Summed up my thoughts perfectly

My issue at the end of the day is the amount of money that can be better allocated to other resources to improve the fisheries. This genetic flim flam has such low odds when compared to all the other factors which mainly have to do with the environment.

Lake Austin is a great case, look at all the monster bags coming out of there because the environment had all the right factors in place for years to allow those bass to grow. Weather patterns have a HUGE effect on the growth rate of these fish.

We cannot control the weather but we can control to an extent the environment. I would rather see more money allocated to habitat management. Native grasses, soil control, water quality testing and baitfish improvement. Genetics doesn't mean a hill of beans if the other factors aren't there.

What that article shows me is that an old fish with superior genetics grew to monster size. Maybe a fish with inferior genetics doesn't get that big in an ecosystem with limited habitat and forage. But I can guarantee you one thing, an inferior genetics fish will get to very large proportions and sometimes monster size in the right habitat with the right forage.

If all the other fish of that same class year are 8lbs and this fish is 13lbs it could indeed be a very special fish. There needs to be a controlled experiment here. Somebody on here with deep pockets and some time on their hands should do us all a favor and conduct this experiment. Step 1: Build two identical ponds roughly 1 acre each. Stock them with bluegill and let them do their thing for two years. Catch a two pound female largemouth from a body of water that has not been stocked with FL strain bass. (I'd think there are still a few left). Next buy a 2lb female from Mike Frazier out at bell. Let these bass loose in the separate ponds. Drain them a year latter and see what the results are. Repeat this a half dozen times and the answer to the question on genetics has been answered.

Ready go.

I don't know how many SALs have died due to the program, but I seriously doubt if it's over 100. Obviously that number is not out of one single lake. I think it would be a valid statement to say not more than 1 lake has had more 5 13+lb fish permanently removed from it. In the big picture, does this really make a big difference in a lake?

As said above, Mother Nature and some of the smart people calling the shots have way more influence on the quality and quantity of fish in a fishery.

Then you'd be wrong. Very wrong. Do you really believe that Lake Fork has had five or less 13+ pound fish permanently removed from it since the 1986 inception? I won't do the research for you, but it's readily available online.

Also of note.. All of the fish, with the exception of one, after being released back into the wild after surviving the Sharelunker Spawning Experience, have lost weight the next time they were caught and re-evaluated.

There is not a big number of these fish.. I can't remember how many there are, a handful or so, but going thru the SL program seems to put a stop to their growth cycle..

For whatever it's worth..

Are you sayin the TPWD SAL program is nothing more than a Bigbass Brothel Fatcamp

Turns out the fish was an offspring of a Share A Lunker caught from Lake Conroe.

CONFIRMED!!
The recent entry into the Toyota ShareLunker Program from Marine Creek Lake by Ryder Wicker, was just confirmed to be the daughter of previous ShareLunker 410! This new catch is evidence that ShareLunker offspring have greater growth potential and ultimate size than non-ShareLunker bass!

ShareLunker 410 was caught on 3/22/2006 from Lake Conroe, donated to the ShareLunker program by angler Edward Reid, and paired up with a male ShareLunker offspring at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center hatchery in Athens, Texas. One of the 5,000 (or so) fingerlings produced by that pair and stocked into Marine Creek Lake grew up to 13.07 pounds in less than 11 years and shattered the previous lake record of 10.78 lbs when it was caught last Friday!

The stocking that included ShareLunker 566 and her siblings was done as part of a ShareLunker evaluation research project, designed to compare growth of ShareLunker fingerlings to growth of the resident bass population in several Texas lakes including Marine Creek. The catch of ShareLunker 566 from Marine Creek Lake not only validates the success of TPWD�s selective breeding program at producing ShareLunker-size bass, but also demonstrates how anglers can help others by donating their ShareLunkers for breeding purposes. Mr. Wicker can tip his hat to Mr. Reid for making this moment possible!

#ToyotaShareLunker

That's a stretch of a statement. That is based on one fish that grew to 13lbs in 11 years. To make the statement that proves that ShareLunker offspring have greater growth potential than non-sharelunker is very suspect...........

