Tipping the scales: bass fishing is a multimillion-dollar business in Florida, the nation's bass capital. So why will the next world record fish likely come from Texas or California?(Eco-Tourism)

Florida Trend, November, 2003 by Vogel, Mike

On June 2, 1932--a date generations of anglers know by heart--a 19-year-old farm boy named George W. Perry tossed his only lure, a Creek Chub 2401 Wiggle Fish, between two trees on Montgomery Lake near Helena in south Georgia. It was the Depression, and he hoped to catch dinner for his family. As he reeled in, something sent the water flying, then the line stuck, and Perry thought a fish had dived and snagged the line on a submerged limb. He was going to be out his lure.

There was no limb. Perry had hooked a giant bass, 32 inches long. On the way home, Perry had it weighed at the general store with a notary public as a witness. The fish was 22 pounds, 4 ounces, a world record. Perry won $75 in merchandise from a Field and Stream contest. His mother fried the...