Growing a World Record Bass
The world record for the largemouth bass is 22 pounds, 4 ounces caught by George W. Perry on June 2, 1932, from Montgomery Lake Georgia. This record has stood for 70 years even though every southern state and California have done their best to grow a new world's record. The Texas state record bass weighed in at 18 pounds, 18 ounces and was caught in Lake fork a full decade ago. There have been several serious challenges from California. In 1991 Bob Crupi caught a 22 pound 1/2 ounce monster at Lake Castaic in Southern California. Just last year, Mike Long caught a 20 pound, 2 ounce bass from Lake Dixon north of San Diego. To say that there isn't a new record swimming out there somewhere is foolish.
There is a growing trend across the South to build your own Florida bass mecca. Here in the Jackson, Mississippi metro area, there are several residential developments built around a lake or lakes that are stocked with Florida bass and being managed to grow monsters. Several examples come to mind. Greystone Lake (100 acres) has already produced 16 pound bass and reportedly had a bass shocked up this Spring over 19 pounds which would be a new Mississippi record. There is also Lake Caroline (800 acres), where many fishing shows have filmed 4 to 8 pound bass caught east after cast. The lake record after 13 years stands at better than 14 pounds.
There are numerous other smaller lakes in the metro area including Meadowview (40 acres) with a lake record over 12 pounds. What makes these developments so attractive to bass fishermen is as the fishing matures and lake records continue to grow, so do property values. The rate of growth of Florida bass makes these lakes a popular investment.
I recently purchased a lot on a new development called Lake Livingston. It consists of 4 lakes with the largest covering 40 acres. The other three are 7, 8 and 10 acre lakes. The bass were stocked in June of 2000. There have already been bass caught weighing over 5 pounds. My personal best weighed 4.68 pounds, and I've only fished the lakes 5 times! Believe me when I say watch for these lakes on shows such as Suzuki Outdoors in a couple of years. They will be phenomenal!
Until next time, keep your hooks sharp and your knots tied tight because you never know when that world record might bite!