Not cheating.... But you wouldn't be on the same level as the guys in Cali who study the habits of monster bass religiously or the guys in Japan or even is Texas bass hunter who fish public lakes.

High fence debate exactly. At what point does it stop being fishing and just becomes catching, just as what point does it stop being hunting and just becomes killing.

If a person raised a 25# bass in a bathtub in his backyard, starved it for a couple days, and charges a 'fisherman' to stand next to the tub and drop a line in and catch the world record......is that fishing?

I love these analogies. Heck no that would not be fishing. As to the first part of your post. It definitely is a debate that will NEVER be settled. Folks love to cast stones at others for doing things differently than they do.

As for fishing versus "just catching", when you're dealing with pure Florida bass that are very sensitive to weather changes, I'll guarantee you it is fishing. I've been skunked at Camelot Bell plenty, and will be again.

As for the deer hunting, wild deer behind high fences can be much more difficult to locate and kill than their cousins on the outside. You're in their living room and they know it. Deer on the outside are more transient and travel into areas they are unfamiliar with. Further, almost every high-fenced ranch I have been on erected their fence for one of two reasons. 1. To produce the largest, most healthy deer possible while protecting the habitat through population control. 2. Bad neighbors.

In the end, do what you like and to heck with those who judge.

a world record pumpkin grown at a home garden would count as one grew in a comercial pumpkin farm? if he can do it id say its legit

And that's my point and question, Fouz. I know catching a bass out of a bathtub is not fishing, but at what point between private ponds built specifically for this purpose and the bathtub does it simply become catching. Or does it become 'canned' fishing.

I'm not drinkin' the Kool-Aid fouzman. Hunting high fences is like shooting fish in a barrel. High fences create bad neighbors and destroy natural habitat/game patterns. I wouldn't do it. If I wanted to kill cattle, I'd go back to the meat business. I would however, fish one of these lakes. At least you can put the bass back after you catch 'em. That said, to each his own.

We have a guy that lives by me that has a Pond maybe 15 acres or so, that has spent a lot of time and money and is catching 15 to 17 lb Fish several times a yr,, that is his Goal now to Break our state record of 18.24 (which was caught out of 255 arce lake) and then go for WR..

And I'm not selling any. Believe what you want and I agree, to each his own.

Hey toes, ever heard of TPWD's Managed Lands Deer Program? To be in it, you must carry fewer deer/acre than the habitat can support. This benefits all wildlife on the ranch. Everyone I know with fences is constantly looking for ways to improve their habitat, not destroy it. And most all high-fenced ranches are in the MLD program. The exception would be breeding operations. Those will destroy habitat.

I believe there are similarities to fishing in these lakes as compared to hunting in high fences. I believe that if it were me to catch a world record out of La Perla I would accept the record, but at the same time I don't think I would be quite as proud of it if it were to come from a public body of water. My reason for saying that is because my current PB is from a lake in Mexico and I am proud of it, but I would much rather it had come out of a lake that I fish often in Texas.

Remember Echo Lake? Its the little private lake that took over the state record for a short time.

We had that debate back then. No internet so it was face to face, usually at bass club meetings or while at a fishing tournament.

How big is Echo Lake and is it open to public fishing everyday of the week with an unlimited amount of boats?

I personally don't care where you fish or how much you spend to do it. What ever makes you happy then go for it. I would be ecstatic about catching a state/world record bass no matter where it came from. Who wouldn't? Maybe it would be kind of like baseball records with asteriks because of steroids and HGH. A record still, but with the understanding that the field wasn't exactly level. Would anyone question a record bass coming out of Fork, Amistad, Rayburn, Falcon etc.?? How much debate will there be if one is caught out of one of the managed, private small lakes?

Coach, Echo Lake is 175 acres and is not open to the public. Only landowners and their guests. John Alexander of Richardson broke the Private Waters State Record twice on that little lake back in the early eighties. Then came Earl Crawford and Pinkston. Then Mark Stevenson and Ethel, followed by Barry St. Clair with his 18.18.

Only one of Alexander's fish is still in the Top 50 and it's way down the list at 15.50

"As for the deer hunting, wild deer behind high fences can be much more difficult to locate and kill than their cousins on the outside. You're in their living room and they know it. Deer on the outside are more transient and travel into areas they are unfamiliar with."

Folks with high fence operations (most but not all) are bringing in the biggest genetically engineered buck they can afford which is not true of the wild open range herd. And if I find his 250pt offspring and miss, well he's still there on the 4,000 acres that has been fenced and I'll get him another day. Miss a 170pt buck in Kansas and he may come back to the same feed plot or he may go to the next county. If that buck travels to an area he is unfamiliar with it's most likely off your lease. Spin it any way you want but bagging a 200pt deer in open range is one thing, in a 4,000 acre high fenced ranch is entirely another just as a 16lb fish from fork is vs. one from the bell(and both can be Florid strain). No one is saying that La Perla or the Bell is doing anything wrong, nothing unlawful, just something that shouldn't be recognized as anything but private water record.

There would be unending debate. It would also spawn an explosion of private pond operations, trying to one-up that record. 25 years ago, you could hardly find a high fence operation. Look what happened when it became big business.

Anyone that thinks taking a fully guided 350+" elk off 1,000 acre high fence at 500 ft sea level is the same as taking one at 12,000 feet, self guided from 100,000 acre free roam property just isn't being honest with themselves, or simply uneducated in the level of difficulty.

If there are 2 bodies of water that hold an 18 lb bass, one that is 40 acres and one that is 28,000 acres, the odds of which body of water are more suitable for catching that fish is pretty easy to figure out. You simply can't argue mathematical advantages.