World Record Largemouth

[FishinFool]

Found this on ESPN.com. What a pig!!! Thought everyone else would like to read about it. Link has a picture too.

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/fishing/news/story?page=f_fea_bass_world-record_Weakley_25.1

F.F.

[Ihateriversnags]

Holy SMOKES!! What a piggy! And I though that my 7 lb largemouth was a nice catch.

[LEECH21]

Wow!!! I was just reading last night about the world record smallie and now someone catches the elusive largemouth record!!! Holy dump! I'm not sure if it will count as a record though. A very true sportsman for letting it go.

[Deitz Dittrich]

There is no way that it will count as the record becuase it was not weighed on a certified scale. Huge fish...Personally I would like to have him have kept it... as is the world record is speculative.. I would like a record that there is no ifs or ands...

[nofishfisherman]

I guess he foul hooked it. The last time i foul hooked a fish it was a three pound pike but foul hooked I swore I was fighting a great white.

Just imagine what a foul hooked 25 lbs largemouth would fight like. He got lucky that he was able to get it landed.

Also you know he wasn't lieing about the fish, if he was who would have admitted it was foul hooked?

One things for sure, I wouldn't let any small dogs go swiming in that lake. I'm sure that fish could swallow one if it had the mind to.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Great story, especialy since he had released it before when it was already huge and was then rewarded by catching it again as an alleged world record! Goes to show, CPR those big fish and that could be your story.

[Matt Johnson]

Incredible fish! Wow!

[carlcmc]

the story has even been picked up on drudgereport.com

amazing fish.

[Bushwacker]

I have C&R'ed every single bass I have caught in the last 5 years, but come on- Something has to be up for them to let go of the world record. Last year Field and Stream and Outdoor Life both had articles about the $1,000,000 fish. They both claimed that a new world record smallmouth would be worth $1 million in endorsements, prizes, etc. If a fish is the biggest of it's species in the history of the world, it is not going to get much bigger and it is probably well beyond it's best spawning years. Why is there always so much contraversy around world records, muskie, smallmouth, and now largemouth.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Bushwack- I ahve read that the fish was hooked outside the mouth so the record would not have held up anyway..

[Ralph Wiggum]

Deitz, but in the ESPN article, it says the rules state that you can't intentionally foul hook a fish. So, I'm guessing that they weren't bass snagging. It sure had a better chance of being recognized as a WR being foul-hooked than it did not being weighed on a certified scale. I wonder how bad that lake will get pounded now?!

[Duffman]

Guilt got to him, he knows he snagged it off the spawning bed. Is that how the world record largemouth bass should be caught?? Snagging da dang thing off a spawning bed?? There's some skill for ya.

[river rat316]

Sad.... If I caught it I wouldnt tell a soul.... way to many skeptics and naysayers..... everyone has an opinion but unless you were there and watched him "snag" it off its bed than yours is probably worth about as much as mine.... nothing... if you read the story I actually believe the guy, I dont think he intentionally foul hooked it, and it happens anyway, I dont think he was throwing a weighted treble hook on the bed and trying to do it.

Thats just my 2 cents.... but thats exactly what its worth.... 2 cents

[nofishfisherman]

My guess is that a guy that would intentionally foul hook a fish like that would then try to pass it off leagally caught and not just throw it back.

No reason for the guy to lie, that pic sure as heck makes it look 25 lbs if its an ounce.

Other then whats on this forum I haven't read any controversy. He probably realized that by thwoing it back he might forfeit the chance to claim the world record, it was his choice and as long as that beast is still swimming there is no harm done.

[Duffman]

I'm not saying he intentionally snagged it off the spawning bed, but he snagged it off the bed none the less. He saw both the male and female sitting there, and he thought one of them picked up the bait, hence setting the hook and snagging the bass.

[Bushwacker]

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. From reading the entire article it looks like there is still a chance that it might be considered the record. It sounds like there were plenty of witnesses and that the whole thing is documented on video.

Something else that I have thought about and would like to see some opinions on is did he do more harm to the fishery by releasing the fish than he would have by keeping it. I would think that people are lined up to fish Dixon lake in hopes of catching this fish. It is only a 70 acre impoundment. I would think it would create a frenzy of activity on the lake by the fact that the world record is swimming in it.

[Boedigheimer]

What a beast! I read about these guys in the book 'Sowbelly', which is a great book. One whole chapter is devoted to these three friends and there pursuing of the world record.

They are in the same league as Bob Crupi, Mike Long, and Kadota, true hawg-hunters, they are putting in hundreds of hours during peak times on lakes that are 'ripe' for huge bass. I don't think they would have got much satisfaction out of snagging the bass on purpose, although a 25lb. bass could suck in my computer monitor, GULP. We will definitely hear from these guys again.

As far as these lakes getting hammered, the California Park and Rec. dept. limits the number of boats on most of these lakes. Get the net, I got a 25 pounder!!!

[Slyster]

AMAZING. But.. as they say.. there's always a bigger fish. What are the odds that this was INDEED the largest LM bass on Earth... again.. there's always a bigger fish..

Congrats to the guy who caught and released the beast!

[BigSkyCatMan]

Dietz,

I think the scale that these guys had on board was a certified scale. Normal people don't carry a certified scale on board with them, but when you are a legendary HAWG Hunter like these three are, they probably had one. There should be no questioning this record in my opinion, if it was weighed on a certified scale! This is the type of guy that deserves this record. (a honest fisherman that has devoted most of his life to catching this world record largemouth). And I believe in the end, the IGFA will rule this fish the official world record.

One more thing, the largemouth that is pictured in the article on ESPN.Com isn't even the world record. That was a 21 lb'r caught by his best friend like five years ago, imagine what this one looks like!!

[Deitz Dittrich]

Thanks for the information Big Sky.

[RobertELee]

Hey Big Sky,

Read the story again. The fish that was caught is the same one from 5 years ago, its got the same markings on its side.

Anyways I agree with Boedig I am in the middle of reading "Sowbelly" and it is definitly worth reading. I had actually just finished the chapter on these guys when I heard about all of this. I really hope this fish is certified a world record, for some reason Perrys record just seems a little fishy to me.

[Guest]

picture of the fish

[Captain B.R.K]

I had read this a couple of days, WOW!

It was posted earlier that there are way to many "skeptics and naysayers" out there, but here we are the ones filling those shoes when we should be bugged out of our minds on such a size of a bass! Regardless if it be a world record or not, I think a catch like that is a HUGE accomplishment.

[Ihateriversnags]

First thing I would have done after catching a fish like that would be to soil myself. After that I would probably be like MIKE and do a little "fat man breakdance" on the front of my boat and holler at the top of my lungs until my vocal chords gave way. Then i'd take a few pictures and after that I woke up.