I have been lurking on this site for a while, but after i read the this thread i decided to register.As you can see this is my first post.

I am from telfair county georgia, home of the world record bass.
Some things about the record are not known to the general public, like the fact that montgomery lake is not a lake as such, its a oxbow lake off of the ocmulgee river.Montgomery lake, as it is called in the record books, is mostly filled in by sediment, and could only be accessed by boat in times of high water.

In 1932 no one in this area knew anything about a trophy bass, i dought there was any intentional wrong doing in the weighing and measurments taken of the fish.No one would have had any reason to lie as there was nothing to gain by catching a world record....so much unlike present day. Theres no way to know if all the info about the fish is accurate but i've never heard any rumors that the fish was overstated in any way. In a rural county with a population of 16,000 everyone knows everyone else....and their business also.

During the era the fish was taken in there were no ponds or lakes to fish in, going fishing meant a creek or the ocmulgee river.One reason another outstanding bass has'nt been caught in the area is that there are still no managed lakes in telfair county, and hardly anyone targets bass in the river.

There is a 105 acre state owned and managed lake in the county to the north, thats 12 years old and has produced a 15.5 last year, a fla./northern cross i think.

The only thing i can add to the discussion about the measurements and weight of the record bass vs. measurements and weights of california bass is the time of year the record was caught,although i've never heard otherwise i'm sure she was layed out. I do not know the dates the fish were caught that have been used for comparison, did they have eggs or not?

I sure the record bass was not a planned hoax but not being from the area and what times were like in that era i can see the room for speculation.

In 1932 folks were worried about putting food on the table...not record bass.