Another Japanese 20+

[NorcalBassin]

I have heard that that lake does not require you to keep the bass and that fish was released. Also holding a fish like that does no damage and anybody who says different is wrong. I dont care who they are. The jaws on those monsters are STRONG. They actualy hurt when they clamp down. Verticle is fine as long as your not twisting up on the jaw.. Horizontal, you need to use both hands and suport the weight.

Well, there you go then. I've read a lot of opinions from professionals a lot more bass smart than me that have said otherwise, so it's nice to hear the other side of the argument.

[Mattlures]

Trust me I have held many big fish and I always hold them like that. How do you think everybody weighs them? The use a hanging scale and either poke a hole under ther bottom lip or by thier throat. My friends have caught 100's if not 1000's(combined) of double didgit bass and none of us have ever found one later with any jaw problems. Many of these fish have been caught multiple times. These big old fish are senior citizens and should be treated gently but the verticle jaw hold is fine.

[WRB]

Trust me I have held many big fish and I always hold them like that. How do you think everybody weighs them? The use a hanging scale and either poke a hole under ther bottom lip or by thier throat. My friends have caught 100's if not 1000's(combined) of double didgit bass and none of us have ever found one later with any jaw problems. Many of these fish have been caught multiple times. These big old fish are senior citizens and should be treated gently but the verticle jaw hold is fine.

+1

I believe Matt is talking about giant bass, not bass the size you try to hold with your thumb and index finger. The vertical hold were you grip the inside jaw with your fingers and the outside jaw with your thumb pressed tightly controls the bass from wrenching out of the grip.

As long as you don't bend the jaw open with the weight of the bass, there is no harm to the bass.

To held horizontal, you hold the jaw as described and rotate the bass holding the tail end of the bass.

WRB

[WRB]

BA, the WR bass is likely to be from Japan or California.

I don't believe in the Cuban 30 lb giant bass stories. Cuba may have 16lb to 18 lb LMB, 20+lbs bass are extremely rare. Florida for example has never produced a validated 20+ and Cuba doesn't appear to have forage base to grow heavy bodied bass. Wait and see.

WRB

[Raul]

BA, the WR bass is likely to be from Japan or California.

I don't believe in the Cuban 30 lb giant bass stories. Cuba may have 16lb to 18 lb LMB, 20+lbs bass are extremely rare. Florida for example has never produced a validated 20+ and Cuba doesn't appear to have forage base to grow heavy bodied bass. Wait and see.

WRB

Cuba has the weather, the forage base, the places, the genetics to grow giant bass, what Cuba lacks of is CONSERVATION, in Cuba everything is catch n 'keep, so the chances of a fish growing to the 20+ lbs mark are slim, it will be caught and eaten long before it can reach that size. I 've been to Cuba ( not to fish ) several times and have visited Lebrije & Habanilla lakes just to see whassup and man they do have big feesh, only problem is that they end up in the frying pan. :-/

[Mattlures]

I agree with WRB on Cuba, lots of rumors but nothing even close to proof. There is a huge difference between a 22.4lb bass and a 15lber. Most, if they saw a 15 would swear it was 20lbs or even a record. When I caught my 17 I was afraid to weigh it. My imagination was going wild.

Raul I am not edjucated on the cuba lakes. What do the bass have to eat, tilapia? bluegill? Honestly I am not questioning your opinion because I know very little about Cuba bass. I have read some stories and it seems like the anglers there are not very advanced. It seems like if a bunch of the best pros and trophy guys went down there they would catch some big fish, I am just not sure about 20+lbers

One observation I have noticed is that the Mexican bass tend to grow very fast but dont live long. Not quite perfect conditions. I would think Cuba would be similar. Both Cali and Japan do have cooler winters but not too cold so the fish live longer but they stay active throughout the year. I think those couple extra years is the difference between the Mexican bass and the Cali/Japan bass.

[Catt]

I highly suggest y'all do a Yahoo or Google search for Cuban Bass Fsihing, there is plenty of proof!

Feild & Stream artical 2007, Jimmy Houston Outdoors, Cuba Travel Usa, "The Bass Professor" Doug Hannon, Chuck Bauer @ worldrecordbass.com

[Mattlures]

Catt I am talking about proof of world class giant bass. 20+lbers. I have not seen any from Cuba. If you know of a credible source with pictures please post a link.

