World records live VS. artificial???? 2025

Bassnajr reply :

Just want to get an idea on how members feel. If you feel that there should be seperate bass records for live bait VS. artificial baits vote YES. If not, vote NO.

Thanks,

Alan (bassnajr)

etommy28 reply :

the biggest is the biggest its that simple.

bassdoctor88 reply :

No.........To me it doesn't mater what bait you use you still have to land the fish.

Dan: reply :

Yes. There is a reason that tournaments don't allow live bait.

Raul reply :

I think it would be wiser to make a WR for northern strain LMB and a WR for Florida strain LMB.

A 10-11 pound northern strain is a really big northern, while a 10 pound Florida is barely a "good fish".

jamarkwe reply :

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I think it would be wiser to make a WR for northern strain LMB and a WR for Florida strain LMB.
A 10-11 pound northern strain is a really big northern, while a 10 pound Florida is barely a "good fish".

I agree 100% with you on this.

I fished in a live bait tournament once and placed 2nd using a spinner bait... 8-)

SWMIBASSER reply :

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Yes. There is a reason that tournaments don't allow live bait.

I gotta believe that the original reason for not allowing live bait is so that fish that are caught aren't put in a live well to "fatten up" eating a livewell full of bait.

Or worse yet fish getting force fed BIG chubs/shiners to make the fish heavier.

Turtle. reply :

Nope. you still have to find it , catch it, and land it.

I personally like Rauls idea of having a WR for northern strain LMB and a WR for Florida strain LMB.

tnbassfisher reply :

I voted yes.

I somewhat feel that it takes a little more effort to catch the fish using artificial even after you have found where they are at.

Glenn reply :

You guys need to watch Bob Lusk's video on the site to find out what makes a big fish get big. There's a few misconceptions I'm seeing in this thread.

As for the record, what kind of bait or lure you use shouldn't matter, so I voted "no".

okiefisher8 reply :

nope. as stated above you still gotta find it and catch it

b.Lee reply :

what does it matter how it is caught, as long as it is caught

Eternal Angler reply :

I marked yes, but I'm still not sure on the topic. I have mixed feelings.

I know you've all been there where you've see fisherman bragging that they're catching fish one after the other on live bait. And you're using artificial.

To me that kind of eats me up inside, I have little respect for these fisherman that brag. It doesn't take much skill to fish with live bait.

On the other hand, world record is a world record. No one should be denied or putting in another category for their winnings.

I guess if I had a choice again, I'd mark no.

George Welcome reply :

The misconception that live bait catches more is unreal.

As someone who sees both sides of this coin on a very regular basis let me assure you that live bait doesn't assure size or numbers.

It is far easier to hook a bass on a plastic worm than it is on a live wild shiner. It's easier to get hit with a shiner, but outsmarting the bass and actually catching them is another matter.

As for species difference: what would you do, add a 3rd category for intergrades or ignore them. Just as you have to head south to catch a record marlin so you must to catch a record bass. That's just the way it is.

Mattlures reply :

Raul's idea is good but not feasable.

the all tackle world record is just that. ALL TACKLE the biggest ever caught by legal methods.

Hey if somebody were to catch the second or 3rd biggest bass on an artificail he could clam the biggest bass on anartifical. But still not the biggest bass ever.

There is only 1 IGFA all tackle world record foe each species.

Lund Explorer reply :

Sorry folks, I voted NO!

If you want to void out a legal catch based on this supposed fact that live bait is cheating, then you need to add a whole lot of other restrictions as well.

First would be that any fish should only come from a public body of water, in the fish's native region, and where no stocking has occurred. There should also be no artificial feeding, or the stocking of prey for the bass to feed on. Finally, no fish caught during a vulnerable time, such as while on a spawning bed should be counted.

Every one of these things allows for a supposed unnatural advantage to a fisherman. Simple logic says that if one thing should be excluded, then all of them should be.

MALTESE FALCON reply :

NO!!!

As long as it was caught within the laws of the state, it should not matter. Caught is caught.

QUOTE:

"It doesn't take much skill to fish with live bait".

