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New Potential World Record Largemouth Caught In Japanese Lake

 

See the fish on video on YouTube!

 

by Dan Bacher, editor of the FishSniffer

July 24. 2009 -- For the past 20 years, anglers and fishery biologists have been expecting the next world record largemouth bass to come out of a California lake. However, Manabu Kurita surprised bass fishermen everywhere when he nailed a new potential world record 22 lb. 5 oz. largemouth in a Japanese lake on Thursday, July 2.


Kurita caught the 29.4 inch bucketmouth while fishing Lake Biwa, a lake known for its large bass. He claimed to have weighed it on a certified scale, a prerequisite for having a fish recognized as a line class or all tackle record.
"I knew it was a big fish, but I didn't think it was this big,” said Kurita in a Japanese television clip featured on You.Tube.com. “I did not know if it was a new world record or not."   


If the weight and catch are certified by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA), it will be considered a tie with George Perry's 22 pound, 4 ounce all tackle record bass, since IGFA rules requires that a fish under 25 pounds has to outweigh by 2 ounces the previous record to become a new world record. This is done because of the minor variations in scales, according to Jason Schratwieser, conservation director of the IGFA.
Perry set the world bass record on June 2, 1932 while using a Creek Chub Fintail Shiner on Montgomery Lake in Telfair County, Georgia. He cleaned and ate the fish and it wasn’t until 2006 that a photo of the fish finally surfaced. The world record largemouth record has been one of the most longest held – and most coveted – gamefish records in world angling history.

 
Of the 25 top largemouth ever caught, 22 came from California lakes. Bob Crupi caught the second biggest largemouth recognized by the IGFA, a 22 lb. .5 oz. fish caught and released at Castaic Lake in southern California on March 12, 1991.    


Schratwieser said at press time that the association hadn’t received the paperwork yet required to certify the fish as an all tackle world record. “I’ve seen a few photos of the fish, but we can’t really comment on the fish yet until we receive the paperwork,” he said.


“I was surprised that a fish of this size was caught in Japan,” Schratwieser noted. “I thought that the next world record would probably come from California.”


To qualify for the world record, Kurita will have to fill out an application, accompanied by good photos of the fish, the rod and reel he caught it on and the certified scale that he weighed it with. In addition, he needs to submit a sample of the line it was caught on.


“We will also advise Kurita to provide detailed testimony of his battle with the fish and contacts of witnesses to his catch,” he stated.
Kurita apparently caught the fish on live bait, either a bluegill or native fish, just before noon, reported Ken Duke, Senior Editor for BASS Publications, in an article on http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster. He used a Deps rod outfitted with a Shimano Antares DC7 reel filled with 25 lb. test Toray fluorocarbon line


“At the time of the video, the fish was alive, but it is now reportedly dead and frozen,” commented Duke. “Kurita has experience with big bass. Last year he reportedly caught an 18 1/2-pound largemouth from Biwa on a large swimbait.”


If the weight of the fish is confirmed, it wouldn't be the first bass to best George Perry's record fish. Mac Weakley on March 20, 2006 caught and released a 25.1 lb. largemouth in Dixon Lake in southern California.   
His fishing partners, Mike Winn and Jed Dickerson, weighed the fish on a hand-held digital scale. Unfortunately, Weakley foul-hooked the fish, so it didn’t qualify as a new world record. 

   
Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, covering over 259 square miles. The clear water lake is over 300 feet deep. Lake Biwa is of tectonic origin and is one of the world's oldest twenty lakes, dating to almost 4 million years ago.

 
“This long uninterrupted age has allowed for a notably diverse ecosystem to evolve in the lake,” according to Wikipedia. “Naturalists have documented about 1100 kinds of living things in the lake, including 58 species found nowhere else on earth. Lake Biwa is also an important place for water birds.”
Besides largemouth bass, bluegill sunfish are also found in the lake. Largemouth bass were introduced into Japan from California in 1925 – and now thrive in many lakes, ponds and streams throughout the country. Bluegill were presented to the Emperor and later freed in the lake as a food source for other fish.  


The lake includes a diversity of fish habitat, ranging from deep water and rocky shorelines in its upper stretches to shallow grassy waters in its lower reaches.

  
Lake Biwa’s rich ecosystem is known for producing huge bass. Although highly prized by recreational anglers in Japan, many of the commercial fishermen who ply the lakes consider the fish an “invasive” species.
“In recent years Japanese officials have reacted to concerns by commercial fishermen there and tried to eliminate invasive species from Biwa, and black bass, or largemouth bass, are on that list of invasives,” reported www.delawaretrophybass.com. “An unconfirmed report indicates that a 25-pound largemouth bass may have been netted by one of the commercial fishermen. The Lake Biwa Museum Restaurant serves largemouth bass on its menu.”


Besides tying with the all tackle world record, the fish would eclipse the Japanese record of 19.15 pounds caught on a swimbait by Kazuya Shimada from Lake Ikehara on April 22, 2003.  

 
Northern California anglers were very impressed with the catch –and were puzzled that some in Japan would call the fish an “invasive” species and call for its elimination.

 
“Some may call it an invasive species, but the bass was legally and strategically introduced to Biwa and other lakes in Japan,” said Robert Johnson, Jr., Delta black bass and striper fly fishing enthusiast and founder of Californians Against the Canal. “Bass bring millions of dollars into the Japanese economy just like they do here in the United States.”
Interesting Note: Lake Biwa is located in Shiga Prefecture of west-central Honshu, northeast of the former capital city of Kyoto. Because of its proximity to the ancient capital, references to Lake Biwa appear frequently in Japanese literature, particularly in poetry and in historical accounts of battles.