[Raul]

Raul I am not edjucated on the cuba lakes. What do the bass have to eat, tilapia? bluegill? Honestly I am not questioning your opinion because I know very little about Cuba bass. I have read some stories and it seems like the anglers there are not very advanced. It seems like if a bunch of the best pros and trophy guys went down there they would catch some big fish, I am just not sure about 20+lbers

One observation I have noticed is that the Mexican bass tend to grow very fast but dont live long. Not quite perfect conditions. I would think Cuba would be similar. Both Cali and Japan do have cooler winters but not too cold so the fish live longer but they stay active throughout the year. I think those couple extra years is the difference between the Mexican bass and the Cali/Japan bass.

Abundant tilapia ( multiple species ) like in Mexico Matt, that 's what bass eat mostly, plus bluegills, native cyprinids, carp, the tropical climate of the island suits tilapia well ( they multiply a lot ). Anglers don 't fish for sport, they fish for food and about they guys, it 's like jumping into a time machine and going back to the 50 's, that 's the kind of tackle they use plus lots of self made lures. 20 pounders is a possibility but I wouldn 't bet on it, they do have some big fish but I didn 't see anything out of the ordinary ( being "ordinary" fish in the 8-12 pounds range ).

Cuban bass in many aspects is like Mexican bass, they grow fast, short and wide, their methabolism is always on the run, so I don 't think that they will live long enough to reach full growth potential ( warm climate, catch n 'keep and lack of conservation practices ). I heard that lately that the Cuban government has plans for a couple of lakes, the plan is to turn them into something sort of a Meca for bass fishermen from around the world, the plan includes banning gill net fishing, establishing conservation practices and building the infrastructure to make them attractive to tourists but that 's what I heard, I can 't provide more information.

Too bad I wasn 't there to fish, I bet if I had taken some gear ( plus my knowledge and skill  ) I would have made a killing, them Cuban bass must be dumber than rocks. 

[Mattlures]

Raul, lets go! of cource the grass is always greener. I bet those fish arent that dumb but I would like our odds of catching some 

[Catt]

Catt I am talking about proof of world class giant bass. 20+lbers. I have not seen any from Cuba. If you know of a credible source with pictures please post a link.

Uh I think I just did!

I personally know four anglers from Southwest Louisiana who have made trips to Cuba during the mid to late 70s and they have pictures of 20 lb plus bass they caught. I'll try to get some of them, I know three of these anglers have passed away but maybe their family will share the photos.

Raul, The Cuban bass is believed to grow slightly faster and be slightly more aggressive than the Florida bass. Bass were first introduced into Cuba around 1915 by people from the Kings Ranch and the United Fruit Company.

[Raul]

Raul, lets go! of cource the grass is always greener. I bet those fish arent that dumb but I would like our odds of catching some

For what I saw them Cuban bass must be as dumb as rocks, you should see the plugs the guys use to fish, a fish that bites such primitive plugs must be as dumb as a rock. I don 't think they stand a chance against a well designed modern bait.

[Mattlures]

Catt I am talking about proof of world class giant bass. 20+lbers. I have not seen any from Cuba. If you know of a credible source with pictures please post a link.

Uh I think I just did!

I personally know four anglers from Southwest Louisiana who have made trips to Cuba during the mid to late 70s and they have pictures of 20 lb plus bass they caught. I'll try to get some of them, I know three of these anglers have passed away but maybe their family will share the photos.

Raul, The Cuban bass is believed to grow slightly faster and be slightly more aggressive than the Florida bass. Bass were first introduced into Cuba around 1915 by people from the Kings Ranch and the United Fruit Company.

I googled your serches and all I found was a sales pitch saying they have caught fish bigger then the world record but they were caught illegaly, no pictures of course so no proof. all the pics they do show are of big bass but nothing even clos to 20 lbs. I believe the Cuban gaint bass are urban myth. I would love to see some pictures if you can find some.

[South FLA]

My family members in Cuba fish the "prensas" (reservoirs), when they can risking imprisonment to catch fish to eat!  Yes people catch bass in Cuba to EAT, to h**l with the sport fishing when you need to eat something other than government rationed food to get by.  Natives have very "primitive" fishing tackle since they can't run down to the local Wall-Mart and buy fishing tackle, not even Zebco, oops I mean QUANTUM  ;D.  Now if you are a tourist in Cuba sport fishing is like heaven, Snook fishing especially, saltwater fishing is spectacular and overshadows freshwater fishing, but Lake Hannabanilla and ZaZa are the top lakes.