Wanna bet???? Every time someone makes this statement, I just laugh. So many people believe if you put a live shiner in the water, the fish come from miles around to eat it...........not true.

Just my opinion.

Falcon

roadwarrior reply :

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There is a reason that tournaments don't allow live bait.

Here's a clue: Next time you go to BPS, Cabelas,

Gander Mountain or just about any tackle store,

take a closer look around. You'll find one row of

terminal tackle, a wall of line and several rows

of bags and boxes. The other fifty rows are lures

and soft plastics.

Money makes the world go around. Tournament

fishermen directly and indirectly promote tackle.

That's the "business" side of the sport.

8-)

Crestliner2008 reply :

IGFA has line class records, why not one for artificial vs. live bait?

angler1 reply :

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Yes. There is a reason that tournaments don't allow live bait.

I agree 100%!

fishfordollars reply :

You still must make the time and effort to get on the water

Find the fish

Figure out what it takes to make it bite

Land the fish

I Love BassResource reply :

But anywhere I've ever fished, from a kid till now... it's been much easier for me to catch them on live bait vs. a lure. The whole purpose in using a fake is to attempt to impersonate something that is alive. When you throw the real thing, all you have to do is hold on for the ride.

After locating them of course, which is has to take place regardless of what your throwing.

Bassnajr reply :

I did not say live bait was cheating. That was another post. Northern strain VS. Florida strain is a good point and another poll to be had, no doubt.

But.... I can't believe that folks are saying that it is NOT easier to catch bass on live bait VS. artificial lures.....COME ON!!!!! :

roadwarrior reply :

Chris Fish has stated that quite often.

Maybe it only applies to double digit

bass. What's he know anyhow?

8-)

I Love BassResource reply :

No dis respect to fish Chris, but on countless occasions I can recall reading his posts where his posted pigs were caught on "crawlers". Granted his "biggest" fish may have been caught differently...

Regardless, the man sure does know big fish...

Grey Wolf reply :

I voted no.

WRB reply :

No. World records shouldn't have a separate category for lures verses bait.

The IGFA should have separate categories for different largemouth bass species; northern stain, Florida strain, Shoal and Red eye for examples. The IGFA has separate categories for smallmouth and Spotted bass.

The argument that NLMB are the same as FLMB is simply wrong, they are as different as spotted bass. Different number of pore scales along the lateral is obvious; 59 to 65 for NLMB and 69 to 73 for FLMB. The debate over "pure" FLMB verses intergrades is no different then any other black bass species. IGFA doesn't require DNA authentication, external examination by a qualified biologist is all that is required.

WRB

PS: the argument that live bait gives an advantage to the angler is correct. Give a skilled bass angler the choice of fishing with live bait verses lures (shad, crawdads, waterdogs, bluegill, golden shiners, rainbow trout), in a money bass tournament verses lures; what would you choose? Lures work, that is all I fish with, but it is a disadvantage.

George Welcome reply :

Your argument that Largemouth bass are all different species is not correct.

Those below are different.

Spotted bass: Micropterus punctulatus

Largemouth bass: Micropterus salmoides

Smallmouth bass: Micropterus dolomieu

Largemouth also known as: It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth and (paradoxically) northern largemouth.

Igfa goes by taxinonmy difference, not common names.

tyrius. reply :

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The whole purpose in using a fake is to attempt to impersonate something that is alive. When you throw the real thing, all you have to do is hold on for the ride.

Actually, I disagree. We throw so many lures/baits that bear ZERO resemblence to anything alive to disprove this statement. Crankbaits look nothing like an actual fish. What's a Berkley Beast supposed to be or a sweet beaver or any other number of lures that look like nothing that actually lives in the water that the bass does?

What anglers are doing is trying to trick a fish into striking out offering in order to hook them.

Also, there's a big difference between fishing with live bait and catching dinks and fishing with live bait and catching hogs.

J Francho reply :

There are several Black basses in the Centrarchidae family...

Micropterus slamonoides, M. cataractae, M. coosae, M. dolomieu, M. notius, M. punctulatus, M. treculii.

Taxonomy is an evergreen science, so it is not a stretch to consider a valid breakup of the two strains into their own separate spp. In fact the definition of just what a "species" is has been evolving with the advent of new DNA testing.

