BIG largmouth bass.

[onecoyote]

I know the Worlds record comes from Georgia at 22.4, but where else do they catch such large bass and how close to the Worlds Record have they got?

[hardertr]

Here's Texas' top 50....  36 or the 50 are from Lake Fork.  I went there once and my buddy caught a nice 13 pounder.  The lake is pretty awsome structure wise.  It also gets VERY crowded on touney weekends.

http://www.ets-systems.com/lakefork/top50.htm

[onecoyote]

hardertr, 18.18 lbs is that the largest bass ever caught in Texas?

[hardertr]

yep....looks like it.  I just checked the Texas Parks and Wildlife records to verify.  The record still stands as of Jan 4th.

[onecoyote]

I've been surfing the internet about large Bass. Looks like California has a bunch of them 20 lbs and over.

One guy has two of them  20 lbs or better to his credit, that's unbelieveable.

I think the guys name is Crupi or something like that, one of his bass was 22.01. I don't recall ever reading about that fish, maybe it's not even true.

[Will]

Crupi's fish are very real. The next record bass will likely come from California. It has the right combination of Florida largemouth bass genetics, forage (much of which is stocked rainbow trout) and water conditions.

For interesting reading on the subject, take a look at the book "Sowbelly" by Monte Burke.

[onecoyote]

Will, seems this Crupi guy is the only man on the planet that's caught two 20+ lb bass. To make it even better, he's probably caught more bass over 10 and 15 lbs then any man on earth. Why is he not famous? From what I've read he caught all the fish out of one lake "Castic lake" and used crawdads. Next time I go to California I know where to go fishing lol.

[Will]

Some of those big-bass gurus have a reputation for being more than a little difficult to deal with. For a writer to make them famous, they have to be willing to give an interview.

I think Crupi sort of fell into that category. Sow Belly talks about his personality, as well as the personalities of all sorts of big-bass guys, quite a bit.

[onecoyote]

Interseting......he was a cop, what do you expect lol. :wink:

[rockbilly]

onecoyote.  I tournament fished for many years, and had the pleasure of fishing all over the south eastern part of the US as well as Texas and NM.  There are some very good bass in lakes fairly close to you.  Amistad, near Del Rio has produced several bass over 15lbs, Lake Ivey, near Winters, Tx is also showing it's face as a producer of large bass.  Within a 100 mile radius of Abilene, there are at least 10-15 bodies of water that hold 15-18 pound class bass.  

Based on what has been caught over the past 20-25 years, I firmly believe the next world record will either come out of Kalifornia or Mexico.

[onecoyote]

Howdy rockbilly, I don't really bass fish though I've caught a few in my life.
The way I count, I've been fishing for some 59 years mostly in the Pacific off of California and Baja.
I use to really enjoy trout fishing up in the Sierras and surf fishing the beaches of Baja, that can be some awesome fishing.
Tuna fishing can kick a mans butt, I've had my share of that kind of fishing too.

Back to the bass fishing. I'm with you on the big bass record, but I'm giving the edge to California only because of how many bass have come out of that state over 20 lbs.
Mexico and Texas could do it also, but I give Mexico the edge over Texas and we can't forget about Georgia or Florida.
Actually, I've just been trying to promote some interest on the subject of big bass. I find other peoples thoughts to be most interesting and if anyone has ever seen a bass over 20# it's site you'll never forget that's for sure. :wink:

[rockbilly]

onecoyte.  A couple of other places that may hold a record bass are Spain and Cuba.  The Flordia strain of black bass were stocked in the Ebro River systen in Spain back in the mid 50s.  I was stationed at Zaragoza AFB in the early 70s and fished almost every week-end.  At that time it wasn't uncommon to catch 75-100 fish over 5 pounds in a days fishing.  The largest I seen was caught by a spainard and weighed in at 6.8 kilos (2.2 lbs = 1 kilo).  The only thing that could hurt the fish growth is overpopulation.  Most of the folks fish for carp, pike or catfish.  (They have some monster cats, 100-125 lbs are fairly common)  B.A.S.S. has a tournament in Spain every year, there have been some good fish recorded.   I don't remember the name, but one lake in Cuba was know for producing 16-18 pound bass back in the 50s.  If they have not been all caught out, there may be a world record there.

