WHEN A 36-YEAR-OLD Alabama insurance coverage agent named Ray Scott acted on his huge concept to raise a selected fish to celebrity standing in 1967, he set in movement a fervor that is still immediately. Bass is the species that launched an trade.
Scott’s idea for nationwide, big-money bass tournaments bloomed into the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, or B.A.S.S, a company that grew to greater than 600,000 members beneath his management. Throughout the practically 20 years that Scott ran high-profile tournaments and seminars across the nation, a multi-billion-dollar American trade emerged, centered on the unimaginable attract of touchdown huge bass. This obsession has additionally led to numerous fishing data being damaged as generations of anglers have tried to etch their identify within the historical past books by touchdown the largest bass ever caught.
Whereas smallies have diehard followers, the largemouth continues to be thought-about the most well-liked freshwater sport fish in America. It’s not robust to see why. Largemouth bass are aggressive, explode on baits and battle onerous, readily launching skyward from cowl with aerobatic energy and magnificence. Due to their overwhelming reputation, we’ve centered on largemouth bass data on this record of the largest bass ever caught, whereas leaving room for 2 of America’s different favourite bass species: smallmouth and striped bass.
Desk of Contents
The Attract of Large Bass Information
Anybody can luck into an enormous bass, however approach and information rely with regards to consistency. Understanding the water, the fish’s habits, its life cycles, and extra idiosyncrasies are key to coaxing lunkers to chunk. Bass are sensible. It has been confirmed that they be taught to keep away from lures that fooled them earlier than, therefore the necessity for innovation and angler versatility to trick fish, particularly in pressured waters. For example, many individuals consider Florida once they think about huge largemouth bass, however California reigns king within the document books. Crawfish and Castaic Lake appeared to go nicely collectively within the late Eighties and early ’90s. However as a substitute of touchdown on the right lure and placement mixture, that well-publicized dynamic duo hasn’t produced one other document bass since.
One other factor turns into obviously obvious as you research the data is that individuals should not be coming into their fish for consideration within the books. Simply have a look at the largest 11 largemouth bass in the International Gamefish Association record books. Many document classifications are vacant, together with three within the fly-fishing classes and the ladies’s 20-pound line-class document for standard deal with. (It’s onerous to consider no girl has caught a 10-plus-pound largemouth on a reel spooled with 20-pound line.)
Zack Bellapigna, IGFA’s angler recognition coordinator, explains that the company made a change a decade in the past, and now requires any bass thought-about for a document to weigh at the least one-half the burden of the road class.
“We had a number of small fish occupying document locations for heavy line class,” Bellapigna says. “This, then, retired a number of of the present line-class data on the time together with the 20-pound line-class document for largemouth. To set that document, an angler would want to land a 10-pound largemouth or higher on 20-pound-test line.”
A few of the fish at the moment listed as data, particularly within the girls’s line-class classes, are lightweights by largemouth requirements, seemingly begging for an angler to take a look at the prevailing data, spool up the suitable line, and hit the water.*
The Greatest Largemouth Bass Ever Caught
All-Deal with File: 22 kilos, 4 ounces
Two anglers are tied for the IGFA’s All Deal with File, every with a 22-pound, 4-ounce fish. The newer—and verifiable—is Manabu Kurita (above), who caught his bass in Japan’s Lake Biwa on July 2, 2009. Kurita was fishing with a dwell bluegill utilizing a Deps Sidewinder rod with a Shimano Antares baitcasting reel spooled with 25-pound line. His bass measured 27.20 inches lengthy with a 27-inch girth.
George W. Perry caught his fish on June 2, 1932, in Georgia’s Montgomery Lake. No particulars are recorded about his bass within the IGFA data, although there are many stories out there about it.
Males’s 16-Pound Line Class File: 22 Kilos
Robert Crupi holds the document within the 16-pound class along with his 22-pound largemouth caught March 12, 1991, in California’s Castaic Lake. The fish taped out at 27.75 inches lengthy and had a 28-inch girth. Crupi was wielding a Shimano Beastmaster rod and reel combo. The road spooled was 10-pound Trilene XT. The massive fish ate a crawfish that Crupi was casting.
Males’s 8-Pound Line Class File: 21 Kilos, 3 Ounces
Raymond Easley nails down the 8-pound line-class document with this huge 21-pound, 3-ounce fish caught March 4, 1980, in Oakview, California. This lunker additionally measured 27.75 inches lengthy with a barely smaller 26-inch girth. Easley was fishing with a Fenwick rod matched with an ABU Ambassadeur 5500 C reel spooled with 8-pound Stren line. He, too, was casting a crawfish (or crayfish, when you choose).
Males’s 12-Pound Line Class: 21 Kilos
Robert Crupi once more makes the document books on this fish he caught on March 9, 1990, in Castaic Lake, California, virtually a yr earlier than setting the 16-pound line-class document. This 21-pounder measured 27 inches lengthy and had a 28-inch girth. Crupi’s instruments for catching this fish included a Shimano Graphite rod, a Shimano Bantam 100 reel, and 12-pound Trilene XL line. He was casting—you guessed it—a crawfish.
Males’s 20-Pound Line Class File: 19 Kilos
Dan Kadota is the 20-pound line-class document holder with a 19-pound bass caught January 8, 1989, in California’s Castaic Lake. Kadota’s bass measured 27 inches lengthy and had a 27-inch girth. He was utilizing a Berkley Bionix rod matched with a Daiwa PMF 1000 reel spooled with 14-pound Trilene XT line. The bait—in case you have been questioning—yup, a crawfish.
