Submitted by . (ip 65.1.125.81)

Date Fished: 3/9/2005
Water Clarity: 0

I just found this on POND BOSS.Com. Anyone heard about a new world record?

Report of 22-pound bass caught at Clear Lake

By Terry Knight -- Record-Bee outdoors writer

LAKE COUNTY -- The Record-Bee received an unconfirmed report late Tuesday afternoon that a 22-pound, 7-ounce largemouth bass was caught on Clear Lake by an angler prefishing for the FLW EverStart tournament that is scheduled to start today.

If the report turns out to be true, the fish will set a new world record and shatter the existing Clear Lake record of 17.52 pounds.

The current world record for largemouth bass is 22 pounds, 4 ounces. That fish was caught by George W. Perry back in 1932 at Montgomery Lake in Georgia. To be certified as a world record and meet the International Game Fish Association standards, the fish allegedly caught on Clear Lake must be weighed on a certified scale, the big fish must be witnessed by at least two other people, and the fish must be certified as the correct species (largemouth bass) by a representative of the Department of Fish and Game.

A check with DFG game warden Lynette Reynolds on Tuesday evening revealed that she had not been contacted by anyone to certify the bass. Attempts by the Record-Bee to obtain the angler's name also were unsuccessful.

If a fisherman were to catch a world record largemouth bass, either on Clear Lake or anywhere else, the fish could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in endorsement money alone from the likes of tackle manufacturers.

In fact, one tackle manufacturer has offered $1 million to the fisherman who catches a world record if the fish was caught on a fishing rod made by that manufacturer.

Lake County would also receive a tremendous amount of publicity if a world record fish was caught at Clear Lake.

There have been false reports in the past, however. Within the past two years there were two occasions when fishermen claimed they had caught a world record bass out of Spring Lake in Santa Rosa. Both fish were disqualified because the proper procedures weren't followed to certify the fish.

The Clear Lake record of 17.52 pounds was established in 1990 by Jerry Basgal of Clearlake Oaks. Two years later commercial fishermen operating at the lake reported catching and releasing a 25-pound bass.

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