

He said he's sure the red spots came from gill nets.

Wasn't the Delaware site the first to report this stateside? I thought I read that they were the first with the story.

Just passing info I have read the past few days from searches.

Matt Fly, no the delaware site was not the 1st or 2nd or 3rd. I actualy signed up on his sight to give him this latest info so he could post it but for some reason I cant seem to contact him. I tried to contact himthrough the other sites he posted on but he has been removed from many of the sites he posted on. He was basicaly reclycling info from other sites. He did however contact sombody from Japan (I think from the JGFA)and got some good info. He is also very adamant about not wanting this fish to be the record. The red marks and nets etc is rumorous and I dont think its right to accuse Kurita of cheating.

I did make a statement on another board replying to his net marks post in which I said it is also possible that the fish could have escaped from a net and those marks were the battle wounds. However there is no proof at all that some marks on a fish were caused by a net. there are many things that could have caused them. I am sure we have all caught some fish with marks on them.

I feel bad for Kurita. I think if I ever caught the world record I would have to turn off my computer for ever. I just dont know if it would be worth it.

I hope Kurita does not get screwed out of the record. IMO if he passes a lie detector then he should get the record.

WRB I push the bouy lines with my trolling moter all the time

None of my lakes have bouyed off spwning areas, prety much just the dam areas are bouyed off.

Thanks, didn't know the bluegill issue was still a factor. The scale damage could easily be from nets, not knowing the netting size it's impossible to determine the type of net. A big bass living in a lake with nets is going to have scale damage from time to time.

Just need to wait and see how the IGFA reacts if or when they get the application. I am on Kurita's side and hope somehow this bass makes into the record book.

WRB