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I would love to see everyone's head explode when the next world record comes from somewhere totally unexpected.

Do you ever wonder why no one puts pontoons on them? Get a wider boat. Personally, I would just deck and carpet the bottom, so it was comfortable to stand in the boat, and leave it at that. Retro fitting things to add stability isn't nearly as cost efficient or effective as just getting a stable platform to begin with.

Fleet farm $1.25 for structure jig and bitsy went for 68 cents.

Braided line is actually more susceptible to bite-offs than fluoro or mono. That's why musky guys always use fluoro or wire leaders. I think pike are fun to catch. I often fish for them intentionally. When I do, I use an 80 lb fluoro leader. As a bass fisherman, you just have to deal with pike. I lose tons of soft swimbaits and tubes to pike, which isn't a big deal. Maybe I'm lucky, but I rarely lose jerkbaits. I have a couple of Pointer 100s with more tooth marks than paint.

If I remember right the Japanese fish was one ounce heavier and it has to be two ounces bigger to break a record so they call it a tie. Dottie is the real world record.

It's a spotted bass. The spots below the lateral line are a dead giveaway. You can tell from the first picture where the mouth is almost closed that the jaw isn't going to extend past the eye. I bet the fish felt rough too. Something about spots, their scales feel much rougher than a largemouth, just a personal observation. Both spots and largemouth have a dark stripe down the side (not actually their lateral line but often called that), whereas smallmouth do not.

TW order finally showed up. Mostly just resupply stuff I've gotten low / run out of. First black frog and first Keitech though, so looking forward to trying each out

So, does the next record have to beat the Perry bass by 2oz or the Kurita bass by 2oz?

WRB how many cameras do you believe there were per capita in rural Georgia in 1932? Having grown up in rural Louisiana in the 1950s & I can guarantee the only certified scales around were at the post office or your local butcher shop. Perry's bass was accepted based on evidence submitted to Field & Stream for a big bass contest.

There is a picture of a bass held by a unknown man with a small boy standing next to the bass, date and place of the photo undetermined. The Perry bass was said to be caught during a rainy afternoon, it was late when he returned to the post office for a weight and took the bass home and ate it according to George Perry interview before he died in a plane crash. The photo is a sunny mid day photo, the bass looks to me to be about 15 lbs. I have accepted the Perry bass record because it was grandfathered in by IGFA 20'years later using the Field & Stream fishing contest from 1932. LakeTom

Man, Burt is one that I've wanted to get to but haven't yet. It's a closer drive than Hubbard Lake is, though. Going to have to before the season is done. It's so big it looks like a model for the Jurassic Park:Aquarium sequel. Reading more. Caught with a crawler. From his dock. Talk about dumb effing luck.

My little tw order....nothin fancy but very effective.

Yeah...back in '87, my best fishing partner...my Dad...passed away. Couldn't get the zip back into it. No one else fished like Dad...had the balance of when to talk, when to fish...when to talk and fish... Life got busy...got a real job, got married, did a lot of upland hunting (always my first passion), got into SxS shotguns and shooting clays, played a ton of volleyball...11 years went by...our daughter arrived in the fall of 1998...moved up north in late winter 2004...in 2009 our daughter...always a water baby...said, "I want to go fishing, Dad!" And we did. The die was cast, the path set...I was re-hooked...Haven't looked back. Wouldn't change a thing.

