Check it out Posted April 23rd 2012 http://www.tackleandrods.com/lake/flash.htm

James call the sharelunker program a "stunt" I call his spare a lunker program a stunt. Big deal.

He doesn't say anywhere about the genetics studies currently being done on those fish...

Like I have said before if they were real worried about large fish at falcon they would have some holding tanks set up for them. James has stated here before that it is too much work...

James promised a week or so ago to expand on his thoughts about the SAL program with some hard numbers. He's a man of his word.

I have no data to say SAL has or has not been good for the State of Texas, other than from a publicity standpoint. Aside from that, I agree with everything stated above by Mr. Bendele.

I think truly giant bass and whitetails have a few things in common to reach maximum potential. First and most important is diet. Second is age. Third is genetics, in that order.

And I do not believe that either species can attain maximum growth if heavily pressured. Leave them alone. Don't stress them out. Provide the food and the cover to reach maturity and the genetics will show their full potential.

"Folks hear of six, eight, ten Sharelunker's caught out of one lake.. And the flood gates open.. The lake gets pounded to death, and we end up with Amistad, Conroe, Choke Canyon, Alan Henry, Ivie, and Lake 26.. And several others I did not mention.."

Lake 26. hahahahahahaha That made my day.. hhahah

What a beautiful read this is, and I'm only half way through.

"Lake 26, the greatest lake on the planet, has only two this year, but that's 100% better than last year.."

hahahaah. I'd make a donation to FLT for this beautiful write up.

i blame it on the cartel or alton

Fouz I saw your pic in the lonestar outdoors- 200" deer and not even your pb- Wow

Always an interesting read.

He's right. All you gotta do is look at the top 50 list to figure it out.

Sharelunker program is not hurting our big fish population. Tournaments and overstocking are.
Everyone likes to see big fish brought to the scales, but that kills more fish across the state of Texas in one weekend than the Sharelunker program might kill in a season. IF everyone wants to see larger fish being caught then have a statewide length limit of 20". Anything over 20" must be turned loose. That will help the survival of big fish and encourage people who might actually keep bass for food to keep the smaller fish which require more food intake for growth.
I personally believe the biggest thing that has hurt the large population of big fish in Fork is overstocking. From the first stocking in 1979 to 1994 TP&W put over 700,000 fingerlings in Fork. We had the largest number of big fish over 13 lbs in the 90's. Then, from 1995 to 2011 they have stocked over 9 million fingerlings. Yes, that puts a lot of fish in the water for the increased number of fisherman that have flocked there since the 90's but it has also drastically increased the competition for food. This timing was critical because of the age of the fish over 13 lbs at the time when they are dying of natural causes to the time of younger fish having to compete for food to grow to that magical size. Also, the LMB virus killed a lot of fish during this critical time.
Certainly fluctuating water levels have had a negative impact on the bass population as well. Every lake that I have fished in the last ten years with a good grass content that was diminished has suffered in bass population. Fork, Amistad, Choke Canyon, and Ray Roberts. When the grass population was healthy the fish population was healthy. Some lakes that do not have grass do benefit from fluctuating water levels to some degree, such as Falcon. It allows natural vegetation growth to occur during low levels that provide food and nutrients when the water level is up, but this is a more temporary occurrence. Year long forage such as milfoil, hydrilla, and coon tail have a more lasting effect on the fish population.
There is no debate on whether genetics improves the quality of a fish, animal, vegetable or anything else for that matter. The question is, How much impact has the Sharelunker program had on the quality of bass in our lakes? That can be debated but I am happy that Texas has the only program I know of designed to try to increase the chance of me catching a 13 lb+ fish. And we as taxpayers are paying very little for it!
So James, I appreciate everything you do for the conservation of bass fishing and care and handling of big fish. You are a valued resource to all bass fisherman who visit that piece of paradise called Falcon Lake. But, you need to realize that tournaments kill more big fish than the sharelunker program. I have seen it first hand too many times. Until you start chiming in to change the tournament requirements then I think you need to just let it go. It is not costing you much if any money and has probably made you a LOT of money from selling tackle to all those who have been to your store in search of that "Sharelunker" from Falcon Lake. Plus, it is much more enjoyable to read your fishing reports than your bashing of the sharelunker program every year.

I dont even know what to say... that read was out of control. James I will be seeing soon. With a bottle of your favorite whiskey- because that was unarguably one of the best write ups about sharelunker I have ever read.

I have been to Athens and seen the Fishery Biology degrees on the wall. I have also spent some time in Falcon Lake Tackle. I don't remember seeing any degrees on the walls among the Zoom Ol' Monsters.

Tournaments are here to stay forever. Sharelunker is something that we could get rid of immediately.

And TPWD has done studies that prove that tournaments do not kill any more fish than natural mortality or meat fishermen.

Bill,
I agree. So do you agree then that the sharelunker program does not kill anymore fish than what would die of natural causes or meat fisherman? Or even tournament mortality since they are here to stay?
Did you notice my recommendation to release ALL fish over 20"? That would eliminate tournament and meat fisherman mortality.

squib, does that mean that no one else is qualified to have an opinion? There are lots of folks here who are not biologists that have decades of experience with fish, fisheries and the management thereof. I value input from all of them, not just the boys with a biology degree.

Don't mean Nuthin'. Where's the fish?