Evolutionary Relationships: The Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides) is the largest member of the Family Centrarchidae (The Sunfishes) which includes the Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus dolomieu), Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus), Pumpkinseed Sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus), and Black Crappie (Pomoxis nigromaculatus). This fish is not a true bass, in the biological sense.  Rather, its closest evolutionary relatives are sunfish, making it a large sunfish.  It has been called a “bass” because its physical and behavioral attributes appear similar to those of a true bass like the striped bass (Morone saxatilis) or black sea bass (Centropristis striata). 

Distribution: Largemouth bass live in almost any slow-moving or still body of freshwater (e.g., ponds, lakes, rivers, streams) in the continental US.  The ideal habitat for largemouth bass is shallow water with lots of structure and vegetation.

Feeding Habits:  The largemouth bass is predominantly a sit-and-wait ambush predator that frequents structure such as weeds, fallen trees, or rocks.  This fish will consume almost any organism that will fit into its large mouth.  It feeds on a variety of vertebrates (e.g., fishes, amphibians, rodents, birds) and invertebrates (e.g., insects, worms, crayfish).  Outside of the breeding season, larger fish tend to be more solitary.

Reproduction Biology:  Spawning occurs in the spring during which sexually mature fish stop feeding.  Males construct gravel nests in shallow water by fanning away mud and debris.  Largemouth bass are monogamous. After mating, the female leaves and the male guards the eggs.  The male aggressively guards his nest through hatching. After the fry reach a certain size, the male abandons the nest and resumes feeding.

US Fishing Interest: EXREMELY HIGH

The largemouth a bass is undoubtedly THE most prized freshwater gamefish in the US, and after being introduced to Asia, it is increasingly becoming popular there. From fishing tournaments to fishing tackle, the pursuit of this fish has enticed fishermen.  With more than about 60 million largemouth bass fishermen (recreational and professional combined) in the US today, this unedible fish has achieved the status of “most prized and popular among all gamefish.”

The World Record (TIED between 2 anglers):

I. George W. Perry with his world record largemouth bass of 22lb 4oz.

(Photo from http://www.mrlurebox.com/GeorgePerryBass.htm)

On June 2, 1932, George W. Perry caught a 22lb 4oz largemouth bass in Montgomery Lake, Georgia.  Witnesses say that the belly was “…as big as an inflated basketball.”  It has been over seven decades, and the record has yet to be broken in the US.

The story behind the catch and the eventual fate of this fish are even more telling.  Like any other Depression-era angler of the time, there was little concern for bragging rights when the 19-year old Perry caught the fish: “I had no idea how big the fish was, but that didn't matter…What had me worried was losing the lure. It was the only one we had between us.”  As a poor farmer, Perry discusses the catch as follows: “I knew I had a big fish – and I knew we needed some meat at the house.”  And with that, the fish was eaten with his family.  Ironically, the largemouth bass is considered unedible today because of its poor taste. Several decades ago, the concept of catch-and-release angling was popularized in a B.A.S.S. tournament, and now, this practice has become the norm for innumerable gamefish targeted by freshwater and saltwater fishermen worldwide.  (Quotes from Robbie Pavey in an article published in National Fishing Lure Magazine 2006).

II. Manabu Kurita with his world record largemouth bass of 22lb 4oz.

While George Perry’s record remains intact in the US, its position as the world record is shared with another. Manabu Kurita caught a 22lb 5 oz largemouth bass in Lake Biwa, Japan. Although it larger than Perry’s, it was officially considered a tie because of the standard error associated with weighing fish. Early reports say that the fish was caught with live bait. Kurita also caught an 18 lb 6 oz largemouth bass from Biwa Lake on a large swimbait.

Manabu's story as told by Ken Duke:

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(From: http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/news/story?page=b_BigBass_record_Japan_20090702)

A new world record? [July 2, 2009]

By Ken Duke
Senior Editor, BASS Publications

Seventy-seven years and counting. That's how long George Perry has sat atop the record books in the largemouth bass category, but he may be sharing his perch if a recently caught Japanese bass is as big as has been reported.

The story comes out of Lake Biwa in the Shiga Prefecture of Japan. The bass reportedly weighs 10.12 kilograms or a little less than 22 pounds, 5 ounces and measured 73.5 centimeters (nearly 29 inches). No girth measurements are available at this time.