Sometime when you are playing around on the computer type Caspe Spain in your search and see what comes up.  I had the pleasure of fishing with a group that included Ray Scott (B.A.S.S.)  when he visited there in '75-76.  The lake and weather made a good impression on him, it was about 20 degrees and the wind was blowing 40 MPH.  If I remember correctly, only one fish was caught.  There are three lakes in the Caspe chain, all are great bass lakes.

[onecoyote]

rockbilly, funny we was just talking about a new Worlds Record bass and guess what happen lol, a 25.01 monster from California.

[rg_1111]

I would say the next record will come from California,Texas or Mexico. Just my Opinion.

[1911crazy]

I'm in the northeast and i seen big bass all over the place(10lbs plus).  I have learned that these big ladies eat close to shore early in the mornings just before daybreak.  I fish from shore and i'm very stealthy when i walk up to the shore with my gear.  Put your gear down softly so no vibrations are sent into the water.  Then you need to be very quiet too.  The bigger ones spook very easily too.  I have caught big bass and seen other bigger bass swimming in with them.  Get yourself a pair of polarized glasses and scan the water while your fishing too they appear like ghosts and then there gone.  Trust me i find them in every body of water i fish in even the smaller places.  There big because there smart.

Get out there early like 3:30am and fish till dawn.  You will also see fresh water otters just before dawn too.  Checkout your topo map for channels, rocky points and droppoff's and fish there from shore.

[Foxxtrot]

I fished DVL in November and didn't catch anything in California. I did see some very large fish. Rent a boat for a day if you are out there ever and try it. Fish are really big. Look at the photos from the Marina.
http://forums.dvmarina.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album01


main page
http://www.dvlake.com/

marina
http://www.dvmarina.com/

[tc_victory]

Based on what has been caught over the past 20-25 years, I firmly believe the next world record will either come out of Kalifornia or Mexico.

I'm sorry, but is that two distinct areas or the same?

Anyway, I'm hoping this spring I will be making my move to OK from MN and begin to get serious about the big bass of the south. We actually have some of the best bass fishing in the country in MN for fish in the 2-4# range. There are days I've caught 20 bass in the morning that averaged 3-4#s with a strong 5+ or so in there. However, in just a few trips around the area I'm moving to I've caught a couple of fish that would surpass the 8# MN record. Tho our fishing is great, the potential for really big bass is limited by the 2' of winter ice I was fishing thru the other day for crappies.

Most in depth articles I've read on Mexico say the high water temps and short life of bass will probably limit the chances of a record. TX somewhat the same and also a lot of cross-breeding and not many true Florida strain fish available. Tho a record fish could turn up anywhere in the south I suppose, let's face it. The true Florida strain in the lakes in California that are being handfed a high protein trout diet are where it's going to happen. It already did and if the fish had bit instead of being snagged we'd have a new record.

[btmidwest]

I read recently that the huge 25lb bass (that had been caught several times over the years at progressively higher weights) at lake Dixon, a sixty acre lake in CA was found dead last spring '08.  I forget the guy's name that caught it but he runs in pretty tight circles and was reluctant to ever have things made official as it was only a sixty acre lake and was already being fished hard.  I enjoyed following the story of this fish for the short time I knew about it.  Evidently there was some distinctive markings in addition to it's size that allowed people to recognize it.  That is how the story went anyhow. Regards,  Bill

[DDZ]

George Perry's world record for largemouth, that he caught in Georgia's Montgomery lake in 1932 has been tied by a catch in Japan. Manabu Kurita caught the 22lb 4oz. bass on a live bluegill. It was 27.2 inches long and had a 26.7 inch girth. It took six months to be certified, but it now is official.
To bad the record was tied from Japan. In Japan the Largemouth is considered an invasive species, and not a sport fish.