Giant Bass II

[Catt]

"Structure; few bass fishermen understand how to fish structure"

Dude that's funny right there  

[Matt Fly]

THe next world record as mentioned can come from as far away as Japan or South Africa.  

   I always thought Mexico, Cuba, and Cali was the front runners for the next record.

   To get to that wieght in Texas, we need 10 years of mild winters and cooperation from mother nature, plenty of rains to make another run.  Fish have to be able to live that long and have enough days out of the year to grow that big, and Texas vast majority of lakes will drop below 50 degrees in the winter, something that the socal lakes never does.

   If your bass has the genetics, and is given a 365 days growing season with plenty of easy forage, then the potential is there.

The only lake that I fished in Cali that got that close was Lake Moreno out in the desert.   And that lake produced teens up to 19 lbs.

      Who ever mentioned a new fishery is the closest guess I'd buy into.

        And right now, Falcon, Amistad, and Choke Canyon are like new lakes in Texas.     For 10 years or more, these lakes were below 50% capacity for some, and others upto 70 ft low.    When the rains came in late 2004, they filled.    Over ten years of new shoreline growth was now new cover for those old lakes.    Hence, mother nature gave them an over night face lift so to speak.

    Those lakes didn't produce those types of stringers, the results are there from the years past, good stringers yes, but the whole 200 boat field was not weighing in 20lbs sacks like the recent years.

      Texas is top notch in bassin, but not in the record race yet.   Let us break 20 first, then we can add Texas in the mix.

     I believe the climate that permits a bass to grow 24/7 365 days year is best suited to eclipse the world record.

[WRB]

Let target the giant bass in your state; New York, Florida, Texas, Minnesota, or anywhere else. Each state or region has big bass, they may not be world record class, but giants in there own right.

FLMB = 15 lbs.

NLMB = 12 lbs.

Spotted Bass = 8 lbs.

Smallmouth bass = 8 lbs.

If I was going to catch a giant bass, I would use the similar lures discussed for CA giant bass; jig, big worms and swimbaits.

I would target bass during the pre spawn period in locations that big bass tend to stage and feed on larger bait fish or crawdads. In other words I would try to find the same type of water I'm familiar with.

In Florida it would take some time to adjust to what is deep water and where big bass locate to stage. My favorite lure; the hair jig, would not be a good choice in shallow water, unless sight fishing.

You need to select lures that can be used effectively in the water you are fishing, that closely resemble the primary forage.

California isn't like any other state due to it's length, coastal areas and mountains. SoCal for example has bass lakes near sea level in moderate climate and up to 8,000' altitude where lakes freeze over.

500 miles north of San Diego, the climate changes drastically due to the Alaskan current, the moderate Mediterranean climate of the south is gone, replaced by the colder north pacific climate. The CA delta is a vast river confluence of 5 major rivers. There are a lot of different areas to fish. The world record spotted bass; 10.27 lbs from Pine Flat in central CA, located in the high sierra foothills, fed by the cold water Kings river.

The CA state record smallmouth is 9.1 lbs from Trinity lake, a cold mother lode lake. Chris caught a 8.94 smallmouth from Pardee, a giant smallmouth, on a swimbait.

WRB

[Catt]

January through April

Where: bank shallow out to 10'

Solid bottom: hard sandy bottoms, gravel or rocky banks, a fallen log or lily pad root.

Protected coves: When possible, bass will bed in water that is sheltered somewhat from the elements like in a cove or pockets.

The rest of the year

Prime structures that contains specific elements that include a good sized feeding flat. That flat would ideally be heavily weeded, with a number of weed types and open pockets 4-8 feet deep. Other kinds of cover like trees, stumps, brush or rocks are also beneficial. Deep water down to 17 feet or more as near as possible and better yet, if there were a source of inflowing water, like a creek.  

Weapon of choice: Plastic lures out produce all other by a ratio of 5:1 so you can bet I'll have #1 tied on followed by a Jig-N-Craw. During January through April I'll add a Rat-L-Trap and Spinner Bait.

[RoLo]

Catt accurately described the living quarters of largemouth bass in a Mesotrophic Manmade Reservoir.

Hang on, because the waters in central Florida are predominantly Eutrophic Natural lakes,

that is to say, nearly diametrically opposed to a meso impoundment.

Eutrophic Natural Lakes

In an artificial impoundment, manmade features have no depth bounds (bass depth is limited by oxycline & prey).

However, in a typical natural lake the main biomass of trophy bass will live-and-die

between the shoreline and the outer weed-line.

