Update 8:15 p.m. EST: Ed Zieralski of the San Diego Union Tribune, who's long covered the quest for the record, has picked of coverage of the Biwa fish. Like BassFan, he doesn't have much solid intel yet, but he does have some initial reactions from San Diego trophy hunters and the IGFA. For his reporting, click here.
Update 4:25 pm EST: BassFan spoke with Optimum Baits CEO Matt Paino about the Biwa fish. For well over a decade, Paino has been hardwired into the Japan fishing scene. He formerly lived in Japan, and was instrumental in bringing several Japanese lure lines to the U.S. through Optimum, including Deps, Ima, Zappu and Vagabond.
Paino said he doesn't yet know who caught the fish, but he received a call from current Japan record-holder Kazuya Shimada at 2:00 a.m. this morning.
"I just spoke with Shimada 3 days ago because he needed baits," Paino said. "I thought he was calling about that so I didn't answer. He called me right back, I answered the phone, and he's like, 'Dude, the world record was just caught, (but) it's not official yet.'"
Paino quickly told Shimada, "Please tell me it was caught on an Optimum," but Shimada answered that he didn't know what the fish was caught on, although he did confirm that the angler who caught it does fish for Deps.
Paino added that he expects to hear solid info later tonight when morning dawns in Japan.
Update 3:54 pm EST: Bassmaster.com has published several photos of the fish here.
Reports have surfaced of a potential world-record largemouth bass caught from Lake Biwa in Japan by Manabu Kurita. The standing Japan record is a 19-15 monster caught in April 2003 from Lake Ikehara by Kazuya Shimada. It fell prey to an Optimum swimbait. The standing world record is George Perry's 22-04, caught from a Georgia oxbow in June 1932.
Biwa, stocked with Florida-strain largemouths several decades ago, has long been a focal point in the quest for a new world record. It's the largest freshwater lake in Japan, and unconfirmed reports from commercial fisherman have pointed to the presence of world-record-class bass in Biwa. Not surprisingly, a small group of Japanese big-bass hunters work Biwa, much like the posses who haunt the Southern California lakes. It's believed that the Biwa fish was caught by one of the lake's big-bass hunters.
The new Biwa fish reportedly weighs in close to the George Perry record of 22-04. In order for the IGFA to certify the Biwa fish as a new world record, however, it would need to weigh 2 ounces more.
Initial intel gathered by BassFan through Japanese contacts confirms that the fish is likely real, that the weight is right around the 22-04 mark (perhaps 1 ounce more), and that it was caught on live bait. However, that's all unconfirmed. It's nighttime in Japan right now, so solid news might be forthcoming several hours from now.
News of the fish has surfaced on several message boards, but Bloody Decks appears to have the only photos of the fish (found here).
Reporting will continue.
