one100grand
Well-known member
I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this being a record. On one hand, I like to have faith that people aren't trying to cheat for a record like this, but unfortunately I also deal with people on a regular basis and know they can be shady.
I don't think this kid in particular cheated, maybe someone else, but probably not him.
Basing it on geography, I think I'd have to say that the record is probably legit. It might sound strange, but I say based on geography because unlike a place like Alabama, Georgia, or Florida; Maryland has winter. Winter seems very relevant to me that fish and forage regularly don't survive the whole year because of conditions, so just cramming tons of forage into a body of water doesn't mean that everything is going to survive long enough to reproduce. In my humble opinion, a fishery capable of producing a fish like this needs to have a healthy ecosystem and while stocking forage improves those odds, it does not guarantee it.
I'll use an example of a place that I fish - it's posted as a "private" 5-10 acre pond, but it's supposedly limited to residents of a community (of about 1000 people). No one stocks it, nor do they patrol it to make sure that everyone who is fishing there lives in the community. I've pulled numerous 5+ pound bass (and seen a few fish that are around the 10 pound mark) from this body of water and never thought of it being any sort of cheating because of the nature of the body of water. The reason that the fish in this pond get so big is not because of lack of pressure, but more from the forage. There is an extremely healthy crayfish population and the bass flourish as a result; the crayfish have done well here (leading the bass to also do well) and are not/have not ever been stocked.
I do agree that places with no winter season shouldn't have private waters count for fish records.
I don't think this kid in particular cheated, maybe someone else, but probably not him.
Basing it on geography, I think I'd have to say that the record is probably legit. It might sound strange, but I say based on geography because unlike a place like Alabama, Georgia, or Florida; Maryland has winter. Winter seems very relevant to me that fish and forage regularly don't survive the whole year because of conditions, so just cramming tons of forage into a body of water doesn't mean that everything is going to survive long enough to reproduce. In my humble opinion, a fishery capable of producing a fish like this needs to have a healthy ecosystem and while stocking forage improves those odds, it does not guarantee it.
I'll use an example of a place that I fish - it's posted as a "private" 5-10 acre pond, but it's supposedly limited to residents of a community (of about 1000 people). No one stocks it, nor do they patrol it to make sure that everyone who is fishing there lives in the community. I've pulled numerous 5+ pound bass (and seen a few fish that are around the 10 pound mark) from this body of water and never thought of it being any sort of cheating because of the nature of the body of water. The reason that the fish in this pond get so big is not because of lack of pressure, but more from the forage. There is an extremely healthy crayfish population and the bass flourish as a result; the crayfish have done well here (leading the bass to also do well) and are not/have not ever been stocked.
I do agree that places with no winter season shouldn't have private waters count for fish records.
