April 30 marked the end of the 26th season of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s ShareLunker program. Thirteen largemouth bass weighing 13 pounds or more were entered into the program during the season, bringing to 536 the number of big bass entered since the program’s inception in 1986.
The largest fish entered into the program this season was a 14.39-pounder caught from Lake Falcon by Gary Wingate of Amarillo (pictured). Wingate’s catch earned him Angler of the Year honors – in addition to the replica of his catch and ShareLunker clothing received by all anglers in the program, Wingate also will receive a lifetime fishing license and a prize package valued at $818. The package includes a G. Loomis rod, a Shimano casting reel and 150 yards of Power Pro super-braid line.
The six lakes producing entries this season will receive a share of the offspring produced by the fish that spawned. To date Wingate’s fish and a fish caught by Stan Lawing from Ray Roberts have produced more than 132,000 fry. These fish will be divided among Lakes Fork, Falcon, Austin, Toledo Bend, Ray Roberts, and O.H. Ivie.
One fish, Toyota ShareLunker 528, was a repeat entry. Originally caught by Carl Adkins from Lake Austin in 2010, it was re-caught by Landon Glass on Feb. 14. ShareLunkers have an electronic tag injected so that they can be identified.
Lake Austin was the top-producing reservoir this season with five entries. Fork, Falcon and O.H. Ivie each had two and Ray Roberts and Toledo Bend each had one.
It is known that some bass grow larger than others, but why remains unknown. TPWD is planning to conduct research to try to identify the gene or genes that may influence size in Florida largemouth bass. This research has never been done before and if the effort is successful, TPWD will use that information to guide its breeding and stocking of largemouth bass in the future.
“If we can identify the genetic markers that result in maximum growth, we can select broodfish that have those markers,” said Allen Forshage, director of the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center. “The goal of the ShareLunker selective breeding program is to increase the occurrence and size of 8-pound or larger bass, and this research is the next step in that process.”
