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Read about Mark's experiences on the road in his blog below.
Bigger in Texas!
November 12, 2008 by Mark Melnyk
Its True!!! Everything is bigger in Texas!
We learned it first hand. After arriving in Dallas late on Sunday night, we picked up our rental car and drove 2 hours south-east to Athens. This is home to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center and “Big Bass Central.” Texas Parks and Wildlife runs a program called the Budweiser ShareLunker program where anglers are encouraged to donate, alive, any largemouth bass caught in Texas over 13 lbs. They take submissions October – April and to date, they have had one submission for this year – a 13.38 pound behemoth caught by John and Jack True. This fish taped out at 26.75 inches in length and 20 inches around.
We were entertained all day by David Campbell… his passion for giant fish is unsurpassed. He oversees the Freshwater Fisheries Center and is the steward for all the bass that enter the program.
Each fish eligible for the Budweiser ShareLunker Program must pass a genetic test to be introduced into the hatchery. If she (they only take females) isn’t genetically 98% pure Florida Strain Largemouth, they don’t qualify for the fun part. Genetically superior fish are kept in breeding tanks, matched up with a genetically superior male and asked to do the horizontal hokey pokey on a specially designed breeding mat.
David informs us that the success rate of the program varies year to year but overall, many genetically superior fish are released from the hatchery into native largemouth lakes around the state of Texas.
Each Lunker is kept for a year, and released to the same lake in which it was caught . The program’s record keeping is stellar, ensuring a male is never cross-bred with any fish that could be their offspring – keeping the Florida strain as pure as possible.
For their efforts, each angler is given a graphite mount of their fish as well as various other prizes from the program…the angler who catches the biggest fish of the year is named angler of the year and gets all kinds of goods. 2008 Angler of the year was Brett Harris who landed a 14.5 pound fish.
Check out http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/visitorcenters/tffc/budsharelunker/ for all the big girls caught in the center’s history. And if you get a lunker in Texas, be sure to share it.
Mark Melnyk