Not sure how many of you fish these waters--I'm new to the forums--but figured I'd give a quick report on my last float trip down this gorgeous river. We put in about 10 miles north of Port Jervis, NY--a stretch of river that gets very little traffic. Very low water conditions = smallies concentrated along the many rock ledges that line the right side of the river (looking downstream). Caught about 20 bass in four hours, which is frankly a SLOW bite in this river. Usually I get 90% of my fish on Gitzit or Zoom coffee tubes, but this day they turned their noses at those offerings; all they wanted was 4" Senkos wacky rigged. (By the way, VMC weedless wacky hooks had BAD hookup ratio. Switched to Gammy octopus hooks, not weedless, and stuck and landed lots more fish, with very few snags.) None of the fish were very big: 1-2 lbers. All the big boys (girls!?) were visibly stacked on the bottom in deeper drop offs, but I couldn't seem to get my tubes down to them....jig weight (1/8 oz) too light I guess. Switched to a jig/craw combo (1/4) but that didn't get down there either. Current I guess. (I'm not that experienced with river fishing--my third or fourth trip ever--so I look forward to learning more techniques as I get more time on the river. ) A bonus on the day: saw a few bald eagles directly overhead. Awesome birds...wingspan had to be nearly 8 feet across. Had no idea how frigging big those birds are! Pretty effing awesome day.

My wife has always wanted to go to Italy as her grandparents were both born there. So after much hard work and planning, we left on Sunday 9/4 and got back yesterday 9/13. We went to Rome, Pompeii, Positano, Florence, Venice and then jumped over to Barcelona because i've had many friends say it was a great place to go. We did it all too! If there was a site to see in one of those places, i'm pretty sure we saw it. I have to admit i was pretty skeptical at first, but afterwards i will say it was one of the greatest experiences i've had yet! I've been out of the country a number of times, but only in North and South America, Europe was totally different on most every account. Food was FANTASTIC, both in Italy and in Spain. And the best thing was honestly the produce! I ate sooooooo many tomatoes, peaches and grapes it was insane, but they were so much better than back home it was unbelievable! I highly recommend the trip if you ever are afforded the opportunity to take it! A few pics from the trip: Positano Florence Fish Market Pizza (OF COURSE): Florence at Sunset Venice from a boat: Barcelona beach: Barcelona fish market:

Over the last 4 or 5 months I have been working two jobs. With about up to 50 hours a week in 6 days. Not bad I know. I was just getting a bit burned out, and getting angry at stuff that I should not have been. After a few talks with some people. I had to chose to walk away form my bouncing job. I was one of the hardest things I have ever done job related. Usually I can't wait to get out of a place, but this place was different. It was like a family, and I learned that quick. After my notice got around to the bartenders, cooks, and wait staff. about 3/4 of the staff tired to twist my arm in staying. After a few days of hearing that. I really had to ask why they want me to stay. These are some of their words they used to get me to stay." you looked after us." " You never went Roadhouse on any drunk." " You were always positive." Hearing that really made it hard to quite. I think the person that took it the worst was my manger. I told him this is just a sabbatical. I will be back. I just need to enjoy my life right now. This past weekend was my final shift with that manger. As we were saying your good byes, and hugged it out. (First time I ever hugged a boss.) I could tell he was about ready to cry. I even say some tears in his eyes as we pulled apart. When I saw that I had to ask why are you so sad. He then said he will miss me. Never had a boss say that. I do know deep down I will be back. More then likely once the holidays and what not are over. Once I get bored and what not. From the way it sounds. I will be welcomed back with out a problem. Now its time to go back in to hiding for a few more months.

Then of course you have Paul Duclos with his released 24 lb fish. And here's a 22.01 caught in CA for size comparison. Could this be a real photo of Perry's fish??? Here's a link to the story. http://www.gon.com/news/mystery-photo-re-ignites-debate-over-georgias-world-record-largemouth-bass

Never really thought of it. Always considered GBH as my fishing friends. I've caught a ton off bass of all sizes fishing right next to them.