The actual depth of the outer weed-line hinges chiefly on four elements:

> Weed Species (For example, hydrilla can grow much deeper than bulrushes)

> Water Clarity       (the limit of photosynthesis)

> Water Fertility       (water-borne NPK and micronutrients)

> Bottom Content (sand for example offers better circulation than muck)

We've lived in Florida since 1998, fully 10 years. Although every natural lake is unique,

our most productive year-round depth for trophy bass on balance, has been 3-feet.

A rough breakdown might look something like this:

NURSERY: 0 to 2 ft

GREENERY: 2 to 4 ft

GRADIENT: 4 to 6 ft

FISHERY:      6-in to 6-ft

Exceptions are lakes with offshore hydrilla beds or deep pondweed. Prior to Hurricane Charley,

the key depth on Lake Walk-In-Water (our former home lake) was 8½ ft, which merely represented the depth of optimal hydrilla growth.

On the flipside are the so-called hayfield lakes in south Florida's sugar belt.

The cover here consists of emergent weeds like sawgrass, cattails and reeds that rarely grow deeper than 4 or 5 feet.

Trophy bass are commonly taken from 2 feet of water during a hot sunny midsummer day.

Oddly enough, I happen to love deepwater structure fishing for smallies, pike & saltwater species.

Nevertheless, the angler who's adverse to bank-beating is going to be one lonely camper in Florida

Roger

[WRB]

The majority of the bass fishermen are going to fish regional lakes they are familiar with. The lakes classification is extremely important to determine where the giant bass in that specific lake tend to be located. Based on where they bass live 80% of the time, will determine the type of lure or bait you should choose to catch them.

Swimbaits have gone through a big change to become acceptable for the average bass fishermen to use and designs that can be fished in and around weed cover are now available.

The Mission fish by 3:16 and Huddlestons weedless swimbaits are good examples. Basstrix hollow body paddletail has spun off a new class of small swimbaits that include the EZ-Shad by Roboworm that can be fished effectively in weeds.

If you are serious about catching the biggest bass in your area, swimbaits should be part of your lure selection.

In Florida the topography is flat, the lakes are shallow compared to most bass lake around the country being located in hilly or near mountains. Out west we have high land, hill land and canyon classification lakes in various stages of the aging process. The delta would be a low land tidal system. The Colorado river is a good example; the upper lakes are oligotrophic, oligo/mesotrophic in middle river lakes and eutrophic on the lower river. The vast majority of bass lakes in California and around the country are mesotrophic.

Catt's input is very valuable as his experience represents the heartland of bass fishing.

WRB

[Mottfia]

hmm. while we on the subject, can we cover the different types of lakes or give out a site that covers them? And if we can how big bass relate to each?

Mottfia

[paul.]

besides obvious factors like fishing pressure, poor management, climate and forage requirements, etc., i think there are 2 factors to consider as to why a truly giant bass, especially a world record, will be so hard to catch. that has to do with the 2 scenarios required to produce the fish.

the fish has to be either (a) a true genetic freak of nature that is so big that it always or at least usually hovers above the 22-4 mark, no matter the conditions, season, etc. or ( the fish has be a "smaller" 19-20 pound fish that has gone on a massive feeding binge.

the problem with scenario (a) is that if such a fish exists to begin with, the odds are astronomical of running across it. there might be a handful of fish swimming around on this entire planet that will usually be heavier than 22-4. and the sad reality is that there might not be one single bass alive today that meets this description.

the problem with scenario ( is pretty obvious. even 18-20 lb. fish are quite rare. and if they go on enough of a feeding spree to reach world record proportions, the chances of catching them are very slim because they are already gorged to begin with and have little or no reason to eat again. that means that to entice this type of fish, the angler's presentation would have to be absolutely perfect.

that's why i think a bed fishing scenario has as good a chance as any to produce a record. the fish will more than likely be stuffed from feeding up in preparation for the spawn. it will have the additional weight of a load of eggs. and this already stuffed fish that is full of food and eggs will not have to be tricked into biting because of hunger. i would guess based on the record chase with dottie, other folks figured this out pretty quick too. of course the obvious problem here is that you have to find the fish during a pretty small window - hopefully when she goes to bed for the first time in the spawn phase before she dumps a lot of eggs. when you are talking about a fish this rare, even 1 or 2 oz. of egg weight might make all the difference in the world.

just my .02. very cool thread WRB.

[Z06-VETTE]

THe next world record as mentioned can come from as far away as Japan or South Africa.

I always thought Mexico, Cuba, and Cali was the front runners for the next record.

To get to that wieght in Texas, we need 10 years of mild winters and cooperation from mother nature, plenty of rains to make another run. Fish have to be able to live that long and have enough days out of the year to grow that big, and Texas vast majority of lakes will drop below 50 degrees in the winter, something that the socal lakes never does.

If your bass has the genetics, and is given a 365 days growing season with plenty of easy forage, then the potential is there.