6pointbuck2003 reply :

I say yes because any one can hook a minnow up can catch a fish given the right spot. however it is tought to make a fake minnow look like a real minnow.

J Francho reply :

Oh, and anyone that thinks using live bait is simply a toss the bait in the right spot and wait game understands NOTHING about live bait fishing. All the same variables come into play - hooks, terminal rig, bait control, bait size, strike detection, etc.

WRB reply :

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Your argument that Largemouth bass are all different species is not correct.
Those below are different.

Spotted bass: Micropterus punctulatus

Largemouth bass: Micropterus salmoides

Smallmouth bass: Micropterus dolomieu

Largemouth also known as: It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth and (paradoxically) northern largemouth.

Igfa goes by taxinonmy difference, not common names.

Correction; Florida largemouth bass; micropterus salamindes flordanus is a recognized subspecies.

Lund Explorer reply :

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I did not say live bait was cheating. That was another post. Northern strain VS. Florida strain is a good point and another poll to be had, no doubt.
But.... I can't believe that folks are saying that it is NOT easier to catch bass on live bait VS. artificial lures.....COME ON!!!!! :

Just because I'm in a somewhat better mood, I edited my post to remove the term cheating. I'll settle for the term "fair chase".

Jepu reply :

No way, it should not matter live or artificial

Bass_Akwards reply :

A 10-11 pound northern strain is a really big northern, while a 10 pound Florida is barely a "good fish".

J Francho reply :

Was it ever determined whether Perry's was a northern strain or Florida?

WRB reply :

The heaviest NLMB that I know of is 16 lbs 4 oz, Mallard lake, Arkansas state record. There are at least 75 FLMB that exceed 17 lbs., 12 over 20 lbs. If the Perry bass weighed 22 lbs 4 oz., it was a FLMB strain.

WRB

tyrius. reply :

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I say yes because any one can hook a minnow up can catch a fish given the right spot. however it is tought to make a fake minnow look like a real minnow.

This is another thing that I don't understand. Why do people think that any of our lures look ANYTHING like a real minnow? A jerkbait is a solid body. There aren't any fish that swim that have a solid body (no flex). They have huge treble hooks hanging off of the bottom of them. I personally haven't seen a minnow grow a treble hook.

Bass are very opportunistic feeders. They will eat anything that moves. Except for a select few lures, a lure is used to trigger a feeding reaction from the bass. It isn't used to mimic live bait. Put a photofinish on a crankbait and present it to a bass and that crank will look nothing like the prey species in the photofinish. The swimming action is completely different. A bass looks at it and says "Food" and eats it. Hopefully it does that is.

George Welcome reply :

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The heaviest NLMB that I know of is 16 lbs 4 oz, Mallard lake, Arkansas state record. There are at least 75 FLMB that exceed 17 lbs., 12 over 20 lbs. If the Perry bass weighed 22 lbs 4 oz., it was a FLMB strain.
WRB

Didn't have to be: could have been an F1 (intergrade) If it was Florida strain it was transplanted one.

I Love BassResource reply :

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The whole purpose in using a fake is to attempt to impersonate something that is alive. When you throw the real thing, all you have to do is hold on for the ride.

Actually, I disagree. We throw so many lures/baits that bear ZERO resemblence to anything alive to disprove this statement. Crankbaits look nothing like an actual fish. What's a Berkley Beast supposed to be or a sweet beaver or any other number of lures that look like nothing that actually lives in the water that the bass does?

What anglers are doing is trying to trick a fish into striking out offering in order to hook them.

Also, there's a big difference between fishing with live bait and catching dinks and fishing with live bait and catching hogs.

So when KVD or any other fisherman wants to talk about matching the hatch, we should just shrug that off as non sense right? Lol

If we get into discussion about types of strikes, than yes, its pretty common knowledge that not all strikes from fish are "eating" or feeding strikes. No one has an absolute reasoning behind why bass hit creature baits. Some theorize territorial reasons, others think they resemble crawfish, while others think they eat them just because they're weird.

