WR Bass Hunt - Is this dude for real?

He set up a go fund me page to "catch the world record bass." Far be it from me to crush someone's dream, but this guy is either in it for laughs, insanely naïve, or just a downright tool. People have apparently already donated thousands of dollars.

Idiot wanting some else to buy his equipment.

Very interesting. He has caught a 9.3lber so still a ways to go but has passed me!

most folks work to make their dreams come true others would like you to work an send them money so thiers can.

Using the enabling society to get what he wants

The idiots are the ones sending this fool money.

Tool, and everyone contributing to this is a tool. We are all after the world record fish, but I don't expect anyone to fund my hobby.

An interesting question this raises in my mind is, could the world record be bought? Said another way, if you had unlimited funds and a willingness to spend it, could a person have a reasonable expectation of being able to catch the world record? I think the answer is still no. Probably could buy your way into an upper teener though with some dedication.

Time will tell; but so far, no. It would be fun to try.

Growing a world record bass and then catching it involves countless genetic, environmental, and conditional variables.
The odds would make spending money on a powerball ticket look like a sound investment.

I think Camelot bell will do it.

Tecomate is hard at it too.

Several of these guys have been trying for a lot of years with vast sums of personal money invested simply because they love bass fishing and have a desire to see what's possible. I hope they do it. It's far more difficult than most could imagine. Growing a WR fish is tough, then even if you do grow it you can never really be sure you have... Then the hard part starts. You've got to get that fish to bite a lure.

She is swimming in one of the Camelot Belle lakes right now... if ole boy was smart he's use his money raised to fish with Mike as many times as possible!

OK so there is this question for those that don't know. Isn't the Bells biggest fish in the mid-teens? It is a special fishery but like Lake Fork, Caddo and others we are a ways from the record.

If you sit down with the owner of the Belle he can tell you stories of having the record on more than once.. sure everyone has a fish story, but I believe him whole heartedly. Just because she is in there doesn't mean she can be tricked into biting a lure.

Tried this myself a few years back , but only raised a little over 73 bucks. At that time I did however get to within 12 lbs of breaking the record. Thanks to you that sent money all 4 of you and I thought WWW. would reach millions. JK

Mike has learned a lot about growing big fish through trial and error with Camelot Bell. The biggest fish caught from that lake is 16 lbs. however, he had one in his big aquarium that he released that weighed a tad over 17lbs.

His new lake, "The Wolf Pack" lake is where it will happen, if it does. Same genetics. 74 double digit females and a few select males between 5 and 7 pounds and the offspring in that lake are unbelievable. 10 month old fish were weighing over three + pounds. There are fish in there now that are 15 months old weighing over six pounds. Simply astonishing growth rates. Will he grow one over 22.25? If it can be done in Texas, I wouldn't bet against Mike or Dr. Schwarz (Jalisco Lake). They have the means and the desire to do so.

Most are saying idiot. I'm going with genius.

Here is to hoping that a record fish comes from TX.

Over 6 pounds in 15 months is unbelievable. That's packing on the weight QUICK.

There is nothing that would make me prouder than for ANY TEXAS lake to produce a WR Bass. Props to Mike Frazier and Gary Schwartz for their efforts thus far. They will most likely get closer than anyone else in Texas.

Just to be clear a 17 pound bass is a WORLD AWAY from a world record bass however.

He's for real.

Talk about timing. I was just going to make a post asking if anyone had any updates on Camelot Bell or Jalisco. I dug around but couldn't find any recent stuff. Those growth rates are sick. I'm used to slow growing northern strains.

It was done, a new WR fish was caught out of one of the Calif. lakes about 5 or 6 years ago, BUT, she was caught outside the mouth and didn't count. May have been longer ago than that, but she weighed over 23+ lbs. Didn't get a true weight, because he had to release her, but he took her into the marina to weigh her. Said eh would be back the next day to try to catch her, she probably died, because he never saw her again, or if he did, it was only once. Califruitia has a rule that all fish or game fish, must be caught in the mouth, and he didn't do it, so talk about heart break. Go look it up on BASSMASTER Mag. They ran a story about it. YEAH, wish I could get someone to fund my hobby, THAT would be great, but ain't gonna do it, cause that would be stealing money from stupid people. Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

It died

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/newshound/2008/05/legendary-25-pound-bass-goes-belly

I didn't know about the rule. Maybe his personal ethics played a bigger part.

That's almost half of America and growing by the Day!

The famous Dottie. I fished that lake last fall on vacation. Hard to imagine a 25lber came from about a 60 acre lake with part of it closed off to boats. I was hoping to find some of her offspring but didn't manage any hawgs.

Wait, so you guys would count a WR from a private lake coddled to 23 pounds?

Thats as bad as a pen raised deer.

Personally, I wouldn't.

I want a 75K Ranger Intracoastal. You think these people could pony-up for that???? I'm worthy!

If you grow a WR in a fish tank It doesnt count!!!!

Grow one and we'll see.

My feelings exactly.

