If camelot bell can't grow a 17-18 it'll be very difficult on a public lake. Even California struggling to put out giants with perfect genetics, perfect forage, and temps since the stockings got cut.

ive had many SAL's under my care for years and only 3 got over 15lbs. IMHO an 18lb+ lmb is a freak of nature compareable to a 7ft+ tall person. just doesnt happen hardly at all. i would guess less than 1% of any bass over 13lbs has the capability of reaching over 18lbs.

Lol,,, true

True, guess point was to keep the spawn /fry in the lake natural for the life of the fish

+1 Steez. Totally agree with you and believe removing the fish does not help at all.

I think it will happen because we now have the ability to stay 75 feet away and put our lure in front of these giants multiple times. In John hope’s book tracking trophy’s he found the giants he tracked would bail if they heard any boat noise. Forward facing sonar in the hands of a very experienced angler searching for that one fish I think is the formula. We have the ability to know what is swimming in Fork and what is following our lures. TX is already showing 15 and 16 pound bass. No has even been fishing fork since snowmageddon until bass champs. Those guys were not focused on giants. It will happen in the next few years maybe this year. Maybe the youtubers will show up at fork for megabass at the end of March, full moon 3/28. Should be epic. See if anyone uses forward sonar to find giants on beds you can’t see otherwise and catch them.

The biggest waste of resources are the trout stockings. Best would be cormorant control.

With the small per cent that they remove what can it hurt, there's probably 30 over 13 in Ivie.

Growing big bass is SIMPLE. Genetics + Forage + A long lifespan = Big bass.

The problem is if you screw up any of these variables you don't get big bass.

You can have the best forage in the world, but if you have poor genetics you are not going to get a giant. Feed your kid as much as you want, they aren't going to be a seven footer. It's not genetically possible for them. Talk to the old timers who have said time and time again on here an 8lber USED to be a RARE fish in Texas.

You can have the best genetics in the world but if you have lousy forage you are not going to get big bass. So you guys saying our reservoirs are old we don't have grass you are RIGHT, the age of our reservoirs is absolutely working against us.

Lastly, you can have the best genetics and the best forage, but if you don't have a long runway (life span) you don't get giants. Fishing pressure and our climate are the biggest issue here. Northern Texas is generally too cold, the fish grow too slow to get big in their allotted life span, southern Texas is too warm, metabolic burn out causes them to have a short life span. Same reason you don't see 15's caught out of South Florida. Same reason Gary Schwartz has an uphill battle at La Perla. And then you have fishing pressure. Every time a fish is caught and handled the chance of increased mortality goes up. We have the same acres of water today as 15 years ago, yet we have millions more bass anglers. Pressure is working against us. Camelot Bell faces this problem.

So anyway... The ShareLunker program only addresses 1/3 variables needed to grow big bass. Genetics. The ShareLunker program is spreading big bass genetics all over our state. That's a great thing. One variable right is better than zero variables right. I fully believe our state is far better off with this program than without it. The guys arguing it's not a panacea are correct as well. We would be wise work on forage, vegetation, and fishing pressure (tournaments, slots, and limits) as well. If we don't do the later in conjunction with the genetics new records are going to be tough to come by.

I’m fine with the SAL program, even if it never produces a state record (and I think there is a state record in a Texas lake somewhere). The data the program generates is worth it. Stocking SAL offspring helps a lot of lakes around the state.

What id like to see is forage stocking at a higher rate. I feel like a lot of lakes are suffering with poor baitfish and other forage for bass. Secondly, some sort of middle ground can be achieved with the grass issue. But I think an increase in stocking shad would help a lot of lakes out.

2 of the above mentioned can be helped by aquatic vegetation, forage and lifespan. Giving baitfish and bass cover from grass only helps the fishery...I still don't understand why the powers that be don't get that.

Obviously you would never get a state record if "every" 13 lb fish was taken out of the lake.

However, only a small fraction of the 13 lb fish are even caught in the first place.

A few other things, among many others factors to consider about teen sized bass is that they are near the end of their lives and their genetics have been produced during their prime for many years. There are hundreds if not thousands of private waters like La Perla or Camelot Bell all over the lower 48 with millions of dollars spent to produce a new world record. Its just doesn't work that way or the record would have been raised years ago. I still remember calls to my office offering up to 6 figures to smuggle "Flo", the largest bass ever caught by a female angler in Texas, from Bass Pro Shops. Always just laughed thinking ok, I'll just walk out with a 16lb bass down my pants? Still wonder how many of those calls were from Springfield trying to test my morals. So many variables have to line up just perfectly for a new record to be caught. And I hope it happens in Texas. I also hope most will realize what our reservoirs were built for. Fishing is not on top of the list nor should be imo.

or just maybe they believe in the program.............

I for one feel lucky and fortunate to live in Texas where our parks and wildlife programs shine way above most, if not all of the rest in the country.