I was planning my fishing trips next spring and i was looking at lunar cycles and decided to get a sampling of when the top 50 largest bass were caught and something jumped out at me.....of the top 50 largest bass, 36 were caught between 1986 and 1997. Thats 72%! Of the top 15, none were caught after 1999. 9 were caught in last 5 years, including #16.

Anyone pay attention to these numbers? I would summarize to say that whatever the State of Texas was doing prior to 1985 was a lot more succesful at producing large bass then what the SoT has done the last 20 years even though millions if not billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent to produce monster aggressive bass. I would also summarize to say that there are considerably more people with much better technology searching for super bass with improved DNA. Maybe pressure and fish are getting smarter?
Any ideas?
who knows, i am still searching for my first DD. So all my statistical analysis has not helped me so far.....

Good luck and tightlines....

Didn't Fork have a major die off too, I could be way off base here. I know its making a come back now though.

There was no such thing as the tff or Internet to spread the word about lakes that are putting out big fish. the Internet creates pressure.....

Not exactly sure I am correct but I believe that is why the concept of slot lakes are used. Determine the size at which the bass will be best served to be recycled and can continue to grow plus it makes for a better spawning. While this article is not about Texas lakes it is about LMB which I found interesting.

http://www.ncwildlife.org/Portals/0/Fishing/documents/Largemouth_Bass_Growth_in_Coastal_Rivers.pdf

Pressure. Technology. Internet. Fish got smarter. Pressure.

Take Fork as our sample lake. From 1979 to 1987 Fork was stocked with 700,000 fingerlings and 49 adult fish. In a 14 year span from 1979 to 1993: 25 of the top 50 bass or 50% of the top 50 bass all out of Fork in a 14 year span. 12 of the bass were over 16 lbs. Or almost 50% of the Fork fish taken over 16 lbs. Were taken between 1979 and 1993 and were over 16 lbs. This year a fish over 16 lbs was caught from fork for the first time since 2002.

Now looking at the stocking report since the magical 14 year run from 79' to 93'.....starting in 1995 fork was stocked with with almost 10,000,000 thats 10 million florida bass fingerling. Since 2006 Fork has been stocked with almost 65,000 share a lunker fingerling.

Could this massive amount of Florida bass fingerlings the last 18 years have over populated our sample lake? Or is it the technolgy, pressure, better fisherman, pressure, droughts, white bass....that has essentially lead to only 4 of the top 50 since the year 2000? Fork was stock from 79' to 93' with the same quantity they stocked in 1999 alone yet in that timespan it produced 31 of the top 50 bass from 1979 to 1999?

ok, enough numbers, good luck on catching a SAL.....

Fork from that period looks nothing like the Fork today. Back then it was a forest of hardwoods and grass. It was simply a newer lake which is kind of comparable to Falcon during its low water cycles. It becomes a new lake each time it fills again.

Imo, I think it coincides with large rain events across the state. Rains that actually fill or almost fill lakes. In the late 80's rains practically filled the lakes around San Angelo, and a couple years later OC Fisher produced a top 50 fish. Twinn buttes was hot as well.
Take a look at Ivie, a couple years after big rain events early 2000's and late 2000's u can clearly see the influx of SAL's and Lake record of 16.04.
Im willing to bet this pattern can be followed throughout most TX lakes with SALs or a top 50 fish.

Even though Fork has had large numbers of fingerlings stocked over the years, recently they have become nothing but food due to TPW's release practice. For example, in May TPW released fingerling Florida bass within eye sight of the ramp in open water at a well known sand bass haven. Does anyone think those thousands of fingerlings became anything more than an appetizer?

No scientific thought went in to release the fingerlings in an area where there is grass to give the baby's a fighting chance. With practices like this, numbers will continue to decline or at best tread water.

I was out at Guadalupe river state park fishing. As long as I stayed on bank or stood on top of rocks I would catch fish. Once I got into the water and my feet moved the little rocks. All activity went dead. What I think is they know its about to get crowded and there is danger when rocks start moving. These days we have all kinds of sounds that mean danger to a bass with excellent instincts. Fishfinders,powerpoles,trolling motor,and that buddy that doesn't know how to shut rod box quietly. There's been times Im kayaking and I pull right up to a bass and we both scare each other. Try doing that in bass boat.

I think it has to do with many factors.
#1 over population of white bass.
#2 over population of fingerlings.
#3 Lack of focus on vegetation and natural habitat, with too much focus on DNA and stocking.
#4 Drought cycles are actually good for lakes as new vegetation grows. Constant or close to constant level lakes are less likely to produce big fish (fork is the exception).
#5 common sense when dispensing new fingerling to a lake? Throwing raw meat to a bunch of piranhas in not good idea.
#6 The cost of land, hunting equipment, leases, BULLETs have gone up so much in the last 10 years, more and more people like myself that were competitively shooting have gone back to fishing due to the cost and because of that the quantity of serious anglers has increased.
#7 This may irk some people but I strongly believe it is the strongest of the pressure aspects.....tournaments. FLW, Elite, BassChamps, Tuesday nighters, Wednesday nighters, Thursday nighters, Every Town has a club, College teams, even highschool teams. Pre fishing for tournaments. Compared to 20-30 years ago when the majority of anglers on a lake at any one time were fun fishing, I would say the competitive angler could outweigh the fun fisherman on a lake on any given day. I also believe the kill rate on caught, stowed, and weighed fish is much much higher than most people will care to even think about. Not weighing in fish is like playing baseball without the ball....

It's simple.

#1. Habitat

#2. Habitat

#3. HABITAT

As mentioned above, Lake Fork is a barren shell of itself from being built to 1999. What used to be forests of tree tops and endless brush, is now just skinny pole timber.

Pressure has some to do with it, but it is all about the HABITAT. Grass, especially hydrilla, is about the only thing shy of draining the lake down for several years to allow growth, and then reflood, to regain that kind of habitat again.

I don't know about catching a SAL but catching a DD comes to stocking history in some of the smaller lakes around. You can look at some lakes that have not been stocked with Florida bass since the 80's, Tradinghouse and Aquilla come to mind. Some of the other lakes in Texas could use some of the Lake Fork Florida fingerlings.

Too many variables involved to point out the cause. Likely it is a combination of a lot of things. I wouldnt blame anyone too much. Conditions are probably the biggest factor.

There are still a lot of good opportunities for double digit bass.

If you want a double digit, pick hot lakes and go when the big fish are active. I had a client this year book two trips and catch a 12 on one trip and a 13 on the other. Putting yourself in the right place at the right time increases your odds dramatically.

Otherwise, you have to study a ton and change the way you fish to target big bass specifically. It takes time and a whole lot of not catching fish.

The main thing I take away from that top 50 is how Great Lake Fork must have been in its best years. Take Fork out of the equation and it may be that more top 50 fish have been caught in the last 10 years- I did not do the calculations so I may be wrong.