Possible world record largemouth caught in Japan

The details behind a giant largemouth bass caught recently in Japan are still sketchy at this point, but if the early reports pan out the fish could challenge freshwater fishing's most hallowed record of all-time.

On July 2, news and photos surfaced on a number of Internet forums and websites indicating that professional angler Manabu Kurita had caught a 22-pound, 5 ounce bass from Lake Biwa. The fish was reportedly caught on live bait and weighed on certified scales. It measured 29.4 inches long.

Biwa is a deep, clear natural lake located in Shiga Prefecture of Japan. Spanning 259 square miles, it is the largest freshwater lake in Japan and ranks among th oldest lakes in the world.

If the story shakes out, the Biwa bass fish would top the 77-year-old world record established in June 1932 by exactly one ounce. George Perry caught the fish at Montgomery Lake in Georgia.

Interestingly, however, the one-ounce difference won't be enough for the Biwa bass to claim sole ownership of the world record, according to International Game Fish Association rules. IGFA is the official keeper of saltwater and freshwater world records.

IGFA rules point out that for any fish weighing less than 25 pounds, a replacement record must weigh a full two ounces more than the existing record in order to be declared a new world record.

"A catch which matches the weight of an existing record or exceeds the weight by less than the amount required to defeat the record will be considered a tie," IFGA rules state.

If the Biwa bass story turns out to be true, it will be the first fish to challenge Perry's record since Mac Weakley caught a 25-pound, 1-ounce bass off a spawning bed in March 2006 at Lake Dixon in Escondido, Calif.

Weakley, well-known big bass chaser from Carlsbad, Calif., elected not to submit his fish for consideration as a new world record, because he inadvertently hooked it in the back instead of in the mouth.