Only 1 ShareLunker turned in so far this season and that was back in November... That ties 2008 for the slowest start in the last 10 years. The good news is, there were 8 turned in between Feb 20th and Mar 20th that year.

Are the big girls hiding, or are guys keeping their catches quiet?

And if you ever wanted to see them graphically by moon phase, here's a chart. Looks like stay away from 4 days before any of the 4 moon quarters!

Just some thoughts on some ways to improve future success rates.

Thanks to everyone at the hatchery for all your hard work and accomplishments on producing huge Bass. Thanks for sharing the genetics of those fish with our public waters.

I have always had concerns about all the efforts and money invested to put these Bass in our public waters with the amount of predators in our waters to only eat the future eggs and fingerlings. On a clear note, every little bit helps. If there was some way to have just a few lakes around TX. where these predator species were controlled to give the genetics a better chance as a public fishery.

I truly believe this is why fishing in Mexico is so good. The lakes are stocked with Bass and Tilapia. The netters work these lakes for their lively hood and take out all predator species that are a threat to the Bass. Sure a great number of Bass and Tilapia are caught but the program is working; just as the program at La Perla without natural predators is working to produce such huge Bass. All our power plant lakes would be a great place to start such a program.

Would this scenario be legit for catching a share lunker?
1. Buy a pure Florida strain bass from a supplier.
2. Put the fish in a large aquarium and raise it to be 13+ lbs
3. Release the bass in my 1/4 acre pond.
4. Catch it With a rod and reel in the mouth and turn it in to the program

And if so, can I raise it to be 18.5 lbs, would it be considered a state record???

Just wondering...

Starting to sound like "trophy" deer hunters now.

If I understand correctly, it would be recognized as a "State Record - Private Water Body." There are both public and private divisions for the TPWD records.

You even see this indicated on the TPWD "Top 50" largemouth bass list: http://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/programs/fishrecords/freshwater/top50_largemouth.phtml

They just got smart and hang out in areas no one fishes

Maybe better weather will help. Some are not being turned in.
What happened to La Perla thread- I guess somebody said something profane?
Right when I made a long meaningful comment too- lol!

I just sat down to read it too and it's gone. Way too much moderation around here for my taste.

Yes, for the private water body record it would be. If you can raise a 18.5 lb bass in an aquarium, I can almost guarantee you a job at the fish hatchery, they would love to have you on board to start showing them how to do it.

I was looking for it too!

You know what, if people would stop acting like idiots then we wouldn't have to do much moderation. Sorry you feel that way, guess we are going to miss you.

That's not very nice! Sad to hear "idiots" deem all of us and moderation is the answer

Why not delete the "idiots" post instead of the entire thread?

Not trying to be rude to those questioning the mods, but from my own personal experience, you should keep these comments out of the threads. If you have an issue with the way something was handled PM that mod directly, if that doesn't work PM the Admin. No one likes to catch carp for doing a volunteer job trying to keep a bunch of strangers on an internet forum from arguing all day long.