Crank baits are extremely versatile. True, fish hit them out of pure reaction. I also refuse to believe that a bass has never hit a crankbait, thinking the crankbait was a fleeing/injuried baitfish or crawfish, thus cashing in on an opportunity to have an easy meal. Thus, I've just worked to imitate the same injured shad/minnow/crawfish that I could have scooped out of a bucket and hooked through the tail.

On the live bait thing, we each have our own experiences and I can only relate to my own. There is a gentleman on this board that I fish with pretty regularly. He is a tried and true live bait fisherman. On the body of water he frequents, he can absolutely double or triple the number of large small mouth caught, by using live bait verse what he can catch using tubes, cranks, plastics, etc...

As far as he is concerned, he enjoys catching big stud small mouth and that is all that matters. When he takes anyone out, he'll use the fake stuff to entertain them. He's certainly thrown lures while with me, to help pacify my obsession with non live bait fishing.

When he breaks out the live bait, its an all out on slaught of 4-5lb small mouth, all year long. It's pretty basic fishing, you find the sweet spots, cast and drift. Bite detection is hardly any more difficult than say a lite jig or worm bite. To be honest, most strikes are way, and I mean waaay more vicious than strikes we get on fakes. Now granted I'm assuming you've got all the basics down pat, terminal tackle and the like.

At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter. We are all involved in the same sport and for mostly the same reasons. It's one of those issues that boil down to, to each his own.

WRB reply :

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The heaviest NLMB that I know of is 16 lbs 4 oz, Mallard lake, Arkansas state record. There are at least 75 FLMB that exceed 17 lbs., 12 over 20 lbs. If the Perry bass weighed 22 lbs 4 oz., it was a FLMB strain.
WRB

Didn't have to be: could have been an F1 (intergrade) If it was Florida strain it was transplanted one.

George, the F1 or F35 is still a Florida strain if the lateral line pore scales exceed 66. The F in F1 = Florida strain. Don't get carried away with the "pure" Florida strain, we may not have any "pure" Florida strains outside of central Florida anymore. With all the bass water flowing north from Jacksonville, it's not a strecth to think interprizing anglers transplanted FLMB into Georgia. We planted NLMB into California back in the late 1890's and FLMB in 1959.

My heaviest northern strain LMB was caught by in 1971 at lake Casitas and weighs 12 lbs 4 oz. I also cuaght a 18 lb 11 oz FLMB from the same lake in 1981, in fact with the same type hair jig off the same point.

I'm just as proud of the 12 lb 4 oz NLMB as the 18 lb 11 oz FLMB because they are about equal trophy size bass.

Both these bass are nearly the same length; 27 1/2" NLMB and 28" FLMB, the 6 lb difference is in the body girth! NLMB & FLMB are different bass.

WRB

Mr Jenkins reply :

Look here brotherman I guarantee you I can take a fluke and imitate a real shad, or for that matter take a pointer and have a whole school of bait following it, IT LOOKS LIKE A BAITFISH and as dick wrote, you are throwing livebait and holding on, Why else would we buy our kids minners and worms at the local bait shop going to the lake so they will have an improved chance at catching something. So with that being said Ima say there should be a split between records with livebait and with artificial. Cause lets face it livebait is so easy a Caveman can do it!!!!!!!!!

VABassin'14 reply :

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The misconception that live bait catches more is unreal.

If you feel really confident with that response, than next time you and a buddy go fishing, put a bet on who will catch the most fish. You use artificial and let the other person use live bait. At the end of the day, YOU WILL be paying the other person money. I say this because I have fished side by side people that have very little fishing experience using live bait while I throw artificial. In every case I was out fished.

J Francho reply :

But we're not talking about catching more fish, we're talking about catching THE FISH!!!!! LOL.

Gatorbassman reply :

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The misconception that live bait catches more is unreal.

If you feel really confident with that response, than next time you and a buddy go fishing, put a bet on who will catch the most fish. You use artificial and let the other person use live bait. At the end of the day, YOU WILL be paying the other person money. I say this because I have fished side by side people that have very little fishing experience using live bait while I throw artificial. In every case I was out fished.

It's about catching big fish.

It's not the bait. It's who is holding the rod.