I just got this bad boy today. What rod would be perfect with this reel? Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated. Thanks all

A thermocline is nothing more than a breakline, and the best breaklines are usually those that are somehow connected to structure. So don't just "fish the bottom," but instead fish the bottom where the thermocline and structure meet. Either find several areas like this to rotate around on, or just find one good one and wait 'em out. Either way the result is usually better than chasing fish suspended out in the middle of nowhere. -T9

The Perry bass was caught June 1932 and grandfathered as a world record around 1950 by the IGFA when adding fresh water game fish records. IGFA established record catch criteria in 1939. Goerge Perry was considered a honest man who didn't self promote his catch, for that reason his record has stood the test of time without meeting IGFA standards. Perry said in a interview he sent a photo to both Field & Stream and Creek Chub lure company to be published, there is no record of the photo. 2006 Baab, local expert on Perry's fish, received a photo of the man and boy from a Perry relative, the man in the photo may have been Payne, Perry's partner, nobody has identified him. The only reason the Perry bass comes under question are the facts; small oxbow lake in June after the spawn with questionable forage source, no proof of weight or photo or measurements, only Perry's statement, understandable considering the 1932 date. Tom

Crankbaits naturally lend themselves to chuck-n-wind, which is great... when it works. However, a crankbait, like other lures, is not "food". The lure has to do something special to draw strikes much of the time. It's called triggering. It's always nice if you can find aggressive fish that will meet you half-way. Cover water and put the clues together: find bait, find bass, find feeding bass. If you think you are only on the first two -the bass won't meet you halfway- then you may have to employ more triggering. You seem to be afraid of the brush, which is understandable! It could be you are fishing a bit far from where the fish actually are though. You can fish cranks in brush if you fish deftly, crank down easily until contact, then gently walk the crank through with the rod, not the reel. If you hang, slack and let it float up a bit. If still hung pull easily but firmly and it will likely roll past the hold-up. And...get a plug knocker. Fish easy and deftly, like fishing a jig. Cranks can do that, and should much of the time. Contact also allows you to trigger strikes from reluctant fish. Accelerations and direction changes, crashing bottom or cover, and ripping free of cover edges (don't do this in the middle of cover!) are strong triggers. Lastly, or maybe firstly, angles can mean getting the lure to the proper depth and keeping it there, or in the sweet spot, long enough. It can mean paying attention to subsurface currents that position prey and bass in a certain orientation. Fishing across current, or down and across is often best. Each spot can be different due to current directions and topography. Remember, you are fishing a crankbait, not just "cranking" it.

The great thing about that toy is that you can do both. FWIW this is one of my favorite bank fishing lures. Here is what I do with my favorite grub. Zoom Fat Albert Grub. 1 - Swimming - Obviously. I use the VMC mushroom head jig. 2 - Hopping - Same head just different presentation 3 - trailer - I use this to trail spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, & jigs 4 - Topwater ... One of my best friends showed me this so I cant take credit for it. He threads this on a hook about 3/4 the size of the grub. Something like a straight shank or baitholder style Swims it on top of the water. Basically a mini buzzbait. He destroyed me 2 to 1 easily one day doing just this. 5 - Drop shot & mojo rig - I haven't had much success with the drop shot BUT I have caught them that way. Mojo rig is KILLER with a grub and works great from the bank. Good luck!

I like braided line as much as anyone but I would never depend on it to keep me from getting bit off. Pike are fun to catch but if you don't want to lose lures, invest in steel leaders. Any line you can easily cut with scissors can be cut by a northerns teeth.

I use green colored braid, with frogs there really isn't any advantage to seeing your line since you should already be watching the frog, which is the only thing that matters anyway. Yellow isn't going to help you tell when the fish has moved off with your frog, you can see when your frog disappears.

What exactly were the standard operating procedures for recording a world record bass in 1932? California anglers have tried for years to erase Perry's & now they'll have to overcome Kurita bass!

Yep. They had a lot of trouble connecting with my buzzbait last week, but I got these two 18"+ keepers on a black/blue laminate senko on the follow up.

I haven't hunted squirrels in years, but as a deer hunter, these crack me up.

