On June 2, 1932 - George Perry decided the weather was too bad for farming. It wasn't very good for a Church steeple in Jacksonville, Georgia either. Strong winds or possibly a small tornado cause the steeple to come crashing to the ground that afternoon.
Storm clouds or not, George went fishing that Thursday afternoon. At 20 years of age, George owned one Rod & Reel and two lures. He was fishing with a friend - from a homemade boat - in a dead oxbow lake off the Ocmulgee River. Known as Montgomery Lake, it was then and now just a small wet spot in South Georgia Swamp Land, a few miles east of Jacksonville.
George cast into the dark waters. Reeling in line, everything came to a stop! Thinking he couldn't lose that lure (these were Depression Times, by the way), George pondered how he could retrieve the lure - for surely it was hung on something. “I thought I had hooked a log”, Perry recalled. “ It was heavy and cumbersome.”
But as it began to move…George saw it was not a log. What was on the end of his line was a Large Mouth Bass the likes never seen before or since.
The pair drove 16 miles to a grocery store in Helena, the fish and George were the talk of the county that weekend. An hour or so later the bass was weighed on certified scales at the Post Office.
Twenty Two pounds and Four ounces
The weight was verified and submitted to Field and Streams magazine for a contest that was being conducted. George was awarded prizes with a total value of around $75.00. These were Depressions Times, by the way.
Today, if you are lucky or skilled enough to catch a Large Mouth Bass that weighs more than 22 pounds and 4 ounces….AND break the World Record that has endured for 73 years now…you could be awarded up to $8 million in cash, prizes and countless endorsements depending on the type of tackle you are using.
And what ever became of that big o'FISH. The Perry family had a fish fry on Friday AND Saturday night. These were Depressions Times, by the way...
Now a photo, salvaged from the personal effects of a distant Perry relative, has been found - taunting naysayers who believe the fish wasn't as big as it was said to be, or perhaps wasn't a largemouth bass at all.
"There is no doubt in my mind it's the world-record bass," said Bill Baab, who retired from The Augusta Chronicle in 2000 after 35 years as its outdoors editor - and who helped authenticate the mysterious snapshot.
Baab knows plenty about Perry and his bass.
In a recent book, Forbes senior writer Monte Burke refers to Baab as "the world's leading authority on the story of George Perry's fish, and the story's most tenacious guardian."
The photo, likely taken near the post office and general store in Helena, Ga., was found by Waycross, Ga., resident Jerry Johnson while going through his late aunt's belongings.
The photo, likely taken near the post office and general store in Helena, Ga., was found by Waycross, Ga., resident Jerry Johnson while going through his late aunt's belongings.
"The aunt was a relative of Perry's," Baab said.
Johnson sent the photo to a Florida magazine editor, who in turn sent it to the International Game Fish Association, which ran the photo in its magazine, International Angler, fall 2005.