Manabu Kurita, 32, is reportedly the fortunate angler. Early reports are that the fish was caught just before noon on July 2 on live bait (either a bluegill or a native fish similar to a bluegill). His rod was a Deps model (he is sponsored by the Japanese fishing tackle manufacturer), his reel was a Shimano Antares DC7 and his line was 25-pound-test Toray fluorocarbon.

A Japanese television clip featuring Kurita and his catch recently surfaced on YouTube.com. To see it, click ">here. At the time of the video, the fish was alive, but it is now reportedly dead and frozen. In the video, Kurita says, "I knew it was big fish, but I didn't think it was this big. I did not know if it was a new world record or not."

Kurita has experience with big bass. Last year he reportedly caught an 18 1/2-pound largemouth from Biwa on a large swimbait.

The video also notes that Kurita has been fishing for 18 years and will submit an application for world record recognition to the International Game Fish Association. If Kurita's catch holds up, it would be the biggest legally caught certified largemouth in history (Perry's fish weighed 22-4) ... and a tie with Perry's catch as the IGFA's all-tackle world record.

A tie? That's right. According to IGFA regulations for record fish weighing less than 25 pounds (such as all of the black bass subspecies), the replacement (record applicant) must weigh at least two ounces more than the existing record. The Japanese fish that is subject of such interest and inquiry today outweighs Perry's fish by less than an ounce.

"A catch which matches the weight of an existing record or exceeds the weight by less than the amount required to defeat the record will be considered a tie," according to the IGFA.

Lake Biwa is the largest lake in Japan, covering some 259 square miles, and is said to be one of the oldest lakes in the world. It is surrounded by mountains and renowned for its beauty and deep (more than 300 feet), crystal clear waters.

Biwa and its bass population have been in the news in recent years as Japanese officials work to ban and eliminate invasive (nonnative) species from the lake. In fact, the Lake Biwa Museum restaurant offers black bass as a menu item.

The previous Japanese bass record weighed 19.15 pounds and was caught by Kazuya Shimada from Lake Ikehara on April 22, 2003, on a swimbait.

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Historical Impact:

- Not surprisingly, Perry’s catch became a milestone for the state of Georgia.  In 1984, a historical marker was posted on the side of Georgia Highway 117 in Telfair County, the county in which his fish was caught.  It reads:

(Photo by Rob Pavey)

"Approximately two miles from this spot, on June 2, 1932 , George W. Perry, a 19-year old farm boy, caught what was to become America 's most famous fish. The twenty-two pound four ounce largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) exceeded the existing record by more than two pounds has retained the world record for more than fifty years. Perry and his friend, J.E. Page, were fishing in Montgomery Lake, a slough off the Ocmulgee River , not for trophies but to bring food to the table during those days of the great depression. The fish was caught on a Creek Chub Perch Scale Wigglefish, Perry's only lure, and was 32 1/2 inches in length and 28 1/2 inches in girth. The weight and measurements were taken, recorded and notarized in Helena, Georgia and Perry's only reward was seventy-five dollars in merchandise as first prize in Field and Stream Magazine's fishing contest. The longstanding record is one of the reasons that the largemouth bass was made Georgia's Official State Fish. Montgomery Lake is today part of the Department of Natural Resources' Horse Creek Wildlife Management Area.

134-4 GEORGIA HISTORIC MARKER 1984"

- From largemouth bass T-shirts to fishing lures, this fish has rocked the fishing world.  Bass fishing is a multi-billion dollar industry that has inspired the creation of customized lures, rods, reels, and even boats tailored specifically for this single species.

- The rise in popularity of fishing in general is probably the result of largemouth bass fishing alone.  Within the last decade, a media explosion has occurred.  Whether it is bass fishing video games, ESPN B.A.S.S. Fantasy Fishing forums, or the $500,000 grand prize on fishing’s grand stage the Bassmaster’s Classic, all have contributed to the ever increasing audience intrigued by the sport.

