Restructured Version of ShareLunker Program




The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has announced a restructured version of its Toyota Sharelunker program. The revised program will be more inclusive, allowing anglers who catch largemouth bass weighing 8 pounds or more to post photos on social media.

The 31-year-old hatchery program will continue to use bass weighing 13 pounds or more to produce hatchery broodfish and will now accept entries that are not pure-strain Florida bass. Florida bass that have crossbred with native northern bass are called intergrades. Some of those fish also attain huge size.

During the 2017 season, the biggest of five ShareLunkers was an intergrade. It weighed 15.7 pounds and was caught from Caddo Lake by Ronnie Arnold of Karnack. Going forward, intergrade ShareLunkers will be spawned at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens. Their offspring will be stocked in lakes where the parent fish was caught. All huge bass are females.

The revamped program will run Jan. 1-Dec. 31. Fish weighing 13 pounds or more, caught Jan. 1-March 31, will be accepted as broodstock for spawning.

Outside the spawning window, the year-round season will allow anglers to submit information about their catch through a web application in four size categories -- 8 to 10 pounds; 10-13 pounds; 13 pounds or more; and 13 pounds or more with the fish donated for spawning.

In recent years, ShareLunker entries began falling off, though it is unclear whether big fish are no longer being caught in the same numbers during the new millennium or anglers are dissatisfied or felt that entering a fish was not worth the trouble.

In 2012, Florida began its own version of ShareLunkers, based loosely on Texas' program. They call it TrophyCatch, and it recognizes documented fish weighing 8 pounds or more that were caught and released and uses social media to promote the anglers and where the fish were caught. Since 2012, TrophyCatch has documented more than 6,700 big bass.
Many good anglers, or anglers with good places to fish, enter multiple bass each season, trying to beat one another for bragging rights. Fishing guides use TrophyCatch to promote their businesses.

Now TPWD is planning to incorporate the best ideas from TrophyCatch to revitalize ShareLunkers. A full list of changes and new prizes will be announced closer to Jan. 1.

Photo: Sam Koebcke of Austin caught this 13.30-pound bass from Choke Canyon April 26. The fish was 26.75 inches long and 20.75 inches in girth.




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Fishing Report from TPWD (Mar. 27)

GOOD. Water slightly stained; 62 degrees; 2.40 feet below pool. Spring started off with a freeze. Water temperature is running 59-63 degrees and the clarity is clear. Lots of bass are still spawning in 1-5 feet of water hitting wacky-worms and senkos. There are good numbers of bass starting to show up that have already spawned, these fish spawned on that February full moon. These fish can be caught on shallow running crankbait and Carolina rig lizards . With the next moon coming, there will be more bass on the move towards the back. This will keep going until the first of May. Crappie are good, but with the colder weather will delay it several days. The crappie are super picky due to the changing weather. Best baits have been roadrunners and jig heads with curl tail or tube. Report by Stephen Johnston, Johnston Fishing.

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