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