^^agree about the live bait on fork,good friend of mine lives at LFM and he personally knows of four fish over 13 caught this summer and all but one was on live bait,and none of them were bass fishing.

I posted this previously , the guys in SoCal back in the seventies and eighties used to go out at full moon nights , anchor up on big deep rockpiles and humps using those old hummingbird flashers and drop the biggest crawdads they could find . In Norcal , the California delta has Crawdads that regularly get 9-11" long , I guarantee the biggest bass know where , how and when to eat those .The only way someone in Texas is getting one over 20 lbs is with live bait , in deep water , during prespawn . If the Texas lakes can keep from having severe drought's with average to above average rainfall for 5-7 years , there's a good chance a 20lb pops back up .

^^I agree

It seems that some think that an imaginary 19 or 20 lb bass in Texas would somehow be smarter and more difficult to catch than the 19,20,21 and 22 lb bass that have been caught in the gin clear waters of California. Several of those Cali monsters have even been caught multiple times. They have been caught on various types of live baits and lures. Some have been caught by well known big bass experts and some by average Joes. The point being that where 20 lb bass exist, they are caught by fishermen.
Someone wrote that Texas has the genetics, habitat and food supply to produce 20 lb bass. The evidence indicates that this is simply not the case.

^Much easier to find such a fish in a 50 to 500 acre lake in locations where it is known the fish will be due to trout stockings than in a 27,000 or 185,000 acre lake where the fish could be anywhere.

All good points epicoutdoors. All of those points hold us back here in Texas from catching one. I wish there was a way to follow more closely in the footsteps of the California programs; but that is not going to happen. I thank we have the genetics part right but it seems the stocking program is just banging its head against the wall.

My main question is; how many more species of fish do the Cali. lakes have in them to compete with the Bass? Now may of these lake are on huge river systems as our TX. lakes are.
- It seems that our TX. lakes are all stocked with multiple species so the public can enjoy fishing for the species of their choice. This puts the Bass in competition which reduces many aspects of producing a super fish as they become a food source during spawns.
- Even if they were not stocked with different species, being on a river system would always put invasive species in our lakes to compete and hold down the Bass population.
- Our lakes are so diverse in habitat. Some are deep, river fed, shallow, full of rock, full of grass, no grass, hard woods, flooding, drought and it goes on.
- TX. lakes that have received great attention through programs to establish big Bass have all seemed to produce in the beginning. As time prevails these other factors as mentioned takes it's told and they become average fisheries.

There are not many lakes in TX. that match the Cali. habitat. The ones that do are still on major river systems and could never be controlled. Private concern seems to be the only answer to produce a controlled environment or habitat and that cost an individual millions of dollars.

I tend to agree with this. Lake Dixon is a 70 acre state park lake with crystal clear water. It is described as a dish bowl, deep water in the middle with very little bottom structure. I have read everything that has ever been written about that Dottie. She was caught all three times when she was most vulnerable, during her spawn. The fact that Dottie was caught three times leads me to believe she may have been the lone 20+ in the pond.

If there had been multiple 20+ pounders swimming around the shallows during the spawn someone would've put a hook in them and we would have read about more than just Dottie from Lake Dixon.

You make some great points Donald. I think we should play to our strengths and stop thinking about producing 20 lbers. If we could cultivate the mindset to protect and proliferate great bass habitat rather than destroy it (e.g. the overstocking of grass carp) and continue with Florida bass stockings where they will flourish. We could likely have many more situations that would give fishermen opportunities to catch more bass of 9,10,11 or 12 lbs and possibly larger.

I agree with you guys.

Agree with you guys as well.

Lake Fork has more pressure on it than the entire state of California.....if you don't know that educates the bass your misinformed..... Texas will never grow a 20 because every 10-13 gets a boat ride no matter what

I cordially disagree here. Think about it in terms of fishing hours per acre. One twenty pounder in a gin clear 70 acre lake with a crew of guys fishing specifically for her 12 hours a day Jan-May. Even with enormous effort on a small lake, this fish was only caught three times, once foul hooked, and they knew where she lived! Actually they knew where she lived down to a couple of acres. They spent tens of thousands of hours targeting this specific fish on a couple of specific acres in the lake. Now, put the same fish in Toledo bend which is 2,500 times the size, has a fraction of the visibility, and very few folks actually targeting giant bass. Frankly if she were in there, it would be statistically shocking if she had been caught.

Here's another statistic. Lake Biwa, at 165,000 acres, is close to the same size as Toledo Bend. Lake Biwa had a 22 lber in it and it got caught! Quite shocking!

How much bass fishing pressure on Biwa??

These are all good points and have credibility, but I'm sticking to my opinion and can't be proven wrong. I believe there is a 20 lb. + in Toledo Bend and possibly in Amistad and Rayburn and maybe in Fork, however I doubt one will be caught because NOBODY is going to spend the time or effort it would take to catch one even using live bait. Someone mentioned Doug Hannon had filmed bass that large at Amistad but there is no proof. These lakes do have the depth, habitat and forage to produce huge bass, we just don't have the anglers willing to spend the time to catch them. Most if not all the great anglers we have are tournament anglers and have no interest or the time to spend fishing for one bass, so if one accidentally gets caught it will probably be by someone fishing for another species. Remember this is MY opinion but comes after over 50 years of fishing and on many many lakes.