The amount of mis-information in this thread is getting tiring. Let's try a few facts

1. Trout stocking has not ended in CA. Trout stocking has ended at specific lakes depending on which native species were present there.

2. The dottie fish from Dixon was caught many more than 3 times. Great example of catch and release in action

3. Not all CA lakes that have giant bass are small lakes. The lakes that produce huge bass in CA range from 60 acres to around 20,000 acres.

4. The idea that population density is a factor is only true when there is not enough food. You could grow 15lb bass in a swimming pool with enough food. You can grow dozens of 15lb+ bass in a very small lake with enough food.

5. Not all animals can be bred to larger sizes through a breeding program. Do you think you can grow bigger lions just by selectively breeding lions? How about seagulls? How about sardines? Bass are not cows or pigs or chickens. Trying to selectively breed bass to be larger is a neat idea. Whether it works or not is TBD. So far it doesn't seem to be working very good.

6. TPWD is really awesome when it comes to managing lakes for bass fishing. Most states suck, especially CA.

If you want to see how my little theory on the way to grow giant bass plays out, see if a bass over 17lbs is ever caught again from the lakes where they stopped all trout plants. I think there's maybe one lake that could still do it in the entire state and I don't know of any lakes where they have stopped stocking that a 17lber has come from since. It's all about the trout.

I thought we were talking about QUALITY and not QUANTITY? What TP&W has done is bring in an influx of genetically superior fish to the lake where you make your living. Had they not done this, where it be now? That's a million dollar question that no one knows the answer to. My money would be on the fact it would just be a normal Texas lake. It peaked in the 90's and without the TLC from The Sharelunker program it would be average at best. It definitely would not be supporting 30-something guides.

"I thought we were talking about QUALITY and not QUANTITY? What TP&W has done is bring in an influx of genetically superior fish to the lake where you make your living. Had they not done this, where it be now? That's a million dollar question that no one knows the answer to. My money would be on the fact it would just be a normal Texas lake. It peaked in the 90's and without the TLC from The Sharelunker program it would be average at best. It definitely would not be supporting 30-something guides."

Please inform me as to what Sharelunker has done to make lake Fork, or any other lake in Texas better??

Please explain it to me.. NO SL has been produced by the Sharelunker Program.. While we have provided a dozen reasons why SL is not working.. Show me one reason that proves it is.. Just one.. And I'll never write about this subject again..
Nobody here in knocking PAW.. We are simply saying that SL has done NOTHING to improve fishing..

Florida Bass is what makes Texas fishing what it is today, Not Freaking Sharelunker..

AMEN !!!

Last I heard Florida don't have trout, but they have 17 pounders.

I believe there is a certain amount of truth from a lot of theses post. I believe if it had not been for the men that started the SAL program their would not have been any Florida stain bass here in Texas. They had the fore site to bring the fish in to begin with and they mated with the fish that were small and already here. They have breed some big fish on fork over the years, so saying breeding the fish will not produce big fish is just not true. The fish that were here for the most part didn't go over 7 to 8 pounds on the average. The fish we have were breed that way but in the lakes. The SAL program breeds the same way they just try and get the best fish possible to breed. I do not know if they never took the fish out of the lakes if we would have more fish but I can say I do not know if it wouldn't either. I will say the fact we have not had much grass in the last few years that we have a better chance if the fish have a chance to get healthily before they bring them back, they have a better chance to out run the sand bass. I do believe CA and Florida have longer growing season which will help them grow bigger fish before they get old. I do believe no one as all the answers but they have tried and they are educated to do the best for our lakes and the fish. We can make a lot of guesses and give our opinions but they are just that. I am glad the folks at the SAL program have given their lives and time to helping us to have really great fishing lakes in Texas. I will say in closing I greatly appreciate everything they have down for our great state and the lakes so I can have a great place to fish.

No Weighers put up some PROOF that SAL in some way is HURTING Texas fishing.

Again?

Why would it matter? You don't want to hear the facts. And you have not responded to my last comment above..Nor has anyone else. BECAUSE YOU CAN'T. .

Didn't SAL produce the lake namchonie (what ever the hell it's called) lake record

Those big fish in naconiche were brood fish to start with. Not rocket science to put a superior fish into a new lake and have it grow really fast....

The Nachoniche fish was not a sharelunker. And it is reported to be the offspring of a Falcon fish, That was not even a pure Florida. . That's how corrupt the PAW data was back then. And it certainly was not a wild raised fish.. And the SL program hangs it's hat on only pure fish..

Floridas are the difference for making big fish. And that's all a SL is..

Im with him its all about the trout!! Look at the guadalupe river here in TX where they stock trout, it produces huge stripers in those first couple of pools.. The stripers in canyon lake (lake just above the dam the feeds the guad) arent getting that big.. I would like TPWD to pick a clear deep water lake like those over in cali and stock a lake with trout for a couple yrs along with florida bass and lets see what happens..

I hope everyone here realizes we are arguing about the equivalent "what came first - the egg or chicken?"

There is absolutely no way to prove, without a doubt, that the SL program benefits or is detrimental to a lake. For example, if those guys in Athens brought me 100 pure Florida strain fingerlings to my 3 acre pond and in 7 years I caught a 10lbr, one could argue that fish would've been there anyway. On the contrary, if a lake doesn't get any fingerlings from the SL program, and it doesn't produce, you can blame that on lack of forage, structure, cover, etc. Or if that same lake DOES produce one could argue how great it'd be had SL fingerlings had been put in there.

All we can do is throw our opinion out there.

It seems to me that people on both sides of this debate are being a bit premature on weather the SAL program is beneficial one way or the other. realizing of course that what is being derived from this program from a biologist standpoint is for all practical purposes tweaking the gene pool here in Texas. Florida bass didn't get as hefty as they are after just 27 years of growth and development under controlled conditions in a hatchery, it took eons of cross breeding between the most dominate and physically superior fish under natural conditions to get to where they are today.

I think its important to note that TP&W actually started introducing the Florida strains of bass into Texas waters back in 1971 along with fish from Cuba by way of Mexico. At this point it was much more a crude experiment than what they are attempting today, but still in all It will more than likely be long after we are long gone before tangible evidence of the programs success is either proved or not.

Is the program we have here in Texas producing bigger fish? If you look at the historical data on the bass population here it only makes sense to me that the answer is a definitive YES. Is it because of the work coming out of the SAL program? I would like to think so, but either way the jury is still out and there are many years of research yet to be conducted in order to make that determination.

One thing I am pretty sure of, the program isn't hurting a damn thing.

So your saying a fish tht was bread by the program and released to become a documented result doesn't count?

James I'm not arguing what you know and your passion for the sport. Bu I am just wanting to see how your basis is founded