Many of us need some convincing and I'm actually excited to hear some Pro's after all of the Con's I have read on here recently.
Let's keep Lake Fork out of the discussion. Let's pretend like it did not even exist. What has the SAL done for the Top 50, State Record, Lake Records and total quantity of fish caught.
Let's also keep out of the equation regular largemouth bass stockings, which has nothing to do with the SAL stockings for your lakes.

Let's hear it, Please sell me on how great it is. Sell it to all of us.

The best thing I can think of is:

When someone catches a 13+ instead of them eating the fish and killing it they have an incentive to keep the fish alive and donate it and still get a mount of the fish for free.

The SAL program may not be for everyone but if it just saves 1 or 2 13+ lbers a year from going to the cooler then its a winner in my book.

A 13+ lb fish has lived many years by the time she reaches that size, and her chances of living another year in the wild are greatly diminished so keeping them alive under controlled conditions probably gives them a better chance of survival, and is especially beneficial for our fisheries when the program succeeds in producing viable offspring from the SAL.

That is 1 thing, maybe getting someone to take a mount for free rather than killing the real fish.

Maybe getting it donated instead of a frying pan.

And look at all the great conversation it has brought, 9937383294 posts on it so far, lol.

I believe that it has raised the rate of catch and release in general. Lots of fish that would have wound up on the dinner plate are swimming now because, just like antler restrictions for deer, people want to catch bigger fish and shoot bigger deer.

You cant have a discussion on SAL without Fork. Fork is the reason it was born.

All the flooded brood ponds which are now Lake Fork filled it with giant bass as soon as it was impounded.

Just a personal opinion & not based on many facts but it has done nothing to help any lake acheive greatness.

Greatness is setting the bar pretty high. If it improves the quality that is good enough for me. Plus, it is a great marketing tool for catch and release, fish care, and bass fishing in general.

+1

i enjoy reading these comments. I, too, cant see the benefit. Has there been any shocking or studies on the sharelunker offspring in Marine Creek Lake in Ft Worth?

I'm having a hard time selling this to myself. Fork, Falcon, Amistad, Sam, TB, and Choke are all great fisheries, no doubt about it.

But what has the program done for Cedar Creek? I'm asking myself how the program has helped Lake Worth, Possum Kingdom, and Granbury? What benefits has Lake Arlington recieved?

I'm wondering why, if the program works, do the lakes I listed above, plus many others, not seem to give up as many 7-10 lb fish. If the program is about stocking our lakes w/ a genetically better fish, why are a bunch of lakes not producing better numbers of quality fish.

The 1st lakes I listed offer you a chance to catch a "fish of a liffetime" on any given throw and they are the "poster-children" for the program. Why is Joe Pool, after 20 years, still mainly good for dinks and unders?

While I'm thinking about it, a benefit that comes to mind is the number of fish in any given lake. I'm only 35, so I don't have a reference of fishing the lakes before the program started. What were the catch rates of fisherman before the program? What was the quality of the catches before the program?

Even though it sounds like I'm arguing on the "Con's" side - I'm not. I'm thinking out loud, trying to think of the benefits of the program to other lakes.

I'd like to hear someone's thoughts,

-Alton

I haven't responded to any of these posts yet about the SAL program because I'm not convinced that the program is either good or bad. But I do know this. I have fished all over the southern part of the US and to my knowledge there is no SAL type of program in Missouri, Louisianna, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, or South Carolina or any other state you may want to mention and I don't see those states pumping out the size of bass we have in Texas. Just a thought.

Cedar Creek has way to many white and Hybrid striped bass eating the quality baitfish.

Once again in my opinion you have to feed the lake. Fish are only going to get so big if they do not have the food source. It is my opinion that the bigger fish like the bigger bait fish. I fish several good east Texas lakes and I have found that most of them have ample supply of food sources for big bass. I can also tell you the crown jewel needs help in this department.