Reel-to-reel appeal
By David A. Maurer
Albemarle County filmmaker Jamie Howard drew on the crisp storytelling skills he developed while making commercials in his career with a New York ad agency and learning how to make each film moment matter.
With his fields too wet to work, George W. Perry decided to go fishing.
The Georgia farmer headed for nearby Montgomery Lake with his fishing buddy, Jack Page. It was just past noon when “all at once the water splashed everywhere.”
That’s how Perry later described the strike that made history. It was June 2, 1932, and, after a lot more splashing and line tugging, what proved to be the world-record largemouth bass was flopping on the bottom of the homemade boat.
The fishermen took the trophy catch to the general store in Helena, Ga., where the owner, a notary public, weighed and measured it. The fish that had been fooled by a Creek Chub Fintail Shiner lure weighed a staggering 22 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 32½ inches long and 28½-inches in girth.
A store customer told Perry about a bass-fishing contest Field and Stream magazine was running that had a $75 prize, as well as a new rod, reel and shotgun, going to the winner.
Before entering the fish in the contest, the farmer wisely had it weighed and measured again on a certified scale at the nearby post office.
Perry’s world-record lunker is widely credited for launching what has become a multi-billion dollar bass-fishing industry in the United States. Now, thanks to Albemarle County filmmaker Jamie Howard, one of the most sought-after freshwater game fish in the country has made it to the big screen…
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