- Many have claimed that Perry’s record could never be broken in the US.  However, a 25lb 1 oz largemouth bass (unofficial weight) was caught in Dixon Lake, California by Mac Weakley on March 20, 2006.  The fish was named “Dottie” by local anglers. Unfortunately, the fish was foul-hooked and therefore was disqualified by the IGFA.  Not long after, Weakley, an advocate of catch-and-release, released the potential new world-record largemouth bass back into the lake from which it was caught.  Sadly, Dottie died on May 9, 2008 after spawning, and with her went the dream of breaking the world record, for now at least.

(Picture from http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/fishing)

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From http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/fishing/news/story?page=world_record_bass_dies:

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY: World-record class Dixon Lake bass "Dottie" dies and ends era for three old friends

By Kyle Carter
ESPNOutdoors.com

"You might want to come back down here," Dayberry told Dickerson at around 11:45 a.m. PT on Friday. "We just found Dottie floating on the north side of the lake."

There was a group of Rangers, including Dayberry, waiting for Dickerson on the dock, shaking their heads. Dickerson picked up the 19-pound dead bass and looked for the spot on her gills that had famously earned her the nickname "Dottie."

"Yup, that's her," Dickerson said. "It's over."

What Dickerson held represented almost a decade of commitment, putting him on a journey that labeled him, in certain people's eyes, as both a record holder and a fraud. It began with old friends Mac Weakley and Mike "Buddha" Winn and ended with new friend and former Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green.

This was the third time he'd held Dottie, and for the third time, it didn't accompany the title he wanted so badly — largemouth bass world-record holder. George Washington Perry's record mark of 22 pounds, 4 ounces, set on June 2, 1932, at Montgomery Lake in Georgia, dodged the biggest bullet of its nearly 76-year-old life on Friday, and Dickerson, Dottie's most devoted hunter, will finally get some rest.

"In my opinion, this is one of the greatest days in bass fishing history," said Dickerson, who had spent the week with National Geographic, working on a documentary on bass. "It's the end of an era and Perry's record lives on. I don't think anyone is ever going to break it."

Chasing Dottie

Dickerson, Weakley and Winn all grew up fishing together on Dixon Lake in Escondido, Calif., but they started their career hooking trout. Then one day they all watched as a guy stayed in one area all day, staring at one fish (sight fishing). Eventually he hooked a huge pregnant female and at the same time, hooked three kids on chasing bass.

But it wasn't until the late '90s that they realized their chase for big green bass would turn into a chase for the biggest green bass. A rumor and then a sighting of, at that point, a nameless, massive female bass, ended up defining their lives.

 [Tim Schick, ESPNOutdoors.com] Jed Dickerson loads Dottie into a bag for the Game and Fish Department. Dottie was put in a freezer to be examined later.

"We just think it's really bizarre — kind of like it was meant to be," Weakley said. "The three of us grew up in that area, and that's the lake we used to fish out of every day when we were 6- and 7-years-old.

"And it turns out there was a world-class bass swimming in that lake three miles from our houses."

They devoted every minute of their free time to catching Dottie, which they believed would be large enough to score them the most coveted and historic record in bass fishing.

Dickerson was the first to realize the dream in 2003, and he thought the record was officially broken when he picked her off a spawning bed. He said the three friends immediately weighed Dottie at around 23 pounds, but it took the Game and Fish three hours to get to the lake to verify it as a record. By that time, they said, it was stressed and had lost a lot of its weight.

She officially weighed 21 pounds, 11 ounces, which still holds as the fourth largest largemouth bass ever recorded. That's when they noticed the spot on the gill and declared the race for "Dottie" and the record officially on.

They didn't pull her in again until 2006 when they again spotted her on a spawning bed and Weakley went to work. He eventually was able to set the hook, but when he got her to the boat, they noticed she had been foul hooked (not hooked in the mouth). Against his friends' wishes, Weakley decided not to try and make the record official with the Game and Fish.

Before releasing her, they weighed Dottie at 25 pounds, 1 ounce, shattering the record, took some photos. Weakley said he wasn't prepared for the scrutiny that followed.

The three were pounded by the media with requests for interviews and scolded by some conservation agencies and even other anglers about the way they handled Dottie. They were told by many that they had all but buried Dottie and some anglers even reported finding her dead.

"After all the scrutiny we've taken over the fish, people can see the truth now," Weakley said after seeing Dottie for himself on Friday. "Even though the fish was foul hooked, which sucked, I think it was good because it showed what the fish was in her prime.

