Record largemouth: reason to celebrate?
Big fish create buzz in the angling world, with the magnitude of the fish and where it was caught directly proportionate to the noise its catch makes.
One would expect, for example, that a 10-pound walleye would be big news around Berlin or Mosquito Creek Reservoir but create little stir in Ashtabula or Port Clinton. Likewise, a 10-pound bass from Lake Milton would make me pay attention here in Youngstown, but folks in Florida, Texas or California would only yawn at the news.
But a 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth? That should send a shiver around the world. It would equal what the angling world generally acknowledges as the most-prestigious record in all of fishing.
Some doubted such a behemoth bass would ever be caught. Many doubted the world record largemouth caught by George Perry in Georgia in 1932 actually did weigh 22 pounds, 4 ounces. Regardless, the record stood against a number of big bass challenges over the past 77 years, most recently a number of 20-pounders caught in California.
And then it happened.
Another fish the International Gamefish Association has officially scored at 22 pounds, 4 ounces has been added to the record books. The new entry, caught in July 2009, is officially declared as a tie with Perry’s world-record bass. I’m a bass guy. I should be excited. Such news gives hope to all of us weekend anglers that, indeed, a potential world-record largemouth bass exists here in the 21st century on planet Earth.
But try as I might, I haven’t yet joined the celebration. A news release from IGFA arrived Jan. 8, with all of the details about the big catch. Bass publications, including the sports bible, Bassmaster Magazine, have covered the new record fish from the day it was caught through the painstaking record certification process to the recent official announcement.
But I’ve yet to add my own exclamation point to that headline.
Perhaps it’s due to the circumstances.
It’s not a new record, but rather a tied record. OK, fine, let’s go fishing.
It was caught on live bait, not one of the hot new lures that would make the catcher a million bucks in endorsements. That’s nice.
But the weirdness of the whole deal, the situation that leaves me wondering how much to care about the record, is that the fish was caught in Japan.
A fellow named Manabu Kurita landed the record-tying bass July 2, 2009, on Lake Biwa north of Kyoto. He’s an acknowledged big-bass hunter, so it was certainly not a freak deal when he hooked and battled the bruiser. Everything about Kurita’s catch has been certified as legit, so his name goes in the record books.
Japan is home to an avid community of bass anglers. Largemouths are not native to Japan, but they were stocked there many years ago and, as an “invasive” species, have proved to be well equipped to thrive. Japanese anglers love their bass fishing and are among the most innovative people when it comes to new lures and tackle.
So Japan and Kurita get credit for tying the world record. Hearty congrats to the nation and the man.
I guess I was kind of hoping the record might be broken on a lake that I might realistically expect to fish some day. It still might. I’m hoping someday before too long one of Southern California’s big bass specialists hauls a 22-pound, 6-ouncer from the waters around San Diego.
I would join that party. I’d buy a ticket and fly there for a week of fishing.
In the meantime, I’m saving my own big-bass celebration for the day I drag an 8-pounder from Berlin. I’ll keep you posted.
jack@innismaggiore.com