Genetics schmemetics........... Most bass don't even live to 11 years old, so genetics won't mean squat if it can't get that old because of habitat, forage, and water quality.

Most bass will grow to 2 lbs within the first year, after that it's about a 1/2 pound a year. It is impressive that this fish beat the odds and grew at almost double the average to about 1 pound per year. But it still fails the big experiment of producing a new World Record, much less a Texas State Record. The Texas state record as we all know as 18.18 pounds. We don't know the age of that fish either. However..... we know the Lake Fork was impounded in 1980. So potentially that fish was 12 years old since it was caught in 1992. So that fish grew at a rate of 1 1/3 lbs per year, better than the Operation World Record Fish, just an ol' Florida.

Now is where it get's really interesting. In the top 20 bass caught in Texas only 4 have been caught since 2000 and to make the top 20 you must be 16lbs or bigger. Number 2 on the list is a 17.67 caught in 1986 on Lake Fork......Odd that fish was only 6 years old 'IF' it was one of the original Florida's stocked in 1980. That's insane growth rate! (more likely that fish was in an old pond that got flooded when the lake was impounded) At 6 years old that fish put on 2.61 lbs per year! Virtually any fish on the top 6 from Lake Fork beat this one fish in growth rate.

Habitat and Forage folks.......

Ray Sasser thinks the program needs to be changed Click here for article

I think people talking about poor genetic fish who get good nutrition will grow into giants is like saying the son of a 5'6" man and a 5' woman given the right nutrition will grow to be 7 ft. and play in the NBA. Good nutrition will allow the boy (and fish) to reach its genetic peak but nutrition will not allow them to exceed their genetic code. To deny that genetic makeup is the primary driver to extremely large growth goes against everything scientific and belongs in the Marvel comics.

And while I have a lot of respect for Ray Sasser and his writings thru the years I think he went to extremes with his comment he would not "donate a 13lb + to the program because they stocked some fingerlings in private lakes". Instead of blasting the program in its entirety he should have went after the issue of using public funds to put fish in private waters. He took one small issue and condemned the program in its entirety. I do agree with changes need to be made to the program to bring it more into the common mans realm. Like he says in his article an 8lber is most peoples dream fish. SAL has to bring this realization into their program to recover the public opinion they have lost.

What pure and total bull [censored].. Writing [censored] like this by PAW is embarrassing..

Everyone knows that Pure Florida fish grow faster than native fish..

And growing a thirteen in eleven years is by far no feat..

And to add to the story, was this one of the fish that was raised to a size a lot bigger than a fingerling before stocking? I'd like to know.. It would not be an issue to me if they decided to grow them to twelve inches before they stocked them in all lakes.. It's a hellova jumpstart for a fish to be pond raised like a fatted calf before stocking..

Was it?

Joefishin

Below is from the Texas A&M AquaLife Extension Aquaculture website. As you will read most Fishery Biologists do not use lbs. to measure growth, but use inches instead. We have all caught 12" fish that might be 1-1/2lbs or bigger, but that is the exception.

Largemouth can grow to more than 2 pounds their first year under ideal conditions, but in nature about 0.5 pound is normal. Females are normally larger than males. The maximum size of the Northern largemouth is about 10 pounds, while a large female Florida largemouth may reach 20 pounds. In Texas lakes, typical size at year 1 is 8″, year 2 is 12″, year 3 is 15″, year 4 is 17″, and year 5 is 18″.

Should have read inch instead of &#8243. Didn't cut and paste well

James. Could some of your hated for the TP&W be because you think they have abandoned Falcon Lake. That you are mad because TP&W (who made the initial stockings of Fla. into Falcon that got it where it is today) will not stock Strippers and Largemouth in the lake anymore because they were tired of seeing them caught in some Mexican's net. Do you think the Fla's you are catching now swam over from Fla. and stocked themselves.

Why don't the people who live on Falcon Lake do like the ones who live around T-bend. Buy your own fingerlings and stock them yourself. Yes this has been an ongoing project of the Toledo Bend Landowners association for at 10yrs. I know of.