17-pound bass caught in Japan

Many fishermen believe the next world record largemouth bass will come from Texas or California, where bass weighing 18 to more than 21 pounds have been caught.

But don’t count Japan out of that race.

On April 13, Japanese angler Hidetada Nakajima landed a bass weighing approximately 17 pounds (officially reported as 7,560 grams) while fishing the Nanairo Reservoir near Nara Prefecture, Japan.

Nakajima caught the bass on a rainbow trout pattern Sebile Magic Swimmer, a jointed lure designed by French lure-maker Patrick Sebile.

The bass is a Nanairo Reservoir record, but it does not surpass the Japanese record of 19.6 pounds, said Gary Dollahon of Sebile USA.

The world record bass weighed 22 pounds, 4 ounces and was caught in 1932 at Montgomery Lake, Ga.