"If we hadn't caught her in between Jed's catch in 2003 and her death today, people might have thought she topped out at 21 pounds."

Weakley and Winn backed off from the hunt after 2006. Winn eventually took a job that moved him away from Dixon and Weakley felt like the deed was done. But Dickerson wasn't finished. He wanted to see Dottie officially go down in the record books.

"I looked at it like the final chapter in that book had closed, but Jed didn't see it that way," Weakley said. "He wanted to keep pursuing it and get the official record. I think it became a personal thing with him, while for me, I kind of felt like I had been there, done that."

Dickerson said it went beyond just wanting to see his name in the books. Because of the time invested he felt like Dottie was his (along with Weakley's and Winn's), and he didn't want any "one-time angler" to come to Dixon, a public lake, catch Dottie and claim the record. He wanted to make sure it stayed close to home. And, according to Dickerson, they were coming from all over the U.S., and even some from Japan to try and put their name above Perry's in the book.

Meeting Dennis Green

Dickerson didn't have any luck with Dottie in 2007, but he spotted her in Dixon three months ago, with the females in the early stages of the spawn. A few days later he met an unexpected new friend and business partner, Green.

[Tim Schick, ESPNOutdoors.com] Jed Dickerson and Mac Wheatley compare Dottie to her mounted self.

"I heard he was on the dock, but I didn't want to get into his business," Dickerson said. "But when I got back, I found out he was looking for me."

Green, who lives 45 minutes from Dixon in San Diego, said he knew Dickerson's story and thought he'd take his 9-year-old son Zach to check it out for himself. They struck up a quick friendship and Dickerson starting guiding for Green and Zach, both of whom love to fish.

"Talk about the biggest bass is always part legend and part myth," Green said. "Sometimes that giant bass doesn't really exist, but everyone talks about it."

A few days after that, Green and son Zach witnessed something he described as "unbelievably beautiful."

"When we saw her — it was just unbelievable," Green said. "She had two males swimming beside her — I called them her security guards — and she was more confident than any fish I've seen in my life.

"She was doing her thing, man. We think of a big fish as a fish that's lazy, but she was moving with a purpose."

Green was so enamored with the chase for the record and the mystique that followed it, he signed Dickerson on to be represented by his new business, Dennis Green Sports Marketing.

"Jed's a great fisherman and a great guide, and I think fishing is the future," he said.

Dickerson, balancing time with his job banking for a casino and his family, spent about eight hours a day, every day, looking for Dottie this spring, but the next time he saw her was when he held her on Friday.

Life after Dottie

He had all but given up hope of catching Dottie this spring when he got the call from Dayberry, but surprisingly, he said the first feeling he had after hearing Dottie had been found dead was relief.

"Now I won't wake up every morning, worrying that someone else was going to catch her," he said. "It's cost me an arm and a leg, and my family has been very, very understanding through this process.

"I'm just totally exhausted."

Weakley had a similar reaction. Tired of the scrutiny and attention, he was glad that the hunt was over and happy how it ended.

"I think it's great that she didn't end up in an aquarium or on somebody's table or on a mount," he said. "It's good to see that she lived her life out and came back to visit us one last time so people can really see just how big this fish is. And now we get to share her and let other people see her."

Green said he couldn't think of a better ending to Dottie's story. One of the most impressive bass in recorded history spawned one last time and passed away on Mother's Day weekend.

"Dottie was spawning just like a 3-pound fish," he said. "As a big fish, she still was into spawning. When they found her today, she was totally spawned out.

"She did what she had to do, and she did it on Mother's Day weekend. And her legend as the biggest fish ever goes on."

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- The widespread practice of catch-and-release in all of fishing owes its popularity to the largemouth bass fishing.  It was once thought that catching any fish on fishing tackle imparts so much stress that it could not survive. Several decades ago, catch-and-release was made a requirement in all BASS fishing tournaments.  The success of several decades of catch-and-release in bass fishing tournaments convincingly proves that release works.

Sources and further reading:

Rob Pavey’s (lure collector) website: http://www.mrlurebox.com/GeorgePerryBass.htm

ESPN Bassmaster Tournament Index: http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/tournaments/index