What. A. BEHEMOTH.
Fishing for largemouth bass is a favorite pastime for many anglers around the world, and for me here in Wisconsin… an obsession. Largemouth bass are native to North America and can be found in many waterways across the continent, from Canada down to Mexico. They have also been introduced to other parts of the world, including Japan, South Africa, Australia, and many European countries.
In Japan, the bass industry is huge, and a number of popular fishing brands are based in Japan. Shimano, Daiwa, Megabass, Yamamoto, Gamakatsu, Geecrack, Jackall, Evergreen… the list goes on. Japanese techniques are also continuously making their way over to the States as well… the drop shot, Neko rig, Tokyo rig, and more recently, the super popular hover rig are all examples of techniques that popped off in Japan before they became bass fishing staples over here.
Japanese angler Kyoya Fujita even won the 2024 Gamakatsu Bassmaster Elite at Toledo Bend this past weekend. Honestly, a trip to Kyoto, Japan, with a little bit of bass fishing sounds like a bucket list kind of trip for me.
And it just so happens that Japan holds the largemouth bass world record at a whopping 22 pounds. Can you imagine reeling in a 22-pound largemouth bass? I’d be ecstatic to haul in a 5-pounder up here in Wisconsin, and a limit of 3 pounders will probably win me a tournament. But largemouth bass can grow to impressive sizes, particularly in the southern portion of the United States, where the longstanding world record since 1932 is a 22-pound, 4-ounce fish caught in Georgia.
However, in 2009, Japanese angler Manabu Kurita was fishing Lake Biwa (a premiere bass fishery in Japan) when he hooked into another monster that tied the world record for largemouth bass. His bass actually weighed one ounce more at 22-pounds 5 ounces, however per IGFA certification rules, a fish must be 2 ounces over to take the sole possession of the record due to the margins of error on scales.
So now, they share the record… but at least Kurita’s was captured on video. The video shows them lifting the massive bass out of their livewell and getting it on the scale. There are nothing but smiles all around. Oh, the joys of catching a monster.
