By the way, TPWD stocks FLMB not with the goal off increasing bass populations, but with the goal of increasing the % of FLMB genetic material in the genes of the bass population. The hope is the fishery will produce larger fish because of the FLMB genes. In the case of Lake Fork, it has been an utter and complete failure in my opinion. 12 million FLMB fingerlings and almost 25 years later, the 1992 record still stands. Fork, Rayburn, And Toledo Bend all receive massive FLMB stockings and are great bass fisheries, but if the goal is to break the 18# record than the mission has not been accomplished. I think the key is to somehow encourage the harvest of smaller fish.

Tawakoni has been working for two decades, there are plenty of large blue catfish being caught and harvested every week and lake record for blue catfish is steadily climbing to 87 lb. I see no need for those experiment that are most likely to fail. When any one of those four lakes produce a better results than lake Tawakoni then you might have some legitimate reason to push new regulations at tawakoni. As of now, no.

I can tell you my experience on Lewisville...not to long ago I caught and released 15 31" fish that would have hit the grease if it weren't for the slot limit. They weren't big fish...they were long fish that weighed between 9 and 12#...the cold winters have been hard on the shad, but my guess is these fish will fill out nicely soon.

nobody harvests little fish...that is definitely a problem with bass fisherman. Problem is that true trophy fishery just wouldn't have the numbers of catchable bass that fisherman like.

Not even close, people are CACHING 50 60 lb blue catfish at tawakoni every week, NOW.

I wasn't comparing the two...there is no way anyone can compare the two. You were just talking about catfish slot lakes and I told you my experience at Lewisville. That the slot is definitely saving some fish.

Tawakoni has been stocked with hundreds of thousands of blue catfish and has a ton of standing timber and shore cover that Lewisville doesn't have.

I think there is room for some harvest at the low end and still have plenty of numbers...LMB is not the filet mignon of freshwater fish but it isn't bad...The state should sponsor some three string fish fry tournaments.

You act like catching a 50# at Tawakoni is easy...and unless your screenname is Drawout I don't think that is true.

I think its Fred's Red Hot...I heard he puts that stuff on everything. That and Tom's sour gummy worms. One time Tom stayed so long on Tawakoni he ran out of food. He was terribly hungry and all he had was a couple of slices of bread, some shad, and those darn secret super sour gummy worms he is always talking about. Did he those gummy worms...no...shad sandwich topped with a Sure Shot spread.

No not me but this past winter people did catch them pretty much every week.

Saving the fish so presumably they will grow to 50lbs 60, 90 lb ? That's the theory. I'll believe it when I see it. Meanwhile, fish look long and skinny, fish get older but not bigger. And people live near LL go to tawakoni to catch catfish to eat.

366000 fingerling can be produced by as few as 20 10lbs females blue catfish in one year.

If submerged timbers produce big blue catfish, lake fork should have plenty of blue monsters...

...those are problems with armchair theories.

But one thing is for sure, not all lakes are equal, and tawakoni water is very fertile, however in terms blue catfish habitats, tawakoni will always play second fiddle to lake texoma and the red river. Remember blue catfish are river fish.

IMHO, the best fisheries management for Lake Tawakoni is action oriented quality fisheries for blue catfish and striped bass. All tpwd has to is to continue to stock striped and hybrid bass as they have done for years. Tawakoni is already the best action oriented fishing lake in North Texas for striped bass and hybrid bass and blue catfish. And to answer your question, yes I have caught a few 50lbs blue catfish from the bank, and my son caught a striped bass just under 17lb, tied with lake and state youth record at the time. No, those were not easy, we caught them while grilling lamb racks during our picnic by the lake or camping. Now you know why I love that lake.

Funny, all this talk of what makes a blue catfish lake thrive and i have yet to hear anybody say anything about genetics...in my opinion, genetics is one of the biggest factors that affect the growth rate of blue catfish and all fish for that matter. Just my 2 sense...

+1!

Would you like to explain what genetic strain or strains that you are looking for? Are they different than the general genetic of those of general blue catfish population?

The genetic argument is essentially the same argument as the big spawners argument. The root of this argument is from the extrapolation of pairing two big and tall man and woman together their offspring will be big and tall, it's kind common sense isn't it? So you need to save those big spawners to preserve the superior genes, etc, etc. So goes the logic.

Well then, may I ask how many eggs did an 80lb female blue catfish lay last year? And the year before that,... and how many of her offspring from 5 years ago are now also laying more eggs this year?

Lake Lewisville blue catfish record of 63 lb caught back in 2000 must have laid millions of eggs before she was taken out of the water. So we know the "gene" is there, but 15 years later, the 2000 lake record still stands. Does genetic explain anything in LL ??? I don't think so.

You can't tell a whole lot from the lake records. I have personally seen two fish out of Lewisville recently that would have broke the record if the people would have chose to turn it in.