TPWD Press Release

ATHENS, Texas�About 11:00 a.m. March 31, a Budweiser ShareLunker set in motion a chain of events that could someday lead to a lunker bass on the end of your line.

Budweiser ShareLunker No. 353, caught by Frank Hardy from Lake Fork on January 14, 2004, spewed forth a monster spawn of 31,038 eggs.
Only 9 of the nearly 400 fish entered into the program to date have produced 30,000 or more eggs. Top producer was the Troy Johnson fish from Gibbons Creek Reservoir caught in 1988, which spawned an estimated 100,000 eggs over several years.

Ironically, Hardy�s fish was plagued by health problems over the last year. �She had a terrible fungal infection,� said TFFC hatchery manager Jim Matthews. �She was as good as dead, but the staff treated her with salt baths, topical applications of hydrogen peroxide and formalin dips, and she pulled through.�

She is a Hardy fish in more ways than one.
The big fish almost didn�t make it to TFFC at all. Hardy did not have a ruler in his boat long enough to measure the fish when he caught her, and he almost threw her back, thinking she was too short to meet Lake Fork�s 24-inch minimum. When measured, she was exactly 24 inches long.

The big bass released her eggs onto an Astroturf spawning mat as her male consort fertilized them. Hatchery staff rinsed the eggs from the mat and ran them through a machine called a Jensorter, which used a laser beam to count them.
Eggs are placed in McDonald jars for hatching. These tall cylinders have water circulated through them continuously. Once eggs hatch, they are moved into a small trough, where the hatchlings remain until they absorb their egg sac and are able to swim. At that point, about a week to ten days after being spawned, they are stocked into an outdoor pond that has been prepared for them.

In about 40 days, 1.5-inch fingerlings produced from this spawn will be stocked back into Lake Fork. In 8 to 10 years, one of them may well return to TFFC, a Budweiser ShareLunker in its own right.

Frank Hardy�s monster bass beat the odds to pass on its genes. TPWD scientists are able to use genetic fingerprinting to trace ShareLunker offspring back to their parents. If a descendant of Hardy�s fish ever finds its way to TFFC, it will be recognized for what it is. And another generation will begin.

Frank Hardy of Mineola caught this 13.32-pound largemouth bass from Lake Fork on January 14, 2004, starting the fish on an incredible journey.



Fisheries technician Shane Carter inspects the Hardy fish�s spawn in a McDonald jar. The jar contains 31,038 eggs.



In two to five days, eggs hatch and tiny bass begin to form. It�s hard to believe, but this tiny hatchling, about the size of this letter e, could be a 13-pound bass in 8 to 10 years.



TPWD Photos and News by Larry D. Hodge

HEY!!!! I must say, this is one of the best posts I have read on TFF. Thanks for the interesting story. Great post!@!!

I wish i can get treatment like that when i get a fungal infection
shawn

J.P. Thanks for the info. That is one good article. It just get's better and better on the forum.

I took a stroll through the "LUNKER BUNKER" last Saturday.


Neat place!

Thanks for the very informative post. I have one question,though. Are the frye from each SAL released back into the donated fishes lake?Just curious.Thanks again,and keep up the great work.D.R.

I believe it is the anglers choice, they will release the bass anywhere in texas, even a farm pond. Right?

i catch and release everything i catch no matter fresh or saltwater

This is all fine and dandy but does anyone know how many of these mature female fish have ever been turned back into the wild? don't you think they can spawn in the wild. it takes these fish years to obtain this size and instead of being returned to the lake for future fisherman they are taken and kept thus there is that many less mature fish in our waters.There are way more than enough fish in the hatchery to spawn enough stocking brewd.Come on people wake up return the fish to the lakes so they can spawn naturally and be caught again.I id with all my fish the biggest being 14 lbs 8 oz from Fork

That is part of the program, Drake...the fish are returned to the lake after they spawn and approved as being healthy enough to make the trip back. The TPW uses the hatch to generate more brood fish for the hatchery and use the hatch to be released back into Texas lakes. The angler gets a fiberglass replica of the fish and he also can be a part of the release effort of putting the fish back were she came from.

They are also trying to increse the size of the fish by stocking the fry from the largest fish,,The geanolgy from large fish will pass the traits on to the fry stocked ,,thus increasing the size of the future fish we have in our lakes ,,one of these programs,in Florida produced the Florida strain BIG BASS we are catching today and we can look forward to Bigger and stronger fish here in Texas!

My point is as of right now no big fish has ever been returned to the lake

they have off spring from all of the previuos catches to work with.You will not increase size by using the same genetics.They have to use new lines from cuba and south america as well as mexico and florida.They have enough texas/florida brewd. stop the taking of mature fish from here and buy new genetics.It is the same with the whitetail deer i raise you can;t use the same genetics over and over ARKANSAS

I defend the share lunker program. I know that they release them back into where the owner wants, when they can. Many die. But if you just release them right after catching then any tom, dick or harry small buck bass will fertilize the eggs.... At least at Athens they are putting a male that is supposed to have large genes with the large females. Trying to get the largest fry and offspring.
You have to remember that these large bass are old. And their time is almost up. They won't last long after being released anyway.

Also they want to try to spawn bass that can be caught. Some bass grow so large because they won't bite just any bait. That is how they live so long.

I applaud the share lunker program. Yes they need some large genetics in the gene pool and I am betting that they work on that all the time.

Also there is record of the share lunkers being caught more than once. They ID the fish so they can tell.

Read up on the issue there is a lot being done for Texas fishing.

Keep up the great work TPW....

First of all i am for better genetics and better fish and pay/donate more than my share of money to the cause.
Now i am only saying this, check the records of the total amount of bass donated from each lake
15 years ago and now the numbers are staggering there is a 68% drop in the quantities of bass being donated now versus then per lake because they are all taken out of the lake and not returned.There are very few tom dick and hairryass bass left in the lakes that prove to hold lunker fish their genetics are of higher caliber due to the stocking programs.However my point is now there are enough genetics in captivity to work with.How many 15,16,17,and 18 lb fish have been donated in the last eight years?