Is it possible to grow a state record if you take every 13 pound plus fish out of the lake?
Now this fish has the potential to
Grow to state record if it has made it to 13 it can make it to 19 plus but not if it is gone,
Just thinking out loud and would like to hear your thoughts
Along with this I have had a client donate a 13.07
And she spawn and was released back into the lake
And I have released a 13.25 I caught right back in lake


just would like to see super giants again this year is on a roll

Curious as to what "No Weighers" has to say. I dont know the answer but I bet a lot of 13LB bass dont get caught!

Doesn’t share-a-lunker program release the fish back into the lake they were caught after they are breed them and assuming they survive?

And I don’t think every 13lb plus Bass in Texas lakes gets caught. But after what I saw at Fork in Texas fest and what Millikan did on OH Ivie last week I believe we will see several new records in the years to come.

Not many have ever fished for suspended fish above trees in 40 feet of water like that or did what Walters did in Fork. Forward facing sonar has changed the game for good or bad.

They better be feeding them well in Athens if they are going to get them to state record size.

What if all those giants are there because of ShareLunker fry being put in the lake from donated fish? It’s a double edged sword. Would Ivie have the numbers of giants showing up without it? Super curious how many of these have genetics that tie back to the SAL program.

Good thought it would be nice to know

They are mostly returned to the lake (minus the very few that die) but I have often wondered what kind of trauma they might endure when transported to and fro?

We will know in time whom they share their genes with!

The 13.07 that was caught by Dale Washington in 2007 had been caught donated and released the year before
So some fish make it thru but made no weight gain

TPWD does check the fish genetics to confirm if the SAL is an offspring from another SAL, They might even have that info published. I saw somewhere where a sal was caught and they did trace the gene pool back to one as well.

I think it is not a good program for the lakes that these fish are being taken out of. Maybe good for the state.
I agree if these fish are taken out it makes it harder to grow a state record.
And unlike some I think about 90% of the 13 plus fish are donated to the program. Not many get put back in.
Most everyone wants their 15 minutes.

There was a report many years ago about the C & R at Fork.

They had many tagged fish that were caught multiple times and the weights recorded.

Most all of them seemed to be stunted by the repeated C & R as their weights over a couple years or so didn't change much.

Ok, so let’s say that 1 in every 50 has a tie back to a momma SAL, so far it seems to be way lower numbers than that. I can think of 2 that have been traced, could be more that I missed though.

I’ve learned that the Internet is a lake killer, unless I caught a state record (which isn’t gonna happen) it’s not getting reported to the state.

It is my opinion that the record would be broken by now if they would stop removing SAL from lakes.