J Francho reply :

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Quote

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The heaviest NLMB that I know of is 16 lbs 4 oz, Mallard lake, Arkansas state record. There are at least 75 FLMB that exceed 17 lbs., 12 over 20 lbs. If the Perry bass weighed 22 lbs 4 oz., it was a FLMB strain.
WRB

Didn't have to be: could have been an F1 (intergrade) If it was Florida strain it was transplanted one.

George, the F1 or F35 is still a Florida strain if the lateral line pore scales exceed 66. The F in F1 = Florida strain. Don't get carried away with the "pure" Florida strain, we may not have any "pure" Florida strains outside of central Florida anymore. With all the bass water flowing north from Jacksonville, it's not a strecth to think interprizing anglers transplanted FLMB into Georgia. We planted NLMB into California back in the late 1890's and FLMB in 1959.

My heaviest northern strain LMB was caught by in 1971 at lake Casitas and weighs 12 lbs 4 oz. I also cuaght a 18 lb 11 oz FLMB from the same lake in 1981, in fact with the same type hair jig off the same point.

I'm just as proud of the 12 lb 4 oz NLMB as the 18 lb 11 oz FLMB because they are about equal trophy size bass.

Both these bass are nearly the same length; 27 1/2" NLMB and 28" FLMB, the 6 lb difference is in the body girth! NLMB & FLMB are different bass.

WRB

No, the "F" stands for "filial." F1 is filial 1, or generation one in not so correct but simpler terms.

Turtle. reply :

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But we're not talking about catching more fish, we're talking about catching THE FISH!!!!! LOL.

BINGO

When taking my son out fishing I stop and get live bait because he does not yet have the skill or patience to use artificials.

And he likes playing with the worms and minnows :

Like fluke said it aint the bait its whos holding the rod.

little_stephen reply :

based on thtrue premis of an all tackle record. NO......... but living in ohio. I think itd be nice if there was a different class. a 10lber up here is a monster of monsters.

but isee why it isnt possible or reasonable. but i dont know. mixed feelings.

tyrius. reply :

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Look here brotherman I guarantee you I can take a fluke and imitate a real shad, or for that matter take a pointer and have a whole school of bait following it, IT LOOKS LIKE A BAITFISH

Baitfish will follow a lot of things. That doesn't mean that what they are following truly immitates a baitfish. You can get baitfish to follow a spinnerbait, a jig (swimming), even swimming a worm. So, you're point isn't really accurate.

Quote
and as dick wrote, you are throwing livebait and holding on, Why else would we buy our kids minners and worms at the local bait shop going to the lake so they will have an improved chance at catching something. So with that being said Ima say there should be a split between records with livebait and with artificial. Cause lets face it livebait is so easy a Caveman can do it!!!!!!!!!

Again, this whole discussion has nothing to do with loading the boat with dinks. We're talking about catching a record fish.

tyrius. reply :

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The misconception that live bait catches more is unreal.

If you feel really confident with that response, than next time you and a buddy go fishing, put a bet on who will catch the most fish. You use artificial and let the other person use live bait. At the end of the day, YOU WILL be paying the other person money. I say this because I have fished side by side people that have very little fishing experience using live bait while I throw artificial. In every case I was out fished.

George is a very successful guide on Stick Marsh in Florida. So, he knows what he's talking about. If live bait caught more fish then he'd push people to use live bait. Instead, I think, he uses a TON of senkos, swim senkos, and traps.

George Welcome reply :

The whole live bait, artificial bait discussion has been hammered to death and will continue to be so.

However, the record is listed as world record, not restricted to just the north American continent. So the conversation of northern bass and southern bass is purely academic.

WRB reply :

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Quote

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The heaviest NLMB that I know of is 16 lbs 4 oz, Mallard lake, Arkansas state record. There are at least 75 FLMB that exceed 17 lbs., 12 over 20 lbs. If the Perry bass weighed 22 lbs 4 oz., it was a FLMB strain.
WRB

Didn't have to be: could have been an F1 (intergrade) If it was Florida strain it was transplanted one.

