Doug R.. I not sure what you are talking about in your last statement but truly false so your records are incorrect ! So you should not be trying to start a bunch of BS !


Now to the other records, I searched California's top fifty and Florida's top 25 is where I got my numbers which are mostly taken from the Wildlife dept stats. Regardless of any other BS you threw out there, look at the number of fish they have over 17 and what we have when they have no program. Must be working for them not to mess with nature.IMO

Lakes cycle. New lakes have a boom, then slowly taper off and stabilize. Falcon got the "new lake boom" and it has faded off. OH Ivie, Alan Henry...list goes on and on.... That is beyond the control of anyone other than God.

If you are curious about the technical aspects, I don't have a clue. I don't have a phd in marine biology, yet the staff at TPW are completely accessible. Jim Matthews (903) 670-2237 is the hatchery manager at Athens...

I just can't believe you are critical of TPW. They have fisherman in mind 100%, give Lake Fork FAR more attention than any other lake in the state. $132 licensing fee without Coast Guard certification gives you the ability to be a Guide. Without TPW my family would not have a successful business here, simple as that.

How many guides and businesses flopped in the 99-00 LMBV bust?

Marc, you do understand climate plays a role in this? The same reason we still have 16lb fish popping out of old Fork and why Falcon hasn't produced but a couple of fish in the 15lb range.

You do understand that many of those "freak" 20lb fish were a side effect of trout stocking in sub 300 acre "lakes"? Not really something you can do in 27,690 acres and still call it fishing. We would call those California lakes, Camelot Bell California can keep all their corny regulations, TPW is good in my book.

The Jim Gore 6.5-pound fish was a male. It was accepted because it was the largest male bass David Campbell had ever seen. It remains the only male ShareLunker.

I think the TP&W has help fishing in Texas a bunch and I totally understand where you are coming from.

I will say this you probably do not have a boat but you spend more days on Lake Fork than our TP&W biologist . You would also think business has feel off with less giants coming from the lake correct ?

We all have opinions to how to be better but you have to have a open mind and I think they do not in this sense. IMO I know of one fish that kept out of LF that they had 18 months that never spawned.

How did that helps us ? It did not. Now how many more did this happen to ?
I am not by any means trying to make LF look bad but I want us to be better ! I just see no proof that it is working.Just the other day I picked up a paper I had here from 1998 and the number of 10-12 fish in that paper from Fork was crazy ! No way we could even come close to that now.

I know all lakes have ups/downs and I know it will get better.Lake Fork is still way above average than most lake in Texas.

This is what I am talking about. Without the stocking programs of the TPWD, you sir wouldn't have your career as a "guide" on Fork. Do you think those Florida strain bass have swam through the Gulf of Mexico and then up various rivers and creeks and took up refuge in Lake Fork over the past 30+ years?

The funniest thing is you publicly criticize their work. Let's see it cost you $132 a year for a guide license and the TPWD provides monitoring as well as stocking of fish and forage on the lake you chose to make your living guiding. I would think what YOU have received in return for your $132 per year fee, is a bargain.
It is us, the tax payers, that are picking up the rest of the bill for the fish stockings that provide you fish to try and locate and get your clients to catch and do so, for pay.

At some age, I would think a fish quits reproducing all together. Has this age been establish? I'm sure by the time a female reaches that size she is pretty old...not to mention she's quite obese. To be honest, a bass that's in the 13-15lb range might be the healthiest fish in the lake. I know we all say "man, that fish looks heathy" but fat is not necessarily healthy. I know in the human race fat and heavy is not best.

Or the 8-10 years of spawns she had to put her genetics in the lake before she was donated

Marc, this isn't 1998. Lakes age.

TPW needs to start a flux capacitor program I guess.

I'm done, I agree that we disagree.

Cam, that's a F2 cross
I like the one without the quiznart food processor

Do you guys really think the number of fish we get back from the SAL program is anymore than what we would have received if the fish would have stayed in Lake Fork and spawned in a nature ? Not even close.See with out them pulling fish out they spawn here and we get more. The license fee is just that it is funds that go the dept. On your first statement you have no clue what I would be doing.I choose to be a guide to help people learn the sport. There were fish in these lakes before the stocking of FSF by the TP&W. Do you think TP&W created all fish ?

Count your blessings that mine and many other's tax dollars provided the funding so that the TPWD could keep our lakes stocked and maintained. And in turn, this has helped you help others learn to fish and enjoy the outdoors. Life's a huge circle, it all comes around.

Like I said prior, your $132 a year is a bargain!

Since the lake fork record was born and growing before sal started, what strain was it.
What strain was the world record caught in georgia. what strain was the one from japan that tied the world record. Not trying to stir the pot, just a question.

The one in Japan was Florida Strain

Some interesting Facts

That article says Florida's record is 17. Somebody has been misinformed lol