Sowbelly is a story of obsession, passion and chasing the world largemouth bass record. The author Monte Burke who works for Forbes travels the country interviewing multiple characters with different life stories, and methods of pursuing the world record. Burke also has a North Carolina Connection growing up fishing farm ponds as a kid.
Since 1932 after George Perry caught a 22 pound bass on montgomery lake in Georgia, many have persued the record. This book entails just a few and the lengths they have gone to chasing the record. One has lost his daughter and wife, another built his own bass pond designed to grow the largest bass, and others have risen early in the morning and fished all day in any weather.
The book also gives a great history lesson in how Texas and California grow the largest bass at the state level. As Burke spends time with biologist in Texas's bass lab, and in Cali how a stocking program has shown results in forms of giant bass. Along the way Burke makes some stops learning the world of garage lures that have changed the game.
This novel is a suspenseful easy to read story that brings a record chase into perspective. The good news is that you can pick a copy up for about $5 on Amazon. Some may not come with cover like the copy I own pictured above but its not about the cover it's about the story and this one has changed my perspective.
J.Jones
