Manabu Kurita - World Record Largemouth Bass

A lot has been written recently about Manabu Kurita, a 32 year old trophy bass hunter from Japan, about his catch of the new world record largemouth bass.

In case you have been living in a cave, he caught a 22.311 pound largemouth bass on July 2, 2009, from one of Japan’s oldest lakes, Lake Biwa, a 165,00 acre lake, surpassing George Perry’s long standing record of 77 years.

It is illegal to release bass back into the lake in Japan as the Japanese government considers them an invasive species and is trying to eradicate them and the Bluegill that reside there.

This however has nothing to do with the attitude of the majority of Japanese bass anglers or Manabu Kurita regarding this highly prized gamefish.

Manabu is one of my closest friends and has proven his dedication and honesty to me many times over in the past year.

Many of you may have seen the article that appeared recently in Bassmaster magazine on Manabu Kurita and his trophy hunting tactics.

After this article appeared I got many comments on his methods from all over the world, some good, some bad, but, I will tell you now that there is no other trophy bass hunter alive today who is more dedicated and more committed to the pursuit and preservation of trophy largemouth bass than my friend Manabu Kurita.

He is shy and unassuming and his honesty is very refreshing.

He has taken more giant bass on swimbaits, the “Mother” in particular, which he designed himself, than most other anglers could ever hope to see in their lifetime.

Before he landed the new world record bass this year, he already held the lake record for Lake Biwa, with an 18 pound behemoth he caught in 2008 on the “Mother’ swimbait.

If you would like to see all of Manabu Kurita’s pictures, most of which can not be seen on any website, and talk with him in person, just stop in at Northeast Bass fishing For Trophy Bass website where he is a member and talk with him in the forums. You will not be disappointed!

Congratulations to Manabu Kurita. He is a true trophy hunter dedicated to the pursuit of world record bass like no other. I am proud to say that in the past year he has become one of my closest friends, Another person who helps him a great deal but receives no real credit is Reika Ishaguro who designs his website, communicates his thoughts and wishes to me and others, and also is a great angler in her own right.

Manabu Kurita - World Record Largemouth Bass