New World Record Bass

[T-rig]

You be the judge:

[The Largemouth Herald]

That fish was huge, and the netboy didn't help any! He wacked the side of the fish and probably disengaged the hooks. Oh well, nice video!  

[.dsaavedra.]

big fish....not the record.....that 25lber (even tho it wasnt technically the record...its still the biggest one caught) was bigger than that fish in the vid.....sucks balls he didnt land it though :-/

[Randall]

Just from looking at it I don't think it was really close to a WR but who knows. Lots of water splashing and not that clear of a shot. It was a big fish though.

[roadwarrior]

Hard to tell how big it was, but I seriously doubt is was as big as Randall's fish.

Remember too, big bass look a lot bigger in the water than they turn out to be.

[Alpster]

That's a cool video, but the only record they set is for the lousiest net job.  

Ronnie

[Valascus]

No way that is a world record bass. Big bass for sure, but I bet some of the bass Fish Chris and some of our other Cali boys have gotten into are bigger than that one.  

I agree with Alpster, the guy netting the fish made a very ill conceived attempt on that jump to net that fish. All he probably did was succeed in dislodging the hook and whacking the fish upside his head. That fish should have been played a while longer to tucker it out a bit more. Just my two cents...

[mattm]

Very cool video and for sure a huge fish.  IMO, it is absolutley impossible to tell if it was or wasn't a WR.  If there was a gun to my head and I had to guess i'd say no.

[RoLo]

Too far south for a world-record.

Roger

[frogtog]

Net man would still be swimming trying to get back home.

[Guest avid]

I agree.  beauty of a bass  but no way that looked like a WR to me.

Net boy slept in the dog house that night.

[KU_Bassmaster.]

Huge bass no doubt .... but claiming WR would be a stretch IMO

[FishTank]

Great fish but not a WR.  I would love to hook into one that big but I find me a new guy to hold the net.  

[JayW]

Big fish for sure, but doesn't look anything like a world record to me. I hooked a Bass in a old private phosphate pit on a Zara Spook one time that looked like a 20+ lb Bass, but I won't say that she was. All I know is that she was a lot bigger than my 13.1 Bass that I caught a few years back. Every time I think about losing that fish it makes me wanna  :'(  

[earthworm77]

I do not think that fish was bigger than 10 or 12lbs. Splashing water gives a fish the illusion of more mass. Looking at it I'm convinced it really is not even close to a WR. 12lbs tops.

[Fish Chris]

That video is of such poor quality, and from one single "lame" angle, that it tells basically nothing.

Based on that video, I'd say the fish was somewhere between 8 and 80 lbs. Doh ! ;-)

Fish

[=Matt 5.0=]

Looks like the net guy was trying to play tennis with the fish...

[T-rig]

Too far south for a world-record.

Roger

Why? Don't rule out Cuba!

[Matt Fly]

Wild Bill Skinner has been booking trips to Mexico for ages.    It wouldn't surprise me to see a bass eclispsing the 20lb mark.

No way to judge that fish at all.     Just guesses!!!!!!

Matt

[NaterD]

Hey, isnt the record 22.25 lbs?  Just curious

[RoLo]

Too far south for a world-record.

Roger

Why? Don't rule out Cuba!

A southerly latitude offers a longer growing season than a northerly latitude, BUT all goods things come to an end.

Largemouth bass living in the equatorial reaches of their range die prematurely of thermal burnout.

In my view, Mexico and Cuba are both too far south to produce the next world-record.

The official 22lb 4oz world-record largemouth bass was produced in Lake Montgomery, Georgia (Oxbow in the Ocmulgee R.)

Last spring, Mac Weakley caught a 25-lb 1 oz uncertified world-record bass in Lake Dixon, California.

Neither of these elephants were the product of one fuzzy video, or the product of 10,000 rumors, but are part of our world history.

Although the Perry Bass and the Weakley Bass were boated on opposite ends of the North American continent,

both specimens sprang from very similar latitudes:

Lake Montgomery, Georgia: Latitude 31.50

Lake Dixon, California: Latitude 33.00

This is not a hair-raising coincidence, but simply underscores the importance of "optimal latitude".

Based on statistics enumerating world-class bass (over 15-lbs), production falls off sharply as you move south of Latitude 29.00.

For example, Lake Okeechobee, FL straddles Latitude 26.50, which is "Too Far South. The Big-O has yielded literally tons of bass

between 6 and 9-pounds, but in my opinion, poses no threat to the world-record bass. In fact, until the lake-record

at Lake Okeechobee was finally broken, it stood for decades at 13.5 lbs. In contrast, the lake-record for virtually every

major lake in central and northern Florida is over 15 pounds (i.e. world-class).

Getting back on track, El Salto, Mexico lies at Latitude 23.50, and Cuba straddles Latitude 21.50.

Not surprisingly, at those southerly latitudes you will find bodies of water that are fountains for beautiful trophy-class bass.

Cuba and Mexico are very similar to the Okeechobee of yore, but can they break the next world-record...I don't think so.

Roger

[T-rig]

Thanks for the datailed info! What do you think about South Africa and why do you think bass in Switzerland do not grow above 8lbs.?

[RoLo]

Thanks for the datailed info! What do you think about South Africa and why do you think bass in Switzerland do not grow above 8lbs.?

Switzerland straddles Latitude 47.00, which parallels Cabonga Reservoir in Quebec, Canada.

In North America, the 47th parallel roughly demarcates the northern limit of largemouth bass distribution.

With such a short growing-season, it would take a superb forage base AND a long-lived bass to reach 8 pounds.

As an aside, a bass weighing 8 lbs and change held the New Jersey record for over fifty years,

and that was Latitude 40, significantly south of Switzerland.

I feel the same about South Africa as I do about Cuba and Mexicotoo far south.

If the sweet spot is in fact between Latitude 30 and 35, I think we could be blindsided by Japan.

Bass fishing is big in Japan, and though their waters are even more heavily pressured than American waters,

it can happen on a private lake. Japan has already broken 19 lbs, larger than any "certified" bass taken in Florida.

Roger

[FL_fisher]

what is the record in japan?

[RoLo]

19.15 lbs

(larger than any "certified" bass taken from Florida)