Can't knock that California has more 20+ bass than any other state. But it is not apples and apples. Most of the big bass lakes in California are small lakes (by Texas Standards) and have a very large number of rainbow trout fingerlings served up to them all summer long. I couldn't find it but I had a u-tube video shot by one of the workers on a stocking truck. In the video you could see DD bass swimming around the end of the discharge pipe waiting for dinner. Pretty good video. Don't know about Japan.

Hands down and Calis DFG has done NOTHING to manage those fish other than stock them back in the 60's.

They went like the Ronco machine and set it and forget it and look what they got! No SAL program there.

Heck Japan is kicking out bigger fish than Texas, and bass are the carp of Japan. Not only do they not manage them they actively implement policies to destroy them as they have endangered native fishes.

And before yall get into talkin about Cali and trout, keep in mind a number of those top 25 fish came from lakes that never saw a trout plant and most do not even have Gizzard shad (most Texas lakes have) which are just as big and meaty as any trout.

Lets be serious, planting Florida bass is good for size; thats a fact. Texas did a great thing in doing that and has many large bass and very good fishing partly as a result. Props on that!

That said planting the offspring of SAL bass, has not been proven to do a dam thing vs. just planting reg. Florida's other than cause the deaths of several of those large fish which by the way were ABOUT TO BREED ANYWAYS right there in the lake... think about that.

Then you have the public beating you up when the fish dies... No wonder no ones turning them, their eyes are open now!

Wasn't this program called "Operation World Record" when it started? The mission has failed. Time to abort it.

No Operation World Record was part of the SAL. I think started around 2007 or 2008.

They stocked a few smaller lakes with number of SAL offspring that were tagged, I think that ski lake in Fort Worth was one of them, I don't know the name. They put some in Mill Creek in Canton. I think it was 4 or so lakes they stocked for Operation World Record, that also seems to be a failure....

Dan, I think it was called the Lone Star Share-a-Lunker Program when it kicked off in November, 1986.

I like Budweiser more than Toyota.

The Budweiser Share-a-Lunker has failed... time to take the last swig and call it a night.

Operation World Record.

http://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releases/?req=20060508f

This maybe a dumb question on my part... Hopefully someone on here knows. Why didn't they keep some of the offspring from the the fish they successfully spawned for an ongoing breeding program? I'm no biologist, but that sure seems like a heck of a diverse genetic pool, especially if you are rotating in different males periodically. Sterilize a small lake. Toss female offspring in, load it with bait, let is sit for a couple years and then pull out a few every spring to breed with a different giant male.

I think thats how RR does in the PI no? ha ha.

Seriously that is a good idea.

I am sure there is some reason it would not work that someone smarter than me would know.

Fouzman-

Look at the date on the posting. It reads May 8th, 2006. I think this was announcing the start of the Select Lake World Record experiment.

Yes sir, I knew that. I was posting for Dan so he could read about OWR.

Dan

Don't want to argue the point, but check this link to the California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife- Fish Planting schedule for Trout and then name me one big bass lake in California that is not on this list.

https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FishPlants/

Where's Dixon?

I guess you proved your point. California just stuffed them and forgot them. The last 19+ bass caught in California was Lake Mission Viejo, on Mar, 21st, 2006. The next closest to that is Lake Dixon in 2003. Most of the big bass caught that made the top 25 were caught prior to 1992 (16). Now it is true Texas has never had a 19+ caught but with the documented decline in the big bass caught I wouldn't say the California Fish and Games program is ahead of Texas. In fact California has legislation pending to eliminate all Black Bass from the Delta and from Clear Lake.

I agree. California's F&G department couldn't carry TPWDs jock strap. For those who don't know, some of the bass in Lake Biwa, Japan came from Athens, Texas!

It boggles the mind how people compare Texas to California and even Japan for that matter. You can't put an Indy car on a dirt round and round and expect it to win a race. The habitat is COMPLETELY different.

I know this is hard for Texans to do but we have to embrace the fact that we might not be able to beat the rest of the world in this category. It's just not a level playing field.

We grow 10 pound bass with the best of them yet only in the rarest of circumstances do we break 15 pounds.

Until we do away with the status quo (i.e. Mike Frazier, Share-A-Lunker, or Dr. Schwartz) will we get outside of the box we are in and achieve something special. So if you don't know what a Punnett Square is than jump on the bandwagon and bash those listed because "you know better" or "you read it on the internet" but leave the biology to the biologists.

For those who still don't realize WE ARE STOCKING MILLIONS of Florida strain largemouth EVERY YEAR in Texas waterways but guess what? That's not doing it. We need something else.... An X factor. But for now we don't have that. So choose to participate or not.... But give the soap box a rest. We've been here, done this.

Respectfully......