Well, I think it's good. The tie for the world record makes things interesting. There was a good article on the catch in Bassmaster this month. Manabu Kurita said he'd hooked one he figured was 28lbs on a Roman Made Mother. I tend to believe it. By the sound of things, an uncontested world record may very well come from Japan soon.

Reading the article, I got the impression that Mr. Kurita fishes a similar program to Fish Chris. Bird dog with swimbaits to see if they will bite or at least show themselves, then camp out with whatever it takes bait or lure wise to catch the fish. Fishing like this is the most effective way to catch giant bass, there is no question.

That said, the fact that this giant bass was caught on bait doesn't make me very excited. Like when I think about all the giant bass I've seen through the years that could have easily been caught on bait. It just makes me shrug my shoulders. Catching bass on bait doesn't yield the same rush of adrenaline and the same feeling of satisfaction that lure fishing does.

One time a few years back Nico and I used live shad for bait. We had used swimbaits for several hours with no bites while fish crashed all around. Then we tossed out shad for 2 hours and caught over 40 bass with the best 5 around 35lbs. After the stupidity of it all wore off we threw swimbaits the rest of the day and caught two bass. Catching those bass on bait was no harder than catching stocked trout on salmon eggs in a creek, or flylining for calico bass in a wide-open chum bite. Truly, it reminded me of catching mackerel off the pier when I was 12.

So I see this giant fish and I am impressed and enjoy looking at the photos, but I picture it sucking down a 10 inch bluegill and my enthusiasm is dampened. If guys in So-Cal could, or cared to use large live bait, the record would have fallen many years ago. If I could, or cared to use live bait I'd have 20 over 15 pounds instead of a half-dozen.

Another chapter has been written in the chase for the world record bass, and I am glad. But now I say, let the chase continue :)