"Fake news"

I don't think the fished weighed over 20 myself. But, that's me.

I've often wondered how many 20 lb. plus bass have died from natural causes in Lake Fork and I truly believe there were/are 20 lb. bass in the lake. Like the 18 lb'er that was caught crappie fishing, these huge fish never come to shallow water and have never seen an artificial lure. They feed on crappie, bar fish and probably now on small sand bass. I think the chances are good that a new state record is munching on a crappie at this very moment.

I would not be surprised if you are correct. Manabu's bass was caught near a bridge piling. I would not be surprised if there was a behemoth that suspended during the day and the moved up on the 515 bridge pilings each night to feast on crappie.

Very good read. I'm now a non-believer in the current world record.

"When the legend becomes truth, print the legend." I love this line!

Interesting article. I am not convinced that the record is wrong but I'm not convinced that it's right either. The article brings up a lot of interesting facts but the overall theme is that many "facts" are assumed. Record keeping was certainly not what it is today, the lack of photographs is easy to explain (I personally think that the "bass" being held next to the young boy is actually some type of grouper or seabass.) and weights/measurements are questionable.

The most compelling argument in my mind is the how similar Perry's fish is to other "records" of the time. HW Ross purportedly caught a 23 pound 2 oz bass sometime between 1870 and 1889. The head of this fish was sent to Forest and Stream's headquarters (later bought by Field & Stream) in New York and the dimensions were documented. George Johnston Nicholls submitted a bass to Field & Stream in 1926 that weighed 24 pounds and was caught in Alabama. Finally, Fritz Joseph Friebel caught a 20 pound 2 oz bass in 1923 in Florida.

Here are reports of 4 fish that weigh within 4 pounds of each other, spread out over 62 years, caught by 4 men with no relation and in 3 states that all happen to border each other. Were all of these fish mis-identified, mis-measured or "mis-weighed" (made up my own word)? How can we determine 85-147 years after the fact which, if any, of these fish are legitimate? If we cannot make a determination on these 3, how can there be a firm determination on Perry's fish?

IMHO, I think that the base of the argument is "how likely is it that George Perry caught a 22 pound bass?" For that question, my answer is "How likely is it that anyone catches a 22 pound bass?" What was the probability of this fish being caught? What was the probability of Jed Dickerson catching Dottie? What is the probability that I will catch a 20 pound bass?

It's kind of a fun story to think about. Some days I'll think of things that convince me that Perry's record is legit. Other times I convince myself that it's not for various reasons. BUT, I don't think anyone will ever know for sure.

The fact that Perry's purported weight happens to be close to the max size of LMB does not create a compelling argument in my mind that it's real. Had Perry claimed a larger number, say 32 lbs, his fish would have been dismissed outright and we may have never even heard about it. Similar fates have awaited scores of other outlandish giant bass claims over the past hundred years. Without any real evidence we can't know whether Perry's claim has merit or he just happened to guess a top end weight better than the rest. At least that's how I look at that aspect of the story. As I mention in the article, my best guess is that Perry did in fact catch a big fish, maybe even in the upper teens, then intentionally or otherwise, he erroneously arrived at the weight that he did.