Manabu Kurita and his record catch. Photo courtesy of IGFA.
A monster-bass record that most American anglers thought might never be surpassed has been tied. On Friday, the International Game Fish Association recognized the monster bass caught on July 2 of last year by Manabu Kurita of Aichi, Japan as having tied George Perry's record-setting catch from June 2, 1932 near Jacksonville, Georgia.
Kurita's largemouth came from Japan's Lake Biwa, an ancient reservoir north of Kyoto, and almost immediately after it was boated, word started to spread that there might finally be a documented challenger to Perry's longstanding record.
Likewise, steps were taken to make absolutely certain that Kurita's catch be documented - irrefutably- so there be no questions going forward. First, the catch had to be certified by the Japanese Game Fish Association (JGFA). It was, and accompanied by meticulous records, including photos and video. According to IGFA conservation Jason Schratwieser, the application left no questions unanswered.
"Almost right away rumors began to circulate that Kurita may have caught his fish in a 'no-fishing zone'," Schratwieser said. The IGFA immediately corresponded with the JGFA to speak with the angler about this issue and to gather information regarding the legality of fishing where Kurita caught his bass.
Official word came back that the location of the catch was not a no-fishing zone, but was an area where anchoring or stopping was prohibited. "This spurred more correspondence with the JGFA and the angler, including affidavits asking the angler if he stopped his boat at anytime," says Schratwieser, "Again, the testimony and affidavits that came back indicated that the Kurita did not violate any laws and that his catch was indeed legitimate."
Despite that, Schratwieser says, there were still howls of protest over the record being tied by a fish from Japan. It became abundantly clear from the flurry of correspondence, calls and email that the record would be "a contentious issue" no matter what action was taken at that point.
Consequently, it was decided that Kurita should take a polygraph analysis. That's one of the steps the IGFA reserves in any record application.
Kurita immediately agreed. On December 15, he was examined and faced a battery of questions designed to validate the information on his IGFA application.
He passed.
"Six months might seem like a lot of time to determine if a fish ties a record," Schratweiser says, "Hopefully, people now understand the amount of due diligence the IGFA conducted on the record....the All-Tackle largemouth bass record is nothing less than iconic and the bass community deserved nothing less."
Ironically, Japan now co-holds a fishing record for a fish fisheries officials there consider an invasive species. Tying Perry's longstanding record might help raise the low esteem in which Japanese officials hold bass. Japanese anglers have tried -unsuccessfully - to change the government's position on bass, but a single largemouth from one of Japan's oldest reservoirs may do more than all the anglers' prior efforts.