George, the F1 or F35 is still a Florida strain if the lateral line pore scales exceed 66. The F in F1 = Florida strain. Don't get carried away with the "pure" Florida strain, we may not have any "pure" Florida strains outside of central Florida anymore. With all the bass water flowing north from Jacksonville, it's not a strecth to think interprizing anglers transplanted FLMB into Georgia. We planted NLMB into California back in the late 1890's and FLMB in 1959.

My heaviest northern strain LMB was caught by in 1971 at lake Casitas and weighs 12 lbs 4 oz. I also caught a 18 lb 11 oz FLMB from the same lake in 1981, in fact with the same type hair jig off the same point.

I'm just as proud of the 12 lb 4 oz NLMB as the 18 lb 11 oz FLMB because they are about equal trophy size bass.

Both these bass are nearly the same length; 27 1/2" NLMB and 28" FLMB, the 6 lb difference is in the body girth! NLMB & FLMB are different bass.

WRB

No, the "F" stands for "filial." F1 is filial 1, or generation one in not so correct but simpler terms.

Stand corrected.

I don't agree that a bass with a fine scale count (69 to 73 pore scales) that grows 25%+ heavier in the exact same lakes (northern strain 59 to 65 pore scales) can be considered the same largemouth bass. The two sub species are easy to identify and the IGFA should recognize the differences, IMO.

Whatever; B.A.S.S. is announcing the IGFA decision on the Kurita FLMB tomorrow, 8 Jan 2010.

We can go on and on, lets just agree to disagree and continue to pursue catching bass with lures or live bait is the anglers choice.

WRB

I Love BassResource reply :

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Look here brotherman I guarantee you I can take a fluke and imitate a real shad, or for that matter take a pointer and have a whole school of bait following it, IT LOOKS LIKE A BAITFISH

Baitfish will follow a lot of things. That doesn't mean that what they are following truly immitates a baitfish. You can get baitfish to follow a spinnerbait, a jig (swimming), even swimming a worm. So, you're point isn't really accurate.

Quote
and as dick wrote, you are throwing livebait and holding on, Why else would we buy our kids minners and worms at the local bait shop going to the lake so they will have an improved chance at catching something. So with that being said Ima say there should be a split between records with livebait and with artificial. Cause lets face it livebait is so easy a Caveman can do it!!!!!!!!!

Again, this whole discussion has nothing to do with loading the boat with dinks. We're talking about catching a record fish.

And the current pending world record was caught on??? Live bait....

My neighbor heads to Toho every Feb for largemouth. Every single guide they have ever hired and ever 10+ bass that his group has ever brought back, came from using shiners.

Sadly enough I know this because he has 4 of them mounted...

WRB reply :

I have been on both sides of the live bait fishing for bass issue. During the 60's and 70's I fished with every type of legal live bait because that was how trophy bass fisherman fished back then. Live waterdogs (tiger salamanders), crawdads and golden shiners where legal live bait in CA, and very effective baits fished properly. It became obvious to me that we were destroying our trophy bass fisheries by over harvesting big bass using live bait. SoCal bass lakes are small, most under 2,000 acres and hundreds of bass fisherman using live bait everyday had a major impact of the bass population.

I made a personal decision to stop fishing with live bait after catch several hundred 10+ bass, releasing all that were healthy. Today, 40 years later, my belief that live bait fishing still harms trophy bass populations hasn't changed in regards to small lakes.

However, today fewer bass fisherman fish with live bait, other than guides who fish for a living. The average bass angler fishes with lures.

I still believe that bed fishing isn't good for any fishery, especially using live bait.

I have caught a lot of giant bass on lures over the past 40 years but would have caught a lot more using live bait. That was my choice and it was right for me.

Dr Pigg reply :

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I have been on both sides of the live bait fishing for bass issue. During the 60's and 70's I fished with every type of legal live bait because that was how trophy bass fisherman fished back then. Live waterdogs (tiger salamanders), crawdads and golden shiners where legal live bait in CA, and very effective baits fished properly. It became obvious to me that we were destroying our trophy bass fisheries by over harvesting big bass using live bait. SoCal bass lakes are small, most under 2,000 acres and hundreds of bass fisherman using live bait everyday had a major impact of the bass population.
I made a personal decision to stop fishing with live bait after catch several hundred 10+ bass, releasing all that were healthy. Today, 40 years later, my belief that live bait fishing still harms trophy bass populations hasn't changed in regards to small lakes.

