Stan, I do beleive that Falcon could produce a state Record and Not a world. Several thing have to be right on Falcon just to produce another Lake record , State record. Etc. First and formost we have to be at a high water level . All of the really great years on Falcon have been when the water has been high , at least that is the way it has been since 1971. Also the longer it stays up the better and better it gets. It is not hard to see this pattern , Just look at the tournament stats. Also we need to get more people to catch and release, because there is no slot limit and we still have the netters to deal with. Bottom line Full lake , Big fish. I for one, fish every day hoping and knowing this could and will happen. But everything has to be right.

I have spoken to numerous park rangers at lake raven who swear there was a 19lb largemouth caught during the electrofishing survey. I have personally caught nine 10+ bass at that lake. I beleive the next state record will come from raven.

I would be very happy to hear a 18.5 or bigger was caught at a Falcon! However, bass don't just stop biting if they are over 16 lb- it's just that there are not very many bass in any lake in Texas over that weight- pretty much only Fork in its prime ever produced a 17 lber in Texas so far. I hope that changes soon, but evidence so far suggests that bass reach a maximum of 16-17 lb in Texas. That's one reason I support research that could produce bass that would bump that size limit through genetics.

No to both. State record has to be caught in Texas waters. Has not happened since the lake was impounded in 1954.

I think several lakes could but what hurts Texas lakes the drought. If conditions are right and the lakes are full it will happen but that's asking a lot for our lake to be full.

Look how long it's been since a bass over 17 lbs was caught in Texas!! Over 20 years!!! There are bass that big or bigger caught in Cali every year that are not even reported!!! Water conditions and protein are needed to produce bass over 20lbs. So yeah I'm pretty sure the state record will stand for awhile....

I think there are alot of lakes that have a state record in them. I don't think people realize how many fish are actually in any one given lake. People assume that since they didn't catch them today that they were not around any fish when simply that isn't true. There are fish in these reserviors that have never been caught and some that stay in places where they have never seen a bait. I'd venture to say Ivie & Amistad probably have several swimming around that would make you need to change your drawers if you saw them.

Just not many bass on this earth that are world record class. That is why they are world records. Conditions/mortality have to be just right to make a bass in the 20+ range. Just not many that exist anywhere, IMO

Glad you mentioned Amistad. The 3 larges Bass that I have ever seen have been on Lake Amistad. All three had wounded a very large shad and one knocked out a 2 lb. Bass. Two of those fish were so close I could almost net them if I would have had a net as big as a hula hoop. All were in the 20 lb. class and one was much bigger than that.

When the biggest Bass layed on her side to eat that huge Shad, she remained there for a few seconds with none of the Shad visble sticking out of her mouth. She worked that Shad until I am guessing it was completly down her gullet by kinda swimming and bounceing on her side; then just uprighted herself and crused out of sight.

The only lake in the state that the potential to put out a new state record was Lake Austin because of the conditions of the lake. It really was a special lake.

1. It had grass
2. It had plenty of forage that big fish eat
3. Pressure is low for most of the year because of boat traffic
4. Water stays cooler throughout the year
5. Constant level, unless drawn down for killing vegetation in the winter
5. It's small, narrow, and not much structure, making bigger fish easier to find and more grouped up

TPW pretty much slit the throat of that lake by introducing grass carp. Sure, it will be good for a few more years while the bigger fish are forced out of the grass and into any type of available cover they can find, but fishing pressure and a lack of hydrilla will take its toll.

Same thing happened on Stillhouse when the floods killed all of the grass.

Native aquatic vegetation sucks compared to hydrilla, and biologists are idiots if they think any different. The only type of vegetation that comes close is coontail/milfoil, and it doesn't grow in deep enough water to make as much difference as hydrilla did.

Sure, there are lakes that COULD put out a state record (Fork, Ivie, Amistad, Falcon, Rayburn, Chambers, choke, etc...), but Austin was pretty much a guarantee had they left it alone.

It's funny, it was basically the only lake putting out bigger than average SAL's with any regularity in the last few years and they took the fish and killed the habitat that was responsible for growing them.

I understand they had outside influences and pressures, but they could have attempted some sort of compromise.

All of the lakes mentioned above are great lakes, but none had the potential that LA did for producing a fish of that caliber.

Definitely no to the World Record. I don't think we have the Climate to do it. Maybe, but doubtful on the State Record. Amistad has a better chance, but I think East Texas has the best chance.

Less fish in our lakes would make a better environment for giant fish. Catch and release has had a negative impact on fishing for true giant fish. My 0.02

As stated before..... We don't have the conditions for it.

I hate giving one to Cali, but they have us on this one.

This,

Slot lakes are a great idea if and only if people are removing large amounts of smaller fish constantly.

The catch and release everything method leaves to many small fish competing with the forage supply.


One of the things about falcon that a lot of people don't think about is the absence of white bass since they were cleaned out during a drought.

This leaves a lot of open water deep forage for bigger fish with less completion.

And the gill netters taking out thousands of 2lb and smaller bass all the time.

Look at how stunted fayette has become. That place was amazing in the 80's and early 90's.

When was the last time a 9-12 was caught there??

I believe there has been a huge decline in crawfish population on most lakes since all the drought conditins and drawing down Texas lakes.Since we dont have trout the crawfish are our hope to produce heavy Bass.This with the ageing of our lakes,destoying grass,and fishing pressure on Best big bass lakes during spawn I think there not much hope for even new State record until conditions change.