Awesome!, Thanks Hobbs for clarifying that.
There will be some excited kids in the future over their newly obtained records I hope.
I let two junior records on Rayburn get away from two young girls when I weighed them on my scales then failed to get them certified within thirty days. I felt really bad and still do for them, but at least now I know how to get that done, and will do so real soon.
Thanks Texas bass buster for the topic and thanks everyone else for the helpful replies.

They must be certified every year. I just buy a new scale and send it to be certified when my old one is about a month away from expiring. They put a sticker on the scale and you just put the info from that sticker and the weights and measures place that certified it on your application. No need to get it notarized unless it is a state record. Just email the pics and completed application to the email address on the application. Your certificates will arrive a couple weeks later.

How does this work on lakes like Toledo Bend that allow trailering to weigh ins for some tournaments ?

You have to release the water INTO the lake before you take off from final weigh in. You can transport fish, as LONG AS YOU RELEASE THE WATER IN THE SAME LAKE! At least, that is the way it works on Pines and other trailering lakes. Hope this helps.

Tight lines, keep safe and good luck.

Thad Rains

So my quest for a lake record Bass or Crappie never happened since we could not find them this year during the spawn.
I did however break the current fly fishing lake record for the white bass. Previous record was 1.38 lb and mine was 1.60lb

I also broke/created 2 other records unknown to me. I caught a yellow bass and alligator gar on the fly which has not been done yet. The yellow bass was about a pound or so and the alligator gar was roughly 10 lbs. the alligator gar was released and the yellow bass is somewhere in one of the filet bags in my freezer with other sandbass.

The process was very easy. I already had the paperwork filled out from TPWD and the store where i went just put their scale certification number and a witness on there. After that I emailed it to TPWD this morning I noticed the records have been updated on their website. Still waiting for my certificate. Im now trying to beat the Hybrid Bass record on the fly.

Link to my record here.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/action/waterecords.php?WB_code=0714

My 2 year old caught the new lake fork Jr. record white bass and the game warden is making us get it notarized. It is just a water body record so I am not exactly sure why it needs to be notarized. It has been a huge hassle to get this all done. Where have Y'all sent in the paperwork when you have submitted a new record? The marina we had it weighed at said they would give it to a game warden that took almost a month. Now the warden is saying we need it notarized and that he will mail the form back to us. Then after we get it notarized to mail it back to him. I just feel like this is taking longer than it should. Also no one will acknowledge there is a 60 day limit to get the paperwork submitted.

congrats texasbassbuster on the lake record.

bcjc82, the process is described on tpwd website on the fish records and awards page. when the warden mails you the form, just mail it to tpwd like it says on the website and forget the warden. You should have never left it with the marina to start with either because they obviously know about as much as the warden about how to submit a record catch.
It's really an easy process, and I'm not sure if the warden has the pictures of the fish with the form or whatever but pictures are required along with the forms. If no pictures where submitted with the application forms maybe the notary is just a verification. I don't know. A state record submission does have to be notarized but not a waterbody record. Either way I would skip the warden as soon as you get the application back and just mail it in yourself.

Thanks 1442. I didn't think it had to be notarized either. We were very excited when it happened and I have never submitted anything like this before so I trusted that the marina new what they were talking about when they said that the Game warden would have to verify the species. I am a marine biologist and been fishing freshwater my entire life. I sure hope I know my major game fish by now. I will make sure that when we get the form back from the warden that we just mail it in to the proper place. We have pictures of the weight and the length of the fish along with lots of pictures of my son with the the fish. Thanks for the insight it is greatly appreciated.

The only thing that should be notarized is a state record if I remember correctly.

What I did was fill out the paperwork a head of time what I could. Then when I caught the fish I brought it to the place who has certified scales. They took pictures and sent them to my phone for me and they took a copy of my paperwork I filled out. I had the pictures and paperwork all together and emailed it to the email address on the TPWD site. Less than a week later I was on the website.

You could probably fill out new paperwork and gather your photos and submit it through email instead of waiting on the warden. As long as it is just a water body record. No need for all the other nonsense you are having to go through. Let me know if you need any help or advice.

Thanks 1442.