Males’s 4-Pound Line Class: 17 Kilos, 1 Ounce
Robert Crupi and Castaic Lake present up once more, this time for a 17-pound, 1-ounce record fish caught December 28, 1990, on simply 4-pound line. This bass was 24.75 inches lengthy with a 26-inch girth. Crupi’s gear of alternative was a Shimano Speedmaster rod and a Shimano 1000 SM reel. His line was 2-pound Trilene XT. Right here’s the place issues lastly take a twist: He was jigging a crippled herring lure.
Male Junior File: 17 Kilos
Cody Pierce has a permanent male junior document along with his 17-pound bass caught March 22, 2000, in San Diego’s Murray Reservoir. Pierce’s bass was 28 inches lengthy; the girth wasn’t recorded. He was fishing with a Shimano Catana rod, Shimano Bantam Crestfire reel, and 10-pound Berkley Trilene. He was casting a soft-plastic worm when the large fish bit.
8-Pound Tippet (Fly Deal with): 16 Kilos, 12 Ounces
Larry Kurosaki has the excellence of getting the document e-book’s greatest fly-fishing lunker with a 16-pound, 12-ounce bass he caught on comparatively light-weight deal with. Kurosaki’s fish measured 24.50 inches with a 24-inch girth. He caught it on Feb. 26, 2009, in Castaic Lagoon in Castaic, California. He was utilizing a G. Loomis rod with a Bauer MZ3 reel. The road was 6-pound Maxima. He was pitching a Larry Minnow.
Males’s 6-Pound Line Class: 16 Kilos, 9 Ounces
Terry McAbee is the document holder within the 6-pound line class with a hefty 16-pound, 9-ounce largemouth caught March 18, 1998, in California’s Lake Isabella. This fish was 26 inches lengthy and had a 23-inch girth. McAbee was fishing with a G. Loomis rod paired with a Daiwa Regal 2 Zoot reel spooled with 6-pound Trilene line. The data point out he was fly fishing and casting a 6-inch R&R Stroker Worm 6. The document, nonetheless, is listed within the standard deal with line class listings.
Feminine Junior File: 15 Kilos, 12 Ounces
Mackenzie Ruth Hickox is the reigning document holder within the Feminine Junior Class with a 15-pound, 12-ounce largemouth she caught Might 8, 2006, whereas fishing in Spruce Creek close to Daytona Seaside, Florida. Her bass was 26.75 inches lengthy with a 22-inch girth. She was utilizing a Shakespeare rod and reel combo. The road model or measurement isn’t specified within the document books, however the data did observe that she was casting a strobe spinner. —Okay.P.
The Greatest Smallmouth Bass Ever Caught
All-Deal with File: 22 kilos, 4 ounces
The all-tackle world document for smallmouth bass has stood the check of time, and it’s been atop the IGFA document e-book for nearly 69 years. Caught by David Hayes in July 1955, that fish weighed 11 kilos 15 ounces. Hayes caught his record-breaking smallie from Dale Hole Lake, which straddles the Tennessee and Kentucky state line.
Learn Subsequent: A Guide to Largemouth Bass vs Smallmouth Bass
Hayes’ world document hasn’t been without controversy, and the entry was briefly rescinded by the IGFA through the Nineteen Nineties after somebody claimed that the fish had been tampered with. An investigation revealed this declare to be unfaithful, and the group reinstated Hayes’ document in 2005.
The Greatest Striped Bass Ever Caught
All-Deal with File: 81 kilos, 14 ounces
Connecticut angler Greg Myerson holds the all-tackle world document for the largest striped bass ever caught. It weighed 81 kilos 14 ounces, and Myerson caught the striper in 2011 whereas fishing off the coast of Westbrook. The fish ate a dwell eel, and it took Myerson greater than quarter-hour to land it. When he lastly did get fish to the online, he toppled a document that had stood for practically 30 years.
*Be aware that the road measurement listed within the entries won’t match the road measurement related to the document. The IGFA sends away line samples related to potential data for testing at their “moist break” power. For instance, line that’s labeled as 2-pound won’t break till greater than 3 kilos of stress is utilized. That may make the catch ineligible for the 2-pound line-class document however may enable for it to assert the 4-pound document. —D.C.
FAQs
Briefly, we don’t. It’s potential that greater bass have been caught however by no means recorded through the years. The above record contains the largest bass that have been caught on a rod-and-reel and authorized by the International Game Fish Association. These are fish caught by only one angler, who adopted all of the universally-agreed upon fishing rules, and who took the time to submit their catches to the group for record-book consideration.
The all-tackle world document for largemouth bass is arguably essentially the most coveted fishing document on the earth, and the present IGFA world document is definitely a tie between two fish. Each bass weighed 22 kilos, 4 ounces. The primary world document was caught by George Perry in Georgia’s Montgomery Lake in 1932. The newer world document was caught from a lake in Japan by Manabu Kurita in 2009.
Large bass are caught by anglers all all over the world. For those who have been to zoom in on North America, a number of the greatest freshwater bass ever caught have come from southern states like Florida and Texas. Some big largemouth bass have been caught from California lakes as nicely. However these freshwater fish don’t develop practically as giant as striped bass, which will be present in saltwater environments up and down the East Coast. —D.C.
Closing Ideas
There’s one thing about big bass that captivates fishermen all all over the world, and lots of anglers dream about hooking and touchdown the largest bass ever caught. Some have achieved this purpose by catching the biggest of anyone species and getting their catch licensed by the IGFA. Others are nonetheless attempting, and they are going to be for a while.