Welcome to the forum! Bald eagles are absolutely massive and pretty awesome to watch dive on the river. I see them pretty regularly when I make trips to the Susquehanna and am pretty constantly amazed by how efficiently they'll spot shallow fish and critters on the shoreline. That stretch you're fishing is mostly trout water, no? Most of the folks I know that head up that way are tossing flies for big rainbows and browns. How deep were you seeing the smallies and what were you fishing the river out of? When I know they're holding in more than 3' of water, (colder water like the north end of the Delaware), I favor stuff I can walk across the bottom like football jig or heavier tube, and won't shy away from throwing 3/8-1/2oz in 4' of water if the current calls for it. With jigs (or any bottom contact bait) in faster current, it's very important to keep it dragging on the bottom and not allowing it to get up in the faster current and drift. Because of this, slowly stroking or dragging the jig with the rod is extremely important - moving it with the reel will pull it off the bottom and get it up in the current. Also, to make following this much easier, I really like having visible braid with a hybrid leader that I can follow and mend when need be. The catch to the braid, though, is that it will create more drag in the current by floating on top than a sinking line like flourocarbon. Your casting angle and the way it sets up your presentation can make a huge difference in effectively working baits in fast/moderate current. I very strongly suggest reading up on basic dry fly and nymph presentations even if you never intend on picking up the whippy stick because they'll teach you a TON about how to make current work for you versus against you. Good luck and post results from your next trip!

The Kurita bass caught at Lake Biwa Japan weighed 22 lbs 5 oz and was scrutinized very closely by the IGFA, witnesses, photos, certified scale and measurements of 29.5" long 29" girth. The Perry bass was reportedly caught in 1932, lake Montgomery in Georgia, a small shallow oxbow lake that dried up sometime in the 40's. There isn't a photo of Goerge Perry holding his bass, a fishing partner that has never been located, the fish weighed on a 100 lb postal scale at 22 1/4 lbs, 32" long,28" girth. No proof that would hold up today. Tom

Seriously, take him up on the offer. I'm pretty confident in my ability to catch brown bass, but @A-Jay is definitely someone I'd love to get out on the water and learn from. He seems like a genuinely good dude and has been very humbly boating some seriously not so humble fish. Guys like him and Hootie are like the resident smallmouth whisperers around these parts. Also, unless that dude is a midget, that thing is an f'n behemoth.

Good subject.George Perry caught his 22 pound, 4 ounce bass on a Creek Chub Fintail Shiner artificial lure and Manabu Kurita caught his 22 pound,5 ounce bass on a live bluegill,at least that's what they told the world. There have been several bass caught that where bigger than 22 pounds, 4 ounces but they don't count for various reasons(caught in a net,illegal techniques, where not properly documented,etc).Paul Duclos caught a 24 pound largemouth bass and Mac Weakley caught a 25 pound,1 ounce largemouth bass,both in California.Cuba has produced several bass over 20lbs,but people there are more concerned about having enough food to eat than having a record. Mexico,Cuba,Japan and maybe certain lakes in Africa probably have a couple world record largemouth bass swimming in lakes as we speak, but it will be quite the challenge to catch one of these bass and have it officially recognized by the IGFA.

Instead of struggling to make a lipped crankbait get deep enough to contact bottom structure, use a lipless bait. A 3/4 or 1 ounce Rat-L-Trap can simply be allowed to sink depths well beyond what most deep cranks can easily achieve. It's a lot less work and in many cases just as or even more effective; especially in steep structure. Use stout gear & line and a plug knocker / lure retriever is mostly mandatory. Another fantastic option is a 1 ounce single blade spinnerbait (Colorado or Oklahoma) A-Jay

I'd take him up on that. Have you seen the "who would you like to fish with most " thread. A-Jay is the Peyton Manning of bass resource. Everybody loves him haha.

If you can be at the state park ramp an hour before sunrise (@ 6 am) you can watch me launch Kidding - pm me when you're going - maybe we can tag team them . . . A-Jay

There are days they like it swimming fast, others slow rolled, there are days they like it hopped on the bottom, so many ways to fish a grub and ..... Oh well, you know what I mean.