The only lake that I fished in Cali that got that close was Lake Moreno out in the desert. And that lake produced teens up to 19 lbs.

      Who ever mentioned a new fishery is the closest guess I'd buy into.

      And right now, Falcon, Amistad, and Choke Canyon are like new lakes in Texas. For 10 years or more, these lakes were below 50% capacity for some, and others upto 70 ft low. When the rains came in late 2004, they filled. Over ten years of new shoreline growth was now new cover for those old lakes. Hence, mother nature gave them an over night face lift so to speak.

Those lakes didn't produce those types of stringers, the results are there from the years past, good stringers yes, but the whole 200 boat field was not weighing in 20lbs sacks like the recent years.

      Texas is top notch in bassin, but not in the record race yet. Let us break 20 first, then we can add Texas in the mix.

     I believe the climate that permits a bass to grow 24/7 365 days year is best suited to eclipse the world record.

Some of you are forgetting that the record came from GA! So if the record is from GA why can't the next be form there?Or any other body of water in the southeast.GA sure doesn't have a all year growing season.But Perry's bass got huge.I think for the most part people over think the whole thing.The fact is anywhere in the south can produce a world record.

[Maxximus Redneckus]

What also needs to be put into perspective is Northern strain live longer then Florida strain<think of it this way up north say Massuchusettes or even Canada  swimming with huge muskie and pike where bass aint fished for very often there could be a record and who knows it could be  LOTS

[Muddy]

This guy is always good for the best   of the night!

[DINK WHISPERER]

Maybe if FL spoon fed our bass we could catch a world record too!!!!    

[bladerunner808]

While I agree you are absolutely correct in your analysis of the time of the year I totally disagree with lure selection. Your selection was derived from the analysis of big bass hunters completely leaving out the rest of the bass fishing community. All documented surveys of big bass lures clearly shows plastic lures (worms, lizards, creatures, Senko ect.) as the hands down top producer of bass in excess of 10 pounds.

My personal opinion is that a rank amateur fishing in an almost forgotten body of water with a simple technique will break the world record.

DEAD ON. I remember fishing here up north (PA) - where bass typically don't grow as big as other parts... 1992 - no cell phones with cameras, no digital cameras, just me and a baitcaster with a snagproof frog. Bank fishing pulling the frog through lilly pads. I had bites from big fish all day but not one hookup. Then after cleaning a birdsnest leaving my frog in 10 inches of muck RIGHT at my feet literally - WHOMP. The biggest fish I ever caught. Bent my pole in half and I had to drag it up the bank. I could put my fist in its mouth easy. I have NO IDEA how much it weighed but it was LONG @24". I could not comfortably lip it with one hand. At the time there was no internet so I figured wow - my biggest fish - but I felt so bad keeping it out of the water I plunked her right back in. Years later looking up the record for PA I saw it was somewhere around 10 pounds - I'm an idiot. I'm sure it was flirting right around there - but who knew? I've been fishing my whole life and I only kept ONE bass ever. My first one! I ran all the way home with it on the line when I was a kid. So YES - it will come to someone fishing a smaller body of water with well fed lunkers in the weeds - not on a lake at the hands of a depth-finder.

[WRB]

I know bumping up old threads is taboo on this site but ran across it today and thought why not, interesting read.

Happy Memrial Day weekend.

Tom

 

[soflabasser]

Would be nice to see someone catch a new world record largemouth bass, preferably by a young person who only fishes for fun, not someone chasing the record to get money out of the experience.

[WRB]

The new world record all tackle Largemouth Bass was caught July 2nd 2009 shortly after this original thread ended Manubu Kurita caught his 22.315 lbs record bass in Lake Biwa Japan using a live bluegill. Does anyone remember his name?

Tom

[Logan S]

6 minutes ago, WRB said:

The new world record all tackle Largemouth Bass was caught July 2nd 2009 shortly after this original thread ended Manubu Kurita caught his 22.315 lbs record bass in Lake Biwa Japan using a live bluegill. Does anyone remember his name?

Tom

I do  

 

I was just going to post here that the timing of this thread back in 2009 was pretty good - With the new world record being caught 1 month later.

 

I know it's officially a tie, but consider Kurita's bass to the "real" WR - We know for a fact it weighed exactly what it did and it was still heavier than Perry's bass which is now nearing 90 years old.  

 

I think the fact it was caught on live bait stunted what could have been more publicity - No "World Record Lure" to promote.

 

One thing I remember reading back then was that Kurita said he had seen the bass in a school of other huge bass and had tried for multiple days to catch one.  Can you imagine a school of 20+lbers? ?

