April 5, 2010
Media Contact: Larry Hodge, (903) 670-2255; larry.hodge@tpwd.state.tx.us

Toyota ShareLunker 500 to Get Close Look by TPWD

ATHENS�Whoever catches Toyota ShareLunker 500 will have to answer a few more questions than usual for someone entering a 13-pound-plus bass into the popular Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) program.

�Because the angler who legally catches and enters ShareLunker 500 into the program will receive $500 a pound from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation, we will X-ray the fish and require the person to take a polygraph test to confirm that the fish meets all the qualifications,� said Allen Forshage. Forshage is director of the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center, where the ShareLunker program is headquartered.

The ShareLunker program rules require that an angler turn a ShareLunker entry in to TPWD within 12 hours after the fish is caught. �This is to give the fish the best chance of surviving the stress of being caught,� said Forshage. �The sooner we get the fish under the care of the trained biologists here at TFFC the better chance it will have of spawning and being returned to the lake alive. The welfare of the fish always comes first in the ShareLunker program.�

ShareLunker program manager David Campbell will personally pick up ShareLunker 500 and perform the first inspection to be sure the fish is capable of surviving. The fish will not officially become ShareLunker 500 until the X-rays and polygraph test confirms the fish was legally caught and entered.

Anyone legally catching a 13-pound or bigger largemouth bass from Texas waters, public or private, between October 1 and April 30 may submit the fish to the Toyota ShareLunker program by calling program manager David Campbell at (903) 681-0550 or paging him at (888) 784-0600 and leaving a phone number including area code. Fish will be picked up by TPWD personnel within 12 hours.

The Toyota ShareLunker Program is made possible by a grant to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation from Gulf States Toyota. Toyota is a long-time supporter of the Foundation and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, providing major funding for a wide variety of education, fish, parks and wildlife projects.

+1.... Smart move and it should eliminate the guy whose been holding one in a tank waiting to turn it in!

You don't actually think someone would try and bend the rules do you?

Great move TPWD.

good show, hopefully its not in a tank, and he can pull a rose on the poly. Good luck to all on it

That's awesome! I'll finally get to meet David Campbell

Awesome

Awesome lets go fishing

How do you keep a 13+lb fish alive for 12+ hours?

I am just disappointed in the fact that they have to do all of these things to make sure that people are telling the truth! What ever happen to telling the truth??!! I guess it is a good move by them. I just want to congratulate the person who catches the BEAST.

Nothing happened to telling the truth and truthful people have nothing to worry about. If anything, it makes people more at ease with the pursuit, knowing that some sleazebag isn't going to snag the prize with some gutshot fish.

Great move TPWD, Good Luck to all Hawg Chaser

I�m contacting legal counsel later this morning and filing a restraining order to block the junk science that is the polygraph.


TFP