The way I read the fishing regulations here, it is not a legally caught fish if hooked outside the mouth.


http://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoo...evices-for-fish
Pole and Line

A line with hook, attached to a pole (includes rod and reel)

May be used to take GAME AND NONGAME fish.
It is unlawful to use a pole and line to take or attempt to take fish by foul-hooking, snagging, or jerking. A fish is foul-hooked when caught by a hook in an area other than the fish's mouth.

Would you have counted Dottie, the fish caught in CA as the WR? Lake Dixon, the lake she was caught in, is scarcely any bigger than Camelot Bell. If you think Dottie wasn't coddled you'd be mistaken there as well. Dixon was stocked incessantly with pen raised trout too stupid to know they had been released into a lions den. Many of these big fish in CA feed within seconds of these fatty fish being released into the water!

I make no illusions that a public water DD is more difficult to catch than most private water fish. That said there is virtually no correlation to high fence hunting. You can't see these fish. They live in three dimensional space. And unlike a deer a bass can choose not to eat the bullet. CB and others like her are no guarantee, those fish can choose not to cooperate and they regularly do.

Since the beginning of bass fishing, someone has been trying to raise a WR bass. Nobody has even come close. Do you guys seriously think that all you have to do is dig a hole and stock it with bass and feed them until they hit 23 pounds??

The analogy of shooting a deer (or any other animal) in a high fenced area to catching a fish always comes up when folks start talking about really really big bass. This is Apples and Oranges guys.

We take clients to high fenced ranches every year so they can shoot a trophy axis or black buck. The stupid deer come running to the truck we are in as soon as they see it. It is the same truck used to pull the feed trailer. The last time we went the guide kept having to move the truck back away from the herd to make it feel more like a sport. These are canned hunts.

If you think going to a private lake like Cam Bell or La Perla is like that you are sadly mistaken. There have been many skilled anglers get skunked at CB. It is a poor comparison of the two.

The real comparison is this. The secret to catching a 20lb bas is too fold. One it has to exist in TX., and second you have to get over it. A 20lb fish in Fork or any other large body of water is going to be real hard to get over. Size of lake etc. A 20 if it existed in the bell would have fisherman over it every day. So the odds of catching it are way far higher than on a large lake and to me it should not be considered for state or national records. This also is the reason some use the high fence argument since the fish is fenced in a very small area. You will never convince me it is an equal venture to catch a magnum fish in fork or any other impoundment vs a small pond full of biggins.

I think the next WR will come from private waters and caught on live bait. I don't agree with that I don't think it should count if its caught like that.

As previously stated, I definitely agree catching a WR on public water would be a greater accomplishment. That said, nobody complained about Dottie on Dixon and if anything that lake is easier to fish than Bell. Dixon has clear water. It's nearly impossible to sight fish Bell. Just how large does the body of water have to be before you guys count it as a WR? 1 acre 10? 100? 1000? Just how "public" does it have to be? Dixon was in theory public, but I can assure that if you showed up at sun rise back in 2005 you weren't getting on that lake. In a lot of ways Bell is more public than Dixon. If you want on Bell it'll cost you, but you can do it, just about any time.

My whole point here is there are lots of shades of grey on this whole thing. I suspect we will see a new WR in our lifetimes, and whoever catches her is going to catch a lifetime of hell along with the fish. No matter how it's done there will be a cloud of naysayers buzzing his head for one of a million different reasons. I'd still volunteer to be that guy though. Tight lines gents!

That's not just a state by state rule. The IGFA won't certify a record that was snagged.

The angler hours spent on Fork and on Camelot Bell probably even that equation out a bit, Chet. There aren't anglers on CB every day like there are on Fork, so the odds of someone getting over a giant on Fork probably aren't as long as you may think. Getting her to bite an artificial lure may be next to impossible though, due to pressure. Camelot Bell fish aren't very easy to catch either. I've been skunked there or had very poor days numerous times. There have been a few darned good pros fish the lake repeatedly and I don't think any of them have caught a fish over 12 or 13 lbs.

I will agree with you though that a private waters fish will never be considered a "World Record" buy the IGFA, nor should it be. As for Texas, we have both public and private water state records. It's conceivable that one day Texas' private waters state record could be larger than the public waters record of 18.18.

As for the sense of accomplishment for one versus the other, I'll leave that debate to those who care.

figures people would donate to something like this, when I have a dear friend who cant work because he is waiting for a heart transplant in Houston, so far our gofund has raised a little over a grand, but these guys are just kicking it I guess.
Go figure

Big part of a free society , people can give to anything no matter how useful or useless the cause may be

Yep

I guess I should have just been raising bass all these years

What counts or doesn't count is so convoluted that at this point anybody's opinion is as good as another.
I fish for my own personal goals, so that's what matters to me.
I chuckle at all the parameters some people make for this catch matters more because of this factor, etc. If you caught a big bass with a guide or on live bait or in a small lake or out of State or on heavy tackle or not in a tourney or not on fluoro or on a spawning bed or not native or trout fed it just doesn't count, or it counts a little more or a little less. That's what fans do, not the actual people that play the game.
Just my 2 cents, with all due respect.
Happy fishing guys.

Back in the 80's before the internet when you had to read paper. a guy ran an add in the back of a biker magazine that he wreaked his bike and had no insurance and was looking for donations.