In 1978, the race for the world record bass was just starting to heat up with the recent catch of bass at, or very near, 20 pounds in California. The author documents several of those chasing after the record bass, including a few from Florida, as well as what the value of the fish catch might be, the now infamous “million dollar” price tag. Ray Scott gets mentioned as he supposedly sent BASS staff to investigate some world record reported bass catches outside the country, all of which eventually proved to be false.
The story appeared in 4 different Florida papers:
- The Palm Beach Post
- The Tampa Tribune
- Tampa Bay Times
- Fort Lauderdale News
all with the same picture and title, but with two slightly different captions.
“Search for the Million-Dollar Bass”
by: Robert G. Deindorfer, March, 1978, no photo credit
Here are the two captions:
“Live bass swim in wall tank in office of publisher Ray Scott. Fishing for bigmouth is a sport that lures 23 million in U.S.”
“Live bass swim in wall tank decorating the office of publisher Ray Scott. Fishing for bigmouth is a sport that attracts 23 million Americans. Many do it for the pleasure alone, but others are lured by the hope of a financial reward.”
