DANIA BEACH, Fla. — After nearly six months of waiting, Japan’s Manabu Kurita is taking his place along side George Perry in the International Game Fish Association’s (IGFA) World Record Games Fishes book as dual holders of the All-Tackle record for largemouth bass, each weighing 22 lb 4 oz and caught 77 years apart.
On Jan. 8, the IGFA approved Kurita’s application for the fish caught from Japan’s largest lake on July 2, 2009. The IGFA received Kurita’s application and documentation on Sept. 19, 2009. The largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), was caught from Lake Biwa which is an ancient reservoir northeast of Kyoto.
Kurita, 32, of Aichi, Japan, was fishing Biwa using a Deps Sidewinder rod and a Shimano Antares DC7LV reel loaded with 25-lb Toray line when he pitched his bait, a live bluegill, next to a bridge piling. It was Kurita’s first cast to the piling, where he had seen a big bass swimming. He only twitched the bait a couple of times before he got bit. After a 3-minute fight, he had the fish in the boat.
Kurita was quoted as saying “I knew it was big, but I didn’t know it was that big.”
But big it was. Using certified scales, his fish weighed in at 10.12 kg or 22 pounds, four ounces. When measured, the fish had a fork length of 27.2 inches and a girth of 26.7 inches. The IGFA only has line classes up to 20 lb for largemouth bass, so Kurita had no chance at a line class record as well.
IGFA rules for fish caught outside the U.S. allows anglers 90 days to submit their applications from the date of their catch. The documentation was received through the IGFA’s sister association the Japan Game Fish Association (JGFA). IGFA conservation director Jason Schratwieser said Kurita’s application was meticulously documented with the necessary photos and video.
Kurita’s fish ties the current record held for over 77 years by Perry who caught his bass on Montgomery Lake, June 2, 1932, near Jacksonville, Ga. That 22-4 behemoth won Field and Stream Magazine’s big-fish contest and 46 years later, when the IGFA took over freshwater records from Field and Stream, it became the all-tackle record.
In North America the largemouth bass, and especially the All-Tackle record, is considered by millions of anglers as the “holy grail” of freshwater fish because of its popularity and the longevity of Perry’s record. That fish undoubtedly helped to spawn a billion dollar industry that today makes up a significant part of the sport of recreational fishing.
On December 15, Kurita was examined by a professional polygraph analyst in Japan. The many questions he was given included if he was truthful about the information reported on the application form and if his boat ever came to a complete stop while fighting his fish. The results from the polygraph concluded that Manabu Kurita answered the questions honestly and that the catch was legitimate.
