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State record will soon be 20-years old
#5915755
03/04/11 10:48 AM
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Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 26,018
redfin
OP
TFF Guru
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OP
TFF Guru
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 26,018 |
January 24, 2012. Barry St. Clair's 18.18 pounder was caught from Lake Fork just 5 years and 1 month after Mark Stevenson's 17.67 Lake Fork state record (11/26/1986). Photo courtesy of TP&W Several fish nudged Stevenson's record until the St. Clair fish, to wit: Stan Moss, 4/01/1989, 17.64 from Fork Jerry New, 8/28/1990, 17.63 from Fork Troy Coates, 2/26/1991, 17.08 from Fork and five catches flirted with the 17-lb. mark before St. Clair's catch, to wit: 1/15/1988, 16.13 from Gibbons Creek 3/09/1988, 16.06 from Fork 10/13/1989, 16.02 from Possum Kingdom 3/08/1990, 16.75 from Fork 2/27/1991, 16.54 from Fork then came St. Clair's 18.18 fish on 1/24/1992 from Fork. Photo courtesy of TP&WSince then there has not been a fish caught topping 17 lbs. Seven fish have flirted with the 17-lb. mark, to wit: 2/08/1993, 16.89 from Fork 3/10/1996, 16.44 from Fork 2/28/1999, 16.63 from Fork 3/22/2002, 16.12 from Fork 3/20/2010, 16.17 from Caddo 4/30/2010, 16.08 from O.H. Ivie 1/27/2011, 16.03 from Austin Lake Where and when will the next state record happen?
I know more old alcoholics than I know old doctors - Me. "If you think women are the weaker sex, try pulling the blankets back over on your side."
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: redfin]
#5915961
03/04/11 01:28 PM
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Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 193
BassMajician
Outdoorsman
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Outdoorsman
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 193 |
It wont be today - I'm not fishing.
Thanks for the history!
~BJ Duplechain 2020 FXR21
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: redfin]
#5915991
03/04/11 01:38 PM
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 21,979
The Fishing Physicist
YOLO
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YOLO
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 21,979 |
redfin,
My hunch is that when Barry St. Clair's record is broken it will be from a smaller body of water that has very limited pressure. Either that, or it will be from a more southerly body of water if not both. Fork is going to continue to be a great, and legendary largemouth lake, but its days of being a state record producer are unfortunately gone.
JMO, TFP
Above all else hold these two things in the greatest of circumspection; government and self. YOLO=Schiefspiegler
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: The Fishing Physicist]
#5916021
03/04/11 01:50 PM
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Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 2,585
KickerFish29
Extreme Angler
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Extreme Angler
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 2,585 |
cool info thanks...
Wesley Wyatt
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: KickerFish29]
#5916210
03/04/11 02:54 PM
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 4,194
rxkid2001
TFF Team Angler
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TFF Team Angler
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 4,194 |
I think the next record will come from a more popular lake like fork, falcon, choke for one simple reason. The more guys on the water the greater chance that big fish gets tricked into eating something with a hook in it. Its a numbers game. There may be a 20lb fish in a 40 acre pond but if 10 guys fish it all year the fish may never see a lure.(just an example)
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: redfin]
#5916321
03/04/11 03:14 PM
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 10,315
Texan Til I Die
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 10,315 |
I'm going to say Falcon, and here's why. Because of the extended drought during the 90's and early 2000's the dry portion of the lake got completely covered with new growth. And its now filled back up and fishing like a new lake. But instead of starting with a bunch of fingerlings and a few brood fish like most new lakes do, the lake was already full of mature fish just waiting for the right set of conditions. And now they have it.
"If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: The Fishing Physicist]
#5916716
03/04/11 04:38 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,587
Razorback
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,587 |
redfin,
My hunch is that when Barry St. Clair's record is broken it will be from a smaller body of water that has very limited pressure. Either that, or it will be from a more southerly body of water if not both. Fork is going to continue to be a great, and legendary largemouth lake, but its days of being a state record producer are unfortunately gone.
JMO, TFP An opinion based on overwhelming evidence. Draw graphs of the numbers of 16 pound fish and the numbers of Sharelunkers caught each year, beginning in 1985 and ending today. See what it looks like. It doesn't mean a new state record is impossible, just that's it's pretty unlikely.
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: Texan Til I Die]
#5916961
03/04/11 05:40 PM
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 849
Fly Rod Yakker
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 849 |
I'm going to say Falcon, and here's why. Because of the extended drought during the 90's and early 2000's the dry portion of the lake got completely covered with new growth. And its now filled back up and fishing like a new lake. But instead of starting with a bunch of fingerlings and a few brood fish like most new lakes do, the lake was already full of mature fish just waiting for the right set of conditions. And now they have it. Falcon is probably the best big bass lake in Texas right now although O.H. Ivie fans might disagree with that. But unless Falcon gives up a new record in the next year or two, extended drought may be its fly in the ointment. As the late great weatherman Harold Taft used to say, in this state, the next drought begins as soon as the last flood has ended. And unless something changes, we are in a drought right now that may get extreme this summer.
