If there could be a poll of bass fishermen asked to guess where the next world record largemouth bass will be caught, responses would include California, Texas, Mexico, Cuba and Florida. What about Japan?

Reports indicate that a 22-pound, 5-ounce bass was caught by Manabu Kurita, a professional angler, in Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake. It covers more than 259 square miles and is 300 feet deep in spots. It is one of the world's oldest lakes.

The fish was caught either Wednesday or Thursday about noon on live bait. The fish's girth and other information were not given, but images of the bass were posted on various Web sites.

If reports are true, the fish will tie Georgia's 22-pound, 4-ounce world record bass caught by George W. Perry on June 2, 1932, in Montgomery Lake in Telfair County. The record has stood by itself for 77 years. The International Game Fish Association requires new world records of fish 25 pounds or less to weigh two ounces more than the previous one.

In recent years, Japanese officials have reacted to concerns by commercial fishermen in that country and tried to eliminate invasive species from Biwa, and black bass are on that list of invasives. The Lake Biwa Museum Restaurant lists largemouth bass on its menu.

The previous Japanese bass record weighed 19.15 pounds and was caught in 2003.

Most fishermen thought the next world record bass would come from a California reservoir that gets stocked with rainbow trout. Dixon Lake in Escondido, north of San Diego, served up a 25-pound, 1-ounce bass in March 2006, but angler Mack Weakley foul-hooked the bass, making it an illegal catch. The bass was found dead two years later.