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Julian Williams | all galleries >> Julian Williams's Galleries >> Old Jacksonville, Ga.- Where History Lives > World Record Bass Marker Near Jacksonville, Ga.
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World Record Bass Marker Near Jacksonville, Ga.

World Record Bass State Historical Marker
Located on Ga. 117 four miles east of Jacksonville, Ga.

WORLD RECORD BASS

Approximately two miles from this spot, on June 2, 1932, George W. Perry, a 19-year old farm boy, caught what was to become America's most famous fish. The twenty-two pound four ounce largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) exceeded the existing record by more than two pounds has retained the world record for more than fifty years. Perry and his friend, J.E. Page, were fishing in Montgomery Lake, a slough off the Ocmulgee River, not for trophies but to bring food to the table during those days of the great depression. The fish was caught on a Creek Chub Perch Scale Wigglefish, Perry's only lure, and was 32 1/2 inches in length and 28 1/2 inches in girth. The weight and measurements were taken, recorded and notarized in Helena, Georgia and Perry's only reward was seventy-five dollars in merchandise as first prize in Field and Stream Magazine's fishing contest. The longstanding record is one of the reasons that the largemouth bass was made Georgia's Official State Fish. Montgomery Lake is today part of the Department of natural Resources' Horse Creek Wildlife Management Area.

134-4 GEORGIA HISTORIC MARKER 1984

© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia
Photo and Text Credit to Ed Jackson, CVIOG, UGA, Athens, Ga.
NOTE: As of June 2, 2002, the record has stood for 70 years!


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Ron S. Bernardo25-Jul-2006 02:13
Very important piece of history and information. I learned something.