I remember as a kid watching a Jimmy Houston show where he went to Cuba to fish and caught the largest bass in his life at the time. Not sure if he has caught, bigger, but must be pretty impressive fishing.

[CAdeltaLipRipper]

isnt this the guy they think fed bass everyday or something by at first making a noise that the fish started to recognize as a dinner bell and after they started getting huge he called them up one day and caught this giant?

And by the way about the cuba thing....no thats bull for 20 lbers unless they were unofficial. Im pretty sure something like 22 of the top 25 biggest bass every caught in the world have come from California,one from georgia,another from japan,and another from florida.

[CAdeltaLipRipper]

and by the way the world record already has come from the US. Dotty dixon was 25.1 pounds it just wasnt a certified record because she was foul hooked.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Kind of makes it not the world record then....

[Dr. Watson]

good lord, I bet that was a fun catch

[Raul]

isnt this the guy they think fed bass everyday or something by at first making a noise that the fish started to recognize as a dinner bell and after they started getting huge he called them up one day and caught this giant?

And by the way about the cuba thing....no thats bull for 20 lbers unless they were unofficial. Im pretty sure something like 22 of the top 25 biggest bass every caught in the world have come from California,one from georgia,another from japan,and another from florida.

Well, I think that the fact that most of the 20 lbs pound fish come from Cali means only that Cali keeps good track of it 's fisheries like in the rest of the good ole USA, in other countries such track in keeping records is also common, countries like Japan and most countries in Europe, in other countries such thing is not the norm but the exception, the only thing you have to do is to cross the southern border and you 'll see what I 'm talking about, in Mexico in practical terms nobody keeps track of the fish caught, there are very few IGFA certified scales, very few IGFA officials, there 's little or none infrastructure to keep a good track of the fish, the Mexican "Record" is 19+ pounds and no other fish has ever been submitted to my knowledge and there are a big bunch of mexican lakes that produce 10+ lbs fish with regularity, one of those lakes is not far from my home town ( 2 hour drive ) and only a few people know about it. If that happens on the neighbooring country you can 't ask miracles out of a poor country like Cuba, if Mexico doesn 't have the infrastructure Cuba has it less. What you know about a country like let 's say South Africa ? not much, however South Africa has some serious fish and countries like that there are a lot.

Wanna see what you can catch at Calderón ( the lake I was talking about ) ? take a look at this fish:

[J Francho]

How is feeding baitfish to Japanese bass any different than feeding trout smolts to California bass?

[Raul]

I think that what separates the line J is the intent, if you have a lake and you suplement on a regular basis you are purposefuly feeding the fish, if you are stocking the lake like in Cali with pan size trout the intent is not to purposefuly feed the bass, it 's to stock the lake with catch n 'keep fish ( the trout ).

[Tin]

How is feeding baitfish to Japanese bass any different than feeding trout smolts to California bass?

A protein bar is a a protein bar

[J Francho]

I think that what separates the line J is the intent, if you have a lake and you suplement on a regular basis you are purposefuly feeding the fish, if you are stocking the lake like in Cali with pan size trout the intent is not to purposefuly feed the bass, it 's to stock the lake with catch n 'keep fish ( the trout ).

Then explain the difference in "intent" of the Share a Lunker program in Texas.  Or ANY creel limit/size limit.  Personally, I think there is extra scrutiny and criticism because its a fish from foreign waters.  I love it when guys say that Japanese bass don't count because its not their native habitat.  Same guys are proud of the brown trout records, and huge California bass.

[Raul]

Well share a lunker intent is obvioulsy to create monster size bass bred from monster size bass, that 's the intent.

How I understand limits is to maintain a healthy population with fish in all sizes.

The one I don 't undertand is this one:

love it when guys say that Japanese bass don't count because its not their native habitat.

I don 't how some people can be so ignorant and stubborn to the point of zealousness, in most of the US, like in most of Mexico bass is a non native, so if you catch a bass anywhere where the the fish was introduced then it 's a non native, based upon that school of thought: if it ain 't native it don 't count, those basses caught out of their native waters don 't count either. Yes the fish is native to southern USA and northeast Mexico but it 's not native to the entire country, just to a small part of it.

[J Francho]

Black Lake, NY has a 15" limit.  NYDEC's stated intent was to create a trophy largemouth fishery.  The plan didn't work, 90% of the fish are 14.75", but the intent was clear.