You guys probably encounter a lot more insight on other states through your clients. I would think putting people on their personal best on a regular basis would be one of the best things about guiding. You all work your tails off. Hope 2014 is good for you and the rest of the full timers.

Nothing like teaching and catching with customers, and when they catch their personal best it is like a kid at Christmas !

I had one guy that caught his first bass over 10 lbs with me a few years back and he sat down and got on his cell for for over a hour and called everyone he knew to tell them he had just caught a double digit ! Crazy !!

Happy New Year To You MP and all TFF members !

On FALCON several SLunker fish have NOT been turned in for that reason and one other - Falcon has not been stocked in years (I am told). Most locals will ask you not to give up the fish.

It's easy to forget just how fortunate we are here. Fork is a BIG FISH lake. We see people come from hundreds and thousands of miles for the opportunity to fish here. There's a reason for it. (Same reason I'm here too!) Big Fish! Big Fun!

Data from TPWD on stockings on Fork and Falcon since 2004.Approx. 1,700,000 fingerlings stocked in Falcon and 5,800,000 fingerlings stocked in Fork during the same time frame.

I am sure more than a few end up in nets and ultimately in the grease at Falcon.

Survey from gars shocked up this fall indicate that they also have a taste for black bass. I have seen a ton of pics from Falcon where it looks like they have been hit by gar.

I don't think the program hurts anything ........live well rides to get your 8-10 lb fish's weight "certified" and get a pic taken probably causes more damage than anything outside of LMBV....

I was waiting on the Falcon posts.

Bass, Florida Largemouth 2013 514,858 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2012 250,276 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2011 270,159 Fingerling
Bass, Florida Largemouth 2010 238,244 Fingerling
Bass, ShareLunker Largemouth 2013 4,315 Fingerling
Bass, ShareLunker Largemouth 2012 25,067 Fingerling
Bass, ShareLunker Largemouth 2011 30,488 Fingerling
Bass, ShareLunker Largemouth 2010 2,091 Fingerling
Bass, ShareLunker Largemouth 2008 2,842 Fingerling

Maybe the fish ain't bitin' right now.....

I never seen so many armchair fisheries biologists nor so many misconceptions in one place, ever, even on the internet.

Not worth tryin' to repeat 'em all and I can't remember them anyhow....but.....

Them lakes in Cali what makes huge bass, they ain't nuthin' like what we got here in Texas. They got books about 'em and the folks fishing there. Get one an' read it.

The bass fishery in those lakes is secondary to the trout fishery. There are few bass in those lakes because they provide little or no habitat for reproduction of bass, being roughly bowl shaped and deep. These few bass have.....near perfect water quality in all aspects (chemistry, temperature, clarity, etc.), almost no competition for food, an artificially replenished supply of extremely nutritionally dense food (rainbow trout), and limited fishing pressure.

Now here in Texas, we got no habitats like that. If we tried to feed something like Lake Fork all the trout we buy (ain't no trout raisin' goin' on in Texas) and distribute, it would be a tiny drop in a huge bucket and have no measurable effect on the bass in the lake. The trout does a lot of good where they are stocked in and around urban and suburban areas. Folks that might not otherwise get to fish (especially kids) gets to.

There is so many gizzard shad in Texas lakes there ain't enough fish to eat 'em all. Certainly not a fish needing to be raised and distributed. Bass do feed on gizzard shad, but there really isn't a lot of overlap in the two fish' habitats in big water.

Bass do not eat hydrilla and it is not something necessary to grow bass.

TP&WD is just now getting some handle on the effects of SAL and have only recently been able to work out ways to identify and follow the offspring.

From where I sit, I see SAL as a public relations success and the jury is still out on whether it is a biological success as well. Being it is largely funded by a third party helps. The same funding might be better applied.

State law keeps me from doing my own breeding program with Texas bass, so I must collect stock in other states. So far my best results have come from bass I captured by fishing in Rodman Reservoir in Central Florida. To be honest, I believe these fish superior in genetic makeup (in some ways) to any that I might collect in Texas, anyhow.

Finally, its just as easy for me as anybody on this forum sit here and Monday morning quarterback what my friends and cohorts in TP&WD must actually contend with each and every day. Although I am a fisheries biologist, my situation is ever so much more controllable than anything they might have to work with. Personally I believe the entire outfit to be doing a reasonably good job, especially given the circumstances.

They have to be doing something right, this is the first State I have fished in and expect to catch a 5lber every outing...

What about dotty? Wasn't she caught or fowl hooked 6 different times and swam 3 miles away each time. She was caught in the same place everytime?

Spoiled Texans. Not grateful for these beautiful fishery we have here and the hard work to maintain it.

Good going adamant. My thoughts exactly.