George Perry's record is officially tied!!

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/live/kyte?uri=channels/344673/747021DANIA BEACH, Fla. � The most sought after record in all of fishing has been broken ... almost. Technically, Manabu Kurita's 22-pound, 4.97-ounce largemouth bass from Japan's Lake Biwa is now tied with a bass nearly 1 ounce lighter caught more than 77 years ago in rural Georgia.

The International Game Fish Association has officially certified and approved Kurita's application for record status a little more than six months after the catch. IGFA's regulations require that a record fish weighing less than 25 pounds be surpassed by two ounces or more.

On July 2, 2009, the angling world was stunned to learn of Kurita's catch. Few realized that Japan could produce such large bass, and experts universally considered California to be the most likely location for a new record.


[+] EnlargeCourtesy of IGFA
Manabu Kurita's World All-Tackle application has been approved by officials at the International Game Fish Association's (IGFA) headquarters.In establishing the new record, IGFA representatives worked closely with their sister organization, the Japanese Game Fish Association, to examine Kurita's application and investigate allegations that the fish was caught in an off-limits area. (It was not.) More recently, IGFA coordinated a polygraph examination of the angler regarding the circumstances of his catch. Kurita passed.

"It was an extremely clean and thorough application," said Jason Schratwieser, conservation director of IGFA. "We simply wanted to do our due diligence. A great many anglers are interested in this record. It's the Holy Grail of freshwater fishing."

The largemouth bass is one of the world's most widely distributed freshwater fish. Though native only to the eastern United States, it has been transplanted to every state except Alaska as well as to parts of Central and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Largemouth World Record Announcement
Watch the announcement Manabu Kurita's record claim Check out the new Big Bass homepage!
The previous record largemouth was caught by George W. Perry from Montgomery Lake in Georgia in 1932. At more than 77 years, it was one of the longest standing records in the IGFA books. Many experts speculate that a record largemouth will be worth more than $1 million in endorsements and appearance fees to the angler fortunate enough to catch it.

TIED, well kiss my sister.

Attaboy for George Perry. One heck of a fish for both anglers.

O.K. I'll kick off by stating that I won't be staying at OR or MB until these punks are caught and/or the thefts stop.

FZ1 I think you posted on the wrong site.

lol

That sucks. It was a legitimate weight whereas GP's was a magazine artical. There are no postivive pics or anything of GP's bass. At the time GP caught the "WRB" no Fl. strains were in GA, so it would have had to be a Northern strain--a 22lb northern strain?

I officialy declare Kuritas fish THE World Record!

There is little doubt (if any) that this fish really does exist and what it weighed, but Perrys fish on the other hand......there is PLENTY of doubt!

...?

That is an awfully big leap to not stay at someones motel, just because of a record fish being caught! LOL

I still think there is something fishy about the story OR there was something misinterpreted during the interview and the time spent by the BASS guy that went to Japan to fish with the guy. The article said that when someone told him that it might be a world record that he was surprised because he thought the world record must be in excess of 30 pounds. The article also states the in one year he spent $40,000 training large bass to feed by pulling up an idling his engine up and slapping the water with his hand and then throwing out baitfish that cost $10 each. How can you be that obsessed with catching huge bass and NOT know what the current World Record is? That just struck me as odd. Not trying to take anything away from the guy and from what I read, I'd be willing to bet he catches an even bigger one within the next two years. Just thought it really odd. Perhaps an error during translation.

From what I have read he assumed that the world record was over 30lbs because he has seen several that would go over 30...seing a 30 lb bass would probably make me pass out and fall into the water and drown.

Jason

Manabu was quoted saying that it did not matter if the fish was a world record or not, that he was sure he would catch a bigger fish next season. According to the article he claimed to have seen schools of bass in excess of 20 lbs and fish that would go 30. Evidently the water on the lake is so clear he can see these fish and looks for them before he decides to actually fish for them. Kinda like stalking game.

Ok im no expert and correct me if im wrong. It says the record was tied, then states it was nearly an ounce lighter. So do they not count ounces then? If they do then that ain't no tie. Either way thats still a big ol'bass. Still not a tie though. Oops, barey noticed he said "almost"..nevermind