Lots. One of the more well known is Porter Hall who's trying to do it in Mississippi. There's a whole chapter on him in Sowbelly. He started out as a regular on Castaic and ended up getting obsessed with the record and divorced his wife, bought some land with a lake. Built a shack, drained the lake and started over with all pure Floridas. He's gone as far as having the state dump 2000 trout in it, juvenille carp and taking out any males he finds on beds in the spring to eliminate competition for food.

Yep, bath-tubs by comparison. Bet the Japanese guy wasn't crappie fishin' when he caught his though....

good read, i actually read it again 4 the 3rd time today

What you all hatin on Texas for lol? You have a good taste in Cigars, but you are starting to worry me if you are a secret Californian.

No hatin' - just love to rib a few bass fishers. I'm sure Fork has a big fish or two in it and they've both found a deep hole that doesn't have 42 bass boats buzzing overhead per hour - how many deep holes like that can there be to check out?

Bet you could bait 3 maybe 4 trotlines with that bass the Jap guy caught if you cut it up - LOL

Why does everyone think if a fish is HUGE it has to be in 130 foot of water? I'm no expert or anything like that, but Florida has produced some huge fish (2 in the top 25) and some of those lakes don't have spots deeper than 15 foot. One would think the big fish would be where the big forage is...sorry but I haven't ever run over the burrow pits at the dam and found giant schools of shad or anything. lol

I'm confused.

+1.. i think that would all depend on season, and temp...Even huge bass won't be under the thermocline in summer....

The big fish out here dont necessarily live in the deeo water but they are always next to it. It gives them security.
I would also like to point out that even though our tiny lakes have produced some monsters they are almost always caught durring the spawn. Its our bigger lakes like Castaic that people catch them durring other times of the year. In general our Tiny lakes like Dixon and Poway and Jennings all have a couple of monsters in them but they are way to smart to get caught. They see baits every day the lakes are open. The bigger lakes are easier to catch big fish. Maybe this is why the tiny lakes grow giants because outside of the spawn they are almost uncatchable.
Tx definatley has a chance to produce a monster but I dont know if you have any yet. Tilapia are very high on the protien list so I would think lakes with Tilapia would be your best bet.
I also totaly agree with Cameron. I think most of the giant 20lbers that have been caught do not stay that heavy all year. Its a small window of a couple months and a very old fish.

It occurs to me that Cali and Japan might have more temperate climates that the big T. I bet their surface temps don't range from the 30's to 100+ in a year. Just a thought.

I thought this thing was a hoax but now I'm wondering?

look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXOyXArL9rw

and it is illegal in Japan to throw them back!! Man I wonder how many sponsors would jump forward for the sharelunker program if we started pulling those out.

Yep, talapia. Plenty of them in 2500 acre Fairfield Lake which produces a 365-day growing season (power plant cooling lake) and has only yielded a bass no heavier than 13.01 lbs. (back in 1987). Could be the invasive redfish (lake record 36-lbs) they stock in there that are eating the LM offspring.

Cameron, as long as people have a mental block about deep water (15-feet is deep water during the spawn) and sit their boat over 15-feet of water to pitch a bait at a bass nesting in 2-foot, who knows? Does Fork ever pull water out during the spawn? If they do, then shame on them for driving fish a little deeper during the spawn. It's NOT a given that all bass are going to choose shallow water to spawn in. And I doubt very seriously that you'll find a bass (or any fish) in 130-foot of water.

I don't fish for bass and I don't pretend to know about bass fishing. The point is to ask yourself the kind of questions that go against the grain of what everybody thinks a big bass is going to follow the procedure you have set in your head. What's an 18.18-lb. bass doing in 40+ foot of water (Barry St. Clair's record)? Anybody tried going down there to the deeper water at that time of year and slow rolled a big crappie colored swim bait in 40-feet of water? I doubt it - they're up throwing creatures in less than 10-foot HOPING for a big bite.

I used to with work a guy who made 1/8th oz hair jigs on 4/0 gamakatsu jig hooks. He'd really play out bar fish for using 15lb test and bass gear.

'Zactly, Jay. If a few bass fishers could invest the same amount of time on the deeper water in the winter months they spend pounding the shoreline structure, it could happen. Sure, they are going to come up empty or catch a double digit once in awhile but all it takes is for that one big fish to be there and hungry and they make history!

WOW! I think I just talked myself into doing it this coming winter - wouldn't THAT be the shitzit - non-basser catches new state record and world record! Move over, Barry! LOL

That's probably the reason we don't have 20+ lb bass in Texas.

The summers are too hot, and the winters are cold.

Cali and Japan have a more more tolerate water temps year around....