Record Bass Was Caught Out of Need
From now through spring, as big bass move into the shallows to spawn, serious bass fishermen everywhere will be driven by one thing--to set an all-tackle world record and reap the rewards that such a feat will bring.
For George Washington Perry, whose 22-pound 4-ounce catch 62 years ago is still the fish to beat, the motivation to land a giant bass was more a matter of survival.
Born in 1912 in the backwoods of Georgia, Perry grew up a poor farm boy before the Great Depression, the oldest of six children whose father had died.
“I was taking care of the family,” Perry said during an interview with Bassmaster Magazine in the early 1970s. “We lived on a farm and raised lots of food. When we needed meat, we went to the woods and killed a deer or a squirrel or caught a fish.”
On the morning of June 2, 1932, during the Great Depression, Perry awoke to the sound of rain. Working the farm was out of the question. Catching a fish wasn’t.
He and a friend, Jack Page, drove to nearby Montgomery Lake, which wasn’t much of a lake then and is even less of one now, a disappearing oxbow on the Ocmulgee River.
They climbed into Perry’s flat-bottom boat and shoved off, rowing Montgomery’s banks and casting to no avail. They were about to call it quits when Perry noticed “an interesting ripple” near a cypress log, according to a 1934 account in Field & Stream Magazine.
Perry cast and the fish struck.
“I knew I was fast into a real bass,” Perry said. “After playing him for about two minutes, I brought him close to the boat. Suddenly, he jumped almost clear of the water. I had a good look at him and it seemed as though he ought to weigh about 50 pounds.”
Not quite, but after Perry landed the fish, he brought it to a nearby grocery store, where it tipped the scale at 22 pounds 4 ounces. It was shaped more like a basketball than a fish, with a length of 32 inches and a girth of 28 inches.
The International Game Fish Assn., which recognizes world records, did not exist at the time. But Perry entered his fish in a Field & Stream contest and won $75 in prizes, which in itself was quite a catch considering the value of the dollar during those hard times.
As for the fish, Perry proceeded according to plan and put it on the dinner table.
He went on to become an airplane mechanic and pilot, and died at 61 after crashing a plane he was flying to Birmingham into a fog-covered mountain.
Although others have come close to breaking it--Bob Crupi was the closest with a 22.01-pound largemouth caught at Castaic Lake in 1991--Perry’s record stands.
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It’s no secret that mountain lions prey on deer, but state wildlife officials, in the second year of a six-year study, are concerned about the impact the animals appear to be having on mule deer in the Eastern Sierra.
Of 39 mule deer captured a year ago in the Round Valley area northwest of Bishop and fitted with radio collars, 18 didn’t survive and 11 were killed by mountain lions.
Vern Bleich, Department of Fish and Game biologist, called the high mortality rate “surprising,” but said it was too early to determine whether it was abnormal. He did say that the mountain lion population appears to be up in the Round Valley area.
Hunting of mountain lions was banned in the late 1980s.
Bleich said an additional 62 deer were captured and fitted with radio collars last month. So far this winter, only one collared deer has died, the victim of a bobcat attack.
The Round Valley herd numbers about 1,000, one-sixth its size before the recent drought.
Briefly
BAJA FISHING--The striped marlin bite remains outstanding at the Golden Gate Banks off Cabo San Lucas, with multiple catches the rule. Tuna fishing is fair at best, and dorado are scattered. Some anglers are finding a worthwhile alternative fishing slightly beyond the surf along sandy beaches, where roosterfish to 35 pounds are providing some challenging action.
La Paz: There’s not much action offshore, but giant pargo are still keeping fishermen busy at Cerralvo Island. Local fishermen with hand-lines and tourists with state-of-the-art equipment are battling the powerful snappers in the 20- to 50-pound class.
HUNTING--Only nine of the 11 Nelson bighorn sheep tags issued by the DFG last summer were filled in the 1993-94 season that ended earlier this month. Lee Anderson, a Minnesota banker, paid $100,000 to kill one sheep in the days preceding the regular hunt--a state-record ram that scored 178 3/8 Boone and Crockett points. The largest ram killed during the regular hunt was a 177 1/2-point animal shot by Art Bailey of Santa Ana Ynez in the Marble Mountains near Baker.
CONSERVATION--Volunteers are needed to help with the hand-restoration of vegetation along the banks of the Owens River Gorge. The March 5-6 project, a cooperative effort by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and California Trout, is aimed at rejuvenating the wild trout fishery in the gorge. Details: (310) 475-2195. . . . To help restore facilities at national parks around the country, six U.S. gold-mining companies have pledged $20,000 for each gold medal won by the U.S. Olympic team. Because of budget restraints, facilities at national parks have been steadily deteriorating. Alan. A. Rubin, president of the National Park Foundation, said the funds would be put to use upon receipt.
MISCELLANY--The DFG is still hoping to acquire rubble from last month’s earthquake to build artificial reefs off the Southland coast, but time is running out and the money isn’t there. CalTrans is currently trucking the material to landfills at a cost of $7 a ton. The DFG’s Dave Parker said: “To remove material from demolition sites and then barge it to reef sites would cost in the neighborhood of $12 a ton.” Parker said the financially strapped DFG, as it has with past projects, would have to rely on private donations to undertake such a project. . . . Eagle Claw Fishing Schools is offering a 2 1/2-day class to San Martin Island, leaving Friday night aboard the Holiday out of Point Loma Sportfishing. Yellowtail and calico bass are the targeted species. Cost is $325. Details: (714) 840-6555.