However, today fewer bass fisherman fish with live bait, other than guides who fish for a living. The average bass angler fishes with lures.

I still believe that bed fishing isn't good for any fishery, especially using live bait.

I have caught a lot of giant bass on lures over the past 40 years but would have caught a lot more using live bait. That was my choice and it was right for me.

On a thread several days ago, alot of ya'll listed the pros you would like to spend the day with.... WRB is still my pick! He's forgotten more than most pros today KNOW 8-) 8-)

D4u2s0t reply :

I really dislike these conversations...

that being said, i've OFTEN outfished people using live while I was using artificials... It doesn't always give you the edge. You still have to know where to throw your bait, how to detect a subtle bite, how to keep a fish on the line, etc. If you can't outfish someone who has no fishing experience, maybe you need to work on your presentations instead of knocking live bait. (I don't use live bait, except for panfish)

If live bait and artificial should have it's own title, so should shore fishing, people that don't use depthfinders, people that don't use expensive equipment, etc. You say it's "easy" to catch a big fish on live bait? go catch a world record, and let us know how "easy" it was.

2 people can be fishing the same spot, with 2 different artificials... Most likely, 1 person will catch more fish. Should that other person not be allowed to use that bait because it gave them an "edge"?

Bottom line is it's all personal preference. If someone is fishing legally, shouldn't matter what they caught the fish on.

VABassin'14 reply :

A fish doesn't get to be huge by not being smart. She as seen everything, and has been educated over the years of her life. She knows what is real and what is fake, therefore, using live bait makes a difference because the huge fish knows that your live bait is real food. That is the advantage of using live bait.

Grey Wolf reply :

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A fish doesn't get to be huge by not being smart. She as seen everything, and has been educated over the years of her life. She knows what is real and what is fake, therefore, using live bait makes a difference because the huge fish knows that your live bait is real food. That is the advantage of using live bait.

What a very simplistic way to approach the issue. If it were all that simple.

bocraw reply :

There is nothing that says the IGFA has a monopoly on recognizing record fish. I think it is fine for BASS, Bass Resource, or any other organization to have their own records. My fishing clubs tracks records and for all bass we use artificial only. For saltwater fish we separate the categories into "all tackle", "artificial only", and "fly rod".

SirSnookalot reply :

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IGFA has line class records, why not one for artificial vs. live bait?

I agree, separate records for live vs bait also line classes as well. The Japanese record was caught using 25# line fighting the fish for a mere 3 minutes. No denying the record and the fact it's a huge fish but catching that fish using lighter line and tackle would be a lot more impressive to me, would have he landed it on a fly rod?

It's not always what you catch but how you catch it.

RoLo reply :

Perish The Thought

The IGFA has met great difficulty in trying to determine whether a record fish is authentic or not,

and great difficulty trying to determine whose in first place and whose in second place.

We certainly don't want to burden them with having to verify whether a record fish

was caught on an artificial lure, natural bait or an artificial lure tipped with natural bait :

Roger

George Welcome reply :

Quote

Quote
IGFA has line class records, why not one for artificial vs. live bait?

I agree, separate records for live vs bait also line classes as well. The Japanese record was caught using 25# line fighting the fish for a mere 3 minutes. No denying the record and the fact it's a huge fish but catching that fish using lighter line and tackle would be a lot more impressive to me, would have he landed it on a fly rod?

It's not always what you catch but how you catch it.

Would have probably stressed the fish to the point of extreme exhaustion and killed it.

WRB reply :

Bass fight hard for a very short time period and do not have sustained energy to continue fighting longer than a few minutes. A long run for a LMB is about 50 feet; bass rely on making quick turns to capture prey or escape other predators.

The IGFA already has line weight and fly fishing world record categories. The all tackle world record is the Kurita/Perry record.

WRB

swilly78 reply :

No.

10281

World records live VS. artificial???? 2025

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