I feel good, awesome, in fact. I’m just stoked to see a fish that big.

We don’t want to go out breaking the record with so many people doubting it. We want it to be 100 percent — or more realistically 90 percent — being behind it with no controversy....

I feel it’s the right way. I want the record of George Perry (22-4) to still stand. I don’t want this (foul-hooked bass) to be a record, and I want to keep pursuing it with...

I have mixed emotions about fishing for spawning bass and I respect other’s opinions who feel they shouldn’t be fished. But a lot of guys don’t understand the time and aggravation that goes into fishing...

If I kept pulling it out of the water, I don’t know if I would have damaged it. This was so big, we thought we were going to break its neck. But we were confident...

I admit it was foul-hooked, so I said let’s just weigh it and let it go.