Nope it’s a fake, wish it wasn’t but there are just too many little inconsistencies with the photo to be authentic.

I think the second photo could be real though, it may not be Perry's fish but its a damn good bass.

Who in the world holds a bass like that, if it squirmed, that thing would be right back in the water and never to be seen again....not real

Looks to me like someone took a picture of him holding a smaller fish and just photoshopped in a mammoth largemouth. The quality of the image of the fish is just to good for that era. Completely fake.

I'm with ruckinger2. You don't give a fish like that a chance to get back in the water. Also, I've never seen a bass fresh out of the water hold its mouth wide open like that. Was the photographer standing in the lake? BS.

Ok so after further examination I still stand by my comment but I think I have nailed one of the things with the picture that isn't right and the one that just makes the picture look so fake. Yes I agree the fish is just too clear, along with the ripples int he water (apparently from the fresh out of the lake bass thats dripping it). If you pay close attention to the leg on the right hand side. It is not proportionate tot he chest and body of the guy holding the "fish". It looks like his torso is shortened. That leg on the right looks aweful thin where his kneee is and where the tail of the fish all come together. The position of the pose is just off as well. And that smile is just creepy.... doesn't look like a smile.

for me, the thing that doesn't look right is the mouth wide open on the fish. why would it be open if you weren't holding it by the mouth.
I never saw a photo of a bass with it's mouth open like this one, when the guy was holding it by the body and not by the mouth.

...and I have some swamp land on the back of my property that I will sell cheap: $500,000 per acre.

Ohh Myyy Gawwwwdddd look at the bass color, vs the picture, theres sunlight 'peeking' through where the basses tail should be, {center right}, {oddly same as the 2006 photo}, and lastly, that stomach isn't sagging at all for a 22 pounder!! Good call nixstyx

If the second photo is supposed to be from the 30's, what are the sky scrapers doing in the background? That photo looks more like a 60/70's era shot.

Here's the skinny on this. It was during the great depression and Georgia was hit harder than most states and so this little sham was concocted. A cardboard cut out of an enlarged bass {from a lure advertisement} by the way and a little water poured out of an old beer bottle behind the cut out to make it look like he just caught it. They were all in on it and they figured, heck, we've got to do something to jump start the economy and who can say how many big fish are in there? Now you know.