COLUMN : BASS HISTORY bass and the land of the rising sun
The introduction of largemouth to Japanese waters had a profound worldwide-impact
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ken Duke has been writing about all aspects of bass fishing for 40 years . When he ’ s not reading about , writing about , thinking about or talking about bass fishing , he ’ s usually bass fishing .
T he largemouth bass is one of the great aquaculture and angling successes in world history . It ’ s Earth ’ s most widely distributed freshwater fish . Only the brown trout can claim nearly as much coverage .
There are largemouth in five of the seven continents . They ’ re in Africa , Asia , Europe , North America and South America . No matter where you live or visit , the odds are that largemouths are not far away .
Of course , it wasn ’ t always like that . At the time of the founding of the United States , the range of the largemouth bass was mostly confined to the eastern half of North America . Subsequent stockings have spread the bass gospel , along with its genetics . And one of the most important and influential places where bass have taken hold is in Japan .
For anyone reading this – mostly diehard bass lovers – it ’ s hard to imagine a world without Japanese bass tackle , without Japanese bass techniques , and without the world record largemouth bass , which came from Japan in 2009 . But there was a time – not so very long ago – when there were no bass in Japan .
the iron horse
The history surrounding the introduction of largemouth bass to the Land of the Rising Sun is a bit hazy , but it ’ s generally believed that 75 fingerlings and three adult bass were first stocked in Lake Ashinoko ( southwest of Tokyo ) in May of 1925 by a wealthy businessman named Tetsuma Akaboshi .
Akaboshi was born in 1882 to a wealthy family . He was the oldest of six sons and seven daughters . His father made a fortune building military supplies for the Japanese Navy . Being the eldest son , Tetsuma ( the name translates to “ Iron Horse ”) basically inherited everything and lived a privileged life . He attended
26 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2022