I'll agree with you that its lame that the WRB could come from a private lake. Someone could theoretically grow the fish in a small lake, then electroshock it, stick it in a swimming pool sized pond and starve it until it was super easy to catch, then catch it. Thankfully (in my opinion) no one has been able to pull it off yet. There's a very interesting chapter about this exact topic in Sowbelly if you haven't read the book already. Nothing against Porter Hall, but it just seems so unsporting if it were to happen that way :(

You know what I thought was really BS was when the Big Bass Record Club allowed submissions from private lakes to take the $25k prize, and an LMV fish did win that one year if I remember right. I was pretty ticked about that at the time because it really resulted in an uneven playing field for the prize money. Imagine how pissed people would have been if someone had won the $25k on a lake that ONLY they got to fish, like a completely private lake in Florida, etc.

As far as bass being lousy fighters, dunno what to tell you there. I've caught a few species of fish in my life ;) and although bass don't last very long, big bass never cease to amaze me with their ability to escape. If it was easy to land them every time it would get old, but it sure hasn't gotten old to me yet and I don't think it ever will. There's nothing like the adrenaline rush of seeing a giant bass go airborne on the end of your line }(