[soflabasser]

According to IGFA rules a largemouth bass has to weigh at least 22 pounds, 6 ounces to beat the current world record largemouth bass caught in 1932. Mr. Kurita is a very talented bass fisherman and caught one of the biggest largemouth bass, but his catch weighed less than 22 pounds, 6 ounces. He currently has a co-record, would be nice to see someone catch a new official world record largemouth bass.

28 minutes ago, Logan S said:

I think the fact it was caught on live bait stunted what could have been more publicity - No "World Record Lure" to promote.

 

One thing I remember reading back then was that Kurita said he had seen the bass in a school of other huge bass and had tried for multiple days to catch one.  Can you imagine a school of 20+lbers? 

He was honest about his catch which is honorable. Lots of California bass fishermen where known for using live trout or snagging bass and told everyone they used swimbaits (or another lure) to catch these fish. I have seen schools of bass where each bass was over 6 pounds, with some over 8 pounds. A friend of mines caught a +14 pounder and he told me that bass was in a school with a bass bigger than the one he caught. I believe Mr.Kurita has seen bass bigger than the current world record bass in those schools of bass.

[WRB]

12 minutes ago, soflabasser said:

According to IGFA rules a largemouth bass has to weigh at least 22 pounds, 6 ounces to beat the current world record largemouth bass caught in 1932. Mr. Kurita is a very talented bass fisherman and caught one of the biggest largemouth bass, but his catch weighed less than 22 pounds, 6 ounces. He currently has a co-record, would be nice to see someone catch a new official world record bass.

 

The Perry bass wouldn't qualify under current IGFA rules, no way to authenticate the catch. The catch was grandfathered based on Field & Stream contest application with little evidence; no photo, no weight slip, no witness was ever interviewed. It was 1932 when 100 lb postal scale was claimed to use for weighing the bass, the scale had 1/4 lb increments and during the depression when fish were food.

Applying the 2 oz rule to this catch was rediculous.

Tom

[soflabasser]

Things where different in 1932. There where no cell phones to take pictures at that time in history and I doubt George Perry had a camera at that time. His bass was weighed on a postal scale which has to be certified to be used in the post office. Considering the circumstances and rules in 1932 his catch is 100% legitimate and Mr.Perry's 22 pound, 4 ounce bass is still the current official world record largemouth bass.

[Smokinal]

Dottie is my world record. I don't care how she was caught; she's the largest bass on planet earth that humans have seen and weighed. By pounds

[WRB]

17 minutes ago, soflabasser said:

Things where different in 1932. There where no cell phones to take pictures at that time in history and I doubt George Perry had a camera at that time. His bass was weighed in a postal scale which has to be certified to be used in the post office. Considering the circumstances and rules in 1932 his catch is 100% legitimate and Mr.Perry's 22 pound, 4 ounce bass is still the current official world record largemouth bass.

100% without any proof the bass existed, only Perry word.

A lot of people including Ken Duke have researched the Perry catch, none were able to authenticate only hearsay.  1 photo of a unknown man with a boy holding a big bass on a sunny day when Perry said it was raining late afternoon and dark when he got back in town. It's a grandfathered catch without proof of any kind. The bass could have been netted, speared, trapped or caught legally. The bas could have weighed 15 lbs or 18 lbs or what Perry claimed it weighed, we will never know! We know to the hundredth of a pound what Kurita's bass weighed, lots of photos and witnesses and interviews.

Tom

 

 

9 minutes ago, Smokinal said:

Dottie is my world record. I don't care how she was caught; she's the largest bass on planet earth that humans have seen and weighed. By pounds

Caught illegally according to California regulations, can't snag a bass and witnesses watched the catch. Unlike the Perry bass Dottie was a real bass unfortunitly IGFA has rules to disallow a catch.

Tom

[Smokinal]

8 minutes ago, WRB said:

 

 

Caught illegally according to California regulations, can't snag a bass and witnesses watched the catch. Unlike the Perry bass Dottie was a real bass unfortunitly IGFA has rules to disallow a catch.

Tom

I understand that. I'm just saying she was the largest bass that has ever been weighed on planet earth.

[WRB]

1 hour ago, Smokinal said:

I understand that. I'm just saying she was the largest bass that has ever been weighed on planet earth.

Agree, and may never be topped a very special fish.

Tom

[Captain Phil]

California bass are transplanted Florida bass. If you take a Florida bass, move it to California and stuff it with baby trout, you will get an enormous bass.  There are places in Florida where world record fish may still exist.  Those places are not or are rarely fished.  What is required to produce a world record bass in Florida is a fish capable of reaching record size, light or no fishing pressure, large plentiful food and some luck.  The only public lake in Florida that I know of that may still have a record bass is Lake Apopka. It checks all the boxes.  If I was to guess what lure would catch that bass, it would be a large shad swim bait.