UltraLight (US)

 I went to my in-laws’ this weekend. There wasn’t much opportunity fish, except for the pond at the end of the street (lots of bass in the ¾ pound range - fun, but no size). I ended up picking up a book from the local used book store called Sowbelly: The Obsessive Quest for the World-Record Largemouth Bass by Monte Burke. It was a quick read and pretty interesting. The book is broken down into nine chapters and each one focuses on a different person or approach to breaking the world-record.

The first chapter focuses on Bob Crupi, a Californian and former motorcycle cop who currently has two of the top 25 largemouths ever caught. He sees the bass world as black and white. You either fish for big ones or you don’t. He considers the smallest of the big ones to be 10 pounds. Crupi is not interested in tournament fishing at all. He is a purist who believes how you fish is just as important as what you catch. He passed the torch to…Mike Long.

Chapter 2 is all about Mike Long. When this book was published he was credited with catching 301 bass over 10 pounds, 41 over 14, 6 over 17, 6 over 18, and 1 over 20. Athletic and determined, he considers himself the favorite to shatter the standing record. Long has fished and cashed in several tournaments that have allowed him to continue his quest to be the one. He was on top of the big bass world until he got “bitch-slapped in his own backyard,” by the subject of chapter 3.

The hot new guy on the scene, as of 2003, is the subject of chapter3. Jed Dickerson caught a 21 pound 11.2 oz bass on May 31, 2003, launching himself as a major player in the pursuit of the world-record. Jed is aligned with two other anglers, Mac and Buddha, who make no bones about the fact they are trying to catch the record for fame and money. This fact put them at odds with anglers like Crupi and Long.

The next chapter takes a turn for a historical bent. Burke runs through a brief history of bass fishing in America. The beginning: bass suck! Europeans regarded this native fish as inferior to trout and salmon and felt it was the fish of the poor and ignorant. It wasn’t until after WWII that mass-produced rods, reels, and lures were made available to just about anyone. Couple this with the idea of a 5 day work week, which increased leisure time, and bass fishing began to take off. Enter a man named Ray Scott who founded B.A.S.S. in 1968 and, tournament fishing starts to hit the mainstream.

Chapter 5 is all about the current record holder, George Perry, and how he caught his 22 pound 4 oz behemoth. George’s story is told step by step from: where he was fishing, what lure he was using, and where he weighed it. It also points out there are no reliable eye witnesses, or pictures, the scale wasn’t certified, and if it was caught today with this information, there is no way the International Game Fish Association would recognize this record.

The next chapter revolves around the belief many Texans have that “everything’s bigger in Texas.” However, if you looked at a list of the top 25 bass, none of them have come from Texas. Allen Forshage and David Campbell from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department hope to change that. They hope to grow the world record. They take 13 lbs. or bigger bass caught in the state, breed them, and use their fry to stock state fishery waters. Keeping with a similar idea, but on a much smaller scale is Porter Hall. His life has been torn apart by his quest to catch Sowbelly. He is caught between love for his family and his uncontrollable addiction to go fishing for the mother of all bass. He currently resides in Mississippi, where he is growing the world record in a pond. He has highly controlled the environment (there are only 15 bass in the pond) and even has an annual trout stocking so his fish can eat just like the big ones in California.

Chapter 8 was my favorite for the title alone: BASSHOLES. This term refers to all the jerks out there that like to cheat. This chapter goes through several stories of fraudulent attempts at breaking the record. Most of them anyone could think of, but there are a couple that are just strange.

The final chapter discusses how bass fishing has exploded across the world and if it’s possible the world-record won’t be caught in the USA. If it is caught outside of the USA, most big bass anglers believe it will be caught in Cuba. That’s what this chapter is about, fishing for huge ones in the land of Castro.
If you have an interest in bass fishing this is a must-,read. While it won’t help you catch the big one the stories it contains will make you want to grab your gear and head for the water! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Here’s some interesting facts taken from www.fishingnetork.net that pertain to this book:

22 of the top 25 LMB were taken in California

Florida and Georgia are the only other states to make the top 25 with a latest entry of 1961

20 of the top 25 were taken in the last 20 years

20 of the top 25 were taken between February and May

2 anglers: Bob Crupi and Dan Kadota have more that one entry in the top 25

Castaic Lake in California produced 6 of the top 25

Miramar Lake in California produced 4 of the top 25