Well thanks. You know I always felt like Paul Duclos' fish was just unfortunate because his fish was clearly huge and it just didn't get handled the right way to get the record. The Leah Trew thing was a complete sham IMO, as have been all of the other purported world record claims.

This one is a new twist but every time I think about it, it just seems so wrong. Consider this scenario and see if you don't agree:

You're standing on the shore at a lake in CA
Fishing for a 2lb male on a bed
The game warden walks down and checks your license
Everything is great and you're chatting.
He says, "look a hawk" and you both look up
Suddenly you feel a tug and set the hook
When the fish comes in, it has the hook stuck in the back
You say, "fantastic, I just got myself some dinner" and you put it on a stringer.

Does the game warden

a) Tell you OK and walk away
b) Tell you to release the fish because it was foul hooked accidentally.

The answer is b, every time. I don't think any game warden would disagree and I can't see how this fish will get certified as the WRB, It will just be a publicity storm (look at what ESPN is already doing) that will end with the catch being disqualified.

Mac Weakly has an opportunity to stop the process by not submitting the catch to the IGFA. By doing so I think he would earn a lot of people's respect and he would give back to bass fishing some of the integrity it has lost through all of these botched and bogus claims in the past. If you're out there reading this Mac, I hope that's what you do.