Don't really have any opinions....usually try both and let the fish decide. Sorry it's not a great answer but it usually works. Used to fish almost exclusively trolling a grub and that worked quite well but was quite boring for me.

I fished the quabbin yesterday with my buddy. We did very nicely again. Dropshots, tubes, Ned rigs, and a Strike King 6 series crank. We had numerous doubles, boated probably 25 fish. Lots of them in the 2-3lb range, with the lunker on the day a nice long fish at 21", but a bit on the skinny side. She was 4.3 lbs and blind in one eye.

Don't where ya heard DAT but it's all wrong! I caught my PB in February in shallow water, she had moved up to feed February through May is the entire spawn in Texas

A lot of wisdom in the quoted post Felix.

Cruising bass at this time of year are almost certainly on the hunt. However, lures aren't food, and they aren't magic despite what it may say on the package. Also, fish have two most basic operating modes: inhibitory and motivational/exploratory. The first is exemplified by caution and fear. The second by curiosity and aggression. Trip the first and the second is out for the count. What to do: Stealth, and triggering. Neither are very often accomplished via simple chuck-n-wind.

I lived in Pittsfied VT for a while, loved it up there. Lake Bomeseen had some decent bass in it. The start of the colors changing on rt 100 is not only incredible for leaf peeping, (rated in the countries top ten drives) but also, dictating the bassfishing is fast and furious. Feed bag will be on soon, enjoy it before the ice starts.

Fish are going to miss topwater baits. It's just something you have to accept. If you get a big blow up from an aggressive fish that misses the bait, pick up a weightless senko or tube and throw it into the same spot of the blowup. You'd be surprised how often you'll pick that fish up.

Went back up to Toledo yesterday. Found a good school of fish early and caught 37 before 8 am. Had a 8 and a quote a few between 3-4lbs. They are on top of humor and ridges early feeding, then after 8 they suspend and become almost impossible to catch. I did find 3 more big schools later in the day but had to work hard just to get a few of them to bite. Most fish were caught on a big worm. And I've had quite a few guys asking what these fish look like on my graph. Here's a couple pics I took last Friday.

I'll only weight if it's a large fish. And unless I am looking to put in my live well it doesn't get measured unless again it's a larger fish.

Take a look at the Sure-Life labs video on live well management. Keeping the livewell water temperature in the mid 70's when the lakes surface temps exceed 80 helps the water to contain higher levels of dissolved oxygen if the water has a good DO level to start with. Using a simple oxygen aeration system to generate DO keeps the levels good. Adding chemical like Sure-Life Catch & Relaese and/or Please Release Me helps to keep livewell bass healthy. Using 3% over the counter hydrogen peroxide mixed 1/2 cup to 15 gallons of water generates DO and is a good emergency method to revive livewell bass stressed from very low DO levels. Tom

There is a fellow from the Chicago area named Dan Basore who has one of the worlds largest fishing lure collections. It requires a warehouse to store it all. Dan has a large collection of antique lures some of which date back several hundred years. He often has a large display of the antique lures at many of the large outdoor shows every year. Back in the day, Dan was one of the original fishermen on the BassMaster Trail having been invited to join by Ray Scott himself.

You don't want to fish below the thermocline; 20' thermocline fish the 15' to 20' depth zone. Drop shot or split shot, vertical structure spoons, Little Goerge type tail spins or Sworming Hornet type Underspins in baitfish colors are typical mid to late summer lures that work. Tom

The bass in the top pic is about 6 lbs. The bottom pic is about 4 lbs. If they are the same fish I'll split the difference and say 5 lbs. I'd like to make a suggestion that for every thread like this we donate $1 to the "Buy a guy a scale" charity.

It's the Rare but Delectable Bass on the Half Shell Congrats A-Jay