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: Fly Rod Yakker]
#5917002
03/04/11 05:47 PM
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 849
Fly Rod Yakker
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 849 |
As to the question of whether or not a new record will ever be caught, I'd have to say yes, I think so. For starters, there are just too many double-digit fish being produced all over Texas right now. Somewhere, a genetic anomaly will slip through the cracks and grow to 18.19 pounds or better. And as popular as bass fishing is in Texas these days, unless gas prices reach a level where angling pressure is severely curtailed, eventually, someone is likely to catch that fish. Second, there is Operation World Record with TPWD. Just like Florida strain genetics changed the game forever in Texas during the 1980s, there may be a genetic breakthrough with this program some day that takes Texas the next level up in the big bass race. And third, this is Texas - EVERYTHING in Texas, including bass, are bigger and better than everywhere else!!!
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: Fly Rod Yakker]
#5917081
03/04/11 06:00 PM
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 323
Mark Knuckols
Angler
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Angler
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 323 |
It will come from one of our top lakes within the next five years unless they put drastic slots on the lake like they did fork
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: Fly Rod Yakker]
#5917091
03/04/11 06:01 PM
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 323
Mark Knuckols
Angler
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Angler
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 323 |
It will come from one of our top lakes within the next five years unless they put drastic slots on the lake like they did fork
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: Fly Rod Yakker]
#5917115
03/04/11 06:05 PM
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 720
Jim Gilbert
Pro Angler
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Pro Angler
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 720 |
As to the question of whether or not a new record will ever be caught, I'd have to say yes, I think so. For starters, there are just too many double-digit fish being produced all over Texas right now. Somewhere, a genetic anomaly will slip through the cracks and grow to 18.19 pounds or better. And as popular as bass fishing is in Texas these days, unless gas prices reach a level where angling pressure is severely curtailed, eventually, someone is likely to catch that fish. Second, there is Operation World Record with TPWD. Just like Florida strain genetics changed the game forever in Texas during the 1980s, there may be a genetic breakthrough with this program some day that takes Texas the next level up in the big bass race. And third, this is Texas - EVERYTHING in Texas, including bass, are bigger and better than everywhere else!!! I like the way you think, hope your right.
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: Fly Rod Yakker]
#5917134
03/04/11 06:09 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,587
Razorback
TFF Guru
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TFF Guru
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,587 |
As to the question of whether or not a new record will ever be caught, I'd have to say yes, I think so.
I wasn't saying I don't think the state record will ever be broken. I was just agreeing with TFP that based on the evidence of the last decade it likely won't come from Fork.
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: Fly Rod Yakker]
#5917254
03/04/11 06:30 PM
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 3,818
otay michael
TFF Team Angler
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TFF Team Angler
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 3,818 |
The Share lunker program will help folks get bigger and bigger fish, but I think folks need to realize that many times they hurt their own fisheries before a fish gets to be a 13. In fact, there would be a lot more 13's if!! Folks really need to throw their 8's, 10's, and 12's back in, to be caught by them and others again and again, so they can get bigger and bigger. And they will. I've gone back and caught the same 6 pounder a month later, off the same stump! And it was as fun the second time as it was the first! Dottie, the un-official world record, had been caught numerous times. And if she had been kept at 8, 10 or 12 to start with she would have never had the chance to make it to the 18, 20 and 22 she did get caught at, before she was last caught at 25, just before she passed (found floating)! When down in Amistad 3 months ago I'd heard it had been common to get limits of 40 lbs a few years back, but now very rarely. According to one guide, you'd see guys cleaning 10's daily at the ramp for a few years. That is why that lake is NOWHERE as good as it once was. Some of the guides no longer allow clients to keep bigger ones, I respect them a lot for that. If you can afford a 50K bass boat, or a $400 guide trip, I think you can afford 10 pounds of sea bass; a much better tasting fish by far anyways, bass taste musty to me anyways (or afford burgers?). I suggest, if you have to, keep the 2's -4's, photograph and toss the bigger ones back. Watch the records go up, and watch your own name be posted as the record setter too, how cool would that be?
Last edited by otay michael; 03/04/11 06:39 PM.
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Re: State record will soon be 20-years old
[Re: otay michael]
#5917337
03/04/11 06:43 PM
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 3,818
otay michael
TFF Team Angler
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TFF Team Angler
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 3,818 |
Dottie at 25 lbs, 1 oz. World's Largest Largemouth Bass On March 20, 2006, 32-year-old Mac Weakley of Carlsbad, California, was fishing on 72-acre Dixon Lake near Escondido, California, with his long-time fishing partners Mike Winn and Jed Dickerson when he caught a largemouth bass. This was not just any bass; it was THE bass. It weighed 25 pounds, 1 ounce on the mens hand-held digital scale, making it a potential new world record. By all indications, it could have shattered the most legendary angling record of all timethe 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass caught in 1932 in Georgias Montgomery Lake by George Washington Perry. Unfortunately, the 25-pounder Weakley landed, was unintentionally foul-hooked. The white jig Weakley was casting stuck in the fishs side just below the dorsal fin when he set the hook. And because of this fact, Weakley quickly decided to release the humongous bass. On May 8, 2008, Dottie was found floating across from the dock area and is now awaiting Dept of Fish and game officials to pick up tissue sample to determine her true age, although a rough guess at this point is 15-17 years old. Dottie on assuming lake temperature had lost some weight, probably due to recently spawning, unlike the first catch when she was full of eggs. Dottie at her time of passing weighed in at only 19 lbs.
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