http://assets.espn.go.com/winnercomm/outdoors/bassmaster/pdf/bb_state_Large_20100107.pdf

The link above shows every states record for LMB minus Alaska.  The thing I noticed though is only 4 records have been recorded since 2000. 

Do you think more pressure has made it harder to catch lunkers, or are all of the possible lunkers dying early and never reaching record status???

I think that is the nature of records.

It was probably easier to break a record on the day that record keeping was set up, than it is 100 years after people have been keeping those records, lol.

Scientists say the state records are getting harder to break because of all the fishing.  They say this prevents certain fish from getting really big.

Well, I think it depends on where you live.  I know down here in TX that Bass fishing is growing tremendously!  There is more and more lake pressure every year, and the fishing seems to be getting tougher because of it!  Now there are 3 categories of trouble that I see in our huge fishing population.  Meat-Hunters, Tournys, and the ShareLunker Program.

First off,  TX's fishing population has a huge percentage of meat hunters.  Now, there is nothing wrong with legally keeping some fish now and then, but there are guys out here that have to keep everything they catch.  You can sit at the Choke Canyon and Falcon boat ramp and watch people filleting 25 lb sacks!  Its sick!  Those big fish are our breeding females and we need them alive so that our lakes can replenish and have good genetics.  Kinda like with managing a ranch, you just dont go slaughter your best bucks; you let them breed!

2nd, Tournys have become absolutley huge in this state.  Now, I love to fish them too, and Im not advocating the end of tourny fishing; but I think that we need to run more responsible tournys that what we are doing!  There is too much tourny pressure concentrated on just a couple lakes for starters.  These lakes are our best and had the best chance at spitting out a record (Fork, Choke Canyon, Amistad)!  However, weekly 200 boat events have greatly impacted these lakes.   Another thing is the percentage of fish that do not make it after being released!  Down here in S.TX that is a huge problem, especially when events are held in the summer.  Im not going to get into it, but there is many simple changes that can be made to increas survival rate!

Third, the ShareLunker program, which is supposed to create better genetics; needs a drastic overhaul!  Yes, their hearts are in the right place, but that doesnt mean that they cant try to get better.  The percent of fish that die before they get to Athens is staggering.  Sure, once the officials get them they do quite well, but most die before they get there.  It is a combo of being too far away, and anglers not being perpared to hold a fish over 13 lbs!  My home lake, Choke Canyon, lost like 7 fish last year because of this program, all of them over 14 lbs!  I think we would have been better off leaving these fish in the water, in a few years they may have been world record caliber but we will never know now!

Now, I dont know how other states are, but this is my opinion of things in Texas!  The good thing is that all of these things are fixible.  The bad news is that Texans resist change.  When you mention better conservation practices people get very defensive.  However, if we all do are parts and took a few extra steps to protect our fisheries, there is no doubt in my mind that records will fall!

gene pool depletion

exponential increase in fishing pressure

habitat degradation such as silt, agricultural run off, waterfront developement

it's a combination of factors, it can kind of be compared to big buck depletion. short answer, yes.

State Record size fish are outliers, there aren't a lot of them and conditions have to be perfect to catch them. Plus only during the spawn do you have a chance to break the record.

Kansas state record was broken in 2008 and the second most recent record broken was in 1999 along with a handful of others in the 90's.

Y'all want to break a state record then I suggest y'all look at line class records

Those stats are out of date.  Montana had 3 state records broken last year including LMB.

Most state records require the bass to be officially weighed on certified scales and examined. The days when fish were caught and eaten, both officially weighing and examination was easy, the fish was dead.

Today the majority of bass anglers tend to catch and release their fish and this makes it difficult to validate a live fish.

The fact that today's bass anglers are better skilled and equipped then before should support more record fish are caught and released before being officially validated as a record; lake, state or IGFA. Just look at California's state record for example.

WRB