Take Fork and grow it almost 8 times its size and I bet it wouldnt have.

To possibly counter or add to the aging lake theory I would like to propose that maybe the % Florida strain population has decreased in the lakes. This should be easy enough data to collect from fish sampling and I thought I had read in the past the % Florida bass in certain lakes but I can not find it at the moment.

TPWD does a good job telling us how many they put into the lakes which has been pretty consistent year over year. I doubt the Florida fingerling survival rate is very high during drought/low water level periods. It would answer some questions if we knew if the % Floridas are increasing but the 13+ are decreasing - or - the % Floridas are decreasing and the 13+ are decreasing.

I can not speak for Fork and will leave that to you all but the two big lakes in East Texas are definitely on the upward cycle again. Nothing like the 1990s but getting better.

I have read that catch rates on Florida strain bass are low due to them being less prone to biting lures. So perhaps florida strain is increasing too much. But I far as I know, they still catch fish down the big O so perhaps not. But it would still be interesting to see how the Florida bass are effecting our genetics.

I am not a biologist so I will leave all that to all you guys that are. I want to say as a Texas resident I am glad to have TP&W and think they do a hell of a job managing our fisheries. Been to a lot of states and I will take our agency hands down over any of them.

Its because I haven't really fished hard for a few years.







NOT! I can't even catch sma ones right now.

I think the Florida gene thing is ridiculous, Falcon has proven that a fish doesn't have to be Florida to get big. We are no closer to breaking a world record than we were 10 years ago.

I wonder if LaPerla will turn in any Share-a-lunkers.

Get to fishing and quit complaining.Mother nature can be tuff sometimes.

A 13lbs fish in Austin last year is probably not a 13lbs fish today. The lack of grass has resulted in less forage, fewer baitfish and the fish will lose weight as a result. The also don't put on as much weight prior to the spawn. In a big fish it could be as drastic as a couple pounds.....look at the weight variations of "Dotty" for example.

Well stated. I'd like to see a graph of the percent of fishable water with vegetation over the same time periods shown. Grass grows big bass.

2004 was the last major flood year in N. Texas.
In 2006, the Lewisville lake record was broken 4 times ending with the current lake record and only Lewisville sharelunker. The next couple of years are going to show improved fishing an many lakes, it is a cycle. More fisherman will make smarter fish, smarter fish will grow larger and be more difficult to catch

All this information is great but I agree with whats was stated earlier grass grows big fish .