The Toyota ShareLunker program operated by the Texas Wildlif and Parks Department received a below-average number of entries during the season just ended, but the number of lakes producing 13-pound or bigger largemouth bass continued to increase and investments in DNA testing showed promising results.
One season highlight was the catch of a 12.54-pound ShareLunker offspring from Lake Naconiche near Nacogdoches and the subsequent identification of the parentage of the fish using archived DNA samples.
Nine fish were intergrades and two were pure Florida largemouth bass. The two pure Florida entries spawned, producing a total of 58,550 eggs. In addition, a ShareLunker offspring from a research lake produced 36,957 eggs. Each lake producing an entry this past season will receive a share of the fingerlings resulting from those spawns.
Twelve entries were received from eight lakes. Two of those lakes, Dunlap and Palestine, produced their first ShareLunkers ever. The Lake Palestine fish, a 13.13-pounder caught by Lindell Booth, Jr. of Chandler, is a new lake record.
Two program entries were caught by out-of-state anglers, both from Louisiana.
Eleven of the 12 fish were returned alive to the lakes from which they were caught. One, Toyota ShareLunker 545, the new Lake Palestine record, was donated to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC) for display.
Lake Fork rebounded from low production the past few seasons to produce four entries, the most of any lake. Lake Austin produced two entries, and lakes Dunlap, Falcon, Toledo Bend, Palestine, Amon G. Carter and Lake O’ the Pines produced one each.
One fish, Toyota ShareLunker 538, caught by Gary Sims of Gunter on Dec. 12, 2012, was a recapture. The fish weighed 15.02 pounds when caught by Sims; it weighed 14.25 pounds when caught by Ed Carter in March 2011.
Lake Fork also produced the big bass of the season, a 16.04-pounder caught by Richard Scibek of Granbury on Feb. 2. Scibek’s catch earn him Angler of the Year honors. In addition to a lifetime fishing license, he will receive a prize package from G. Loomis consisting of a G. Loomis GLX854C jig and worm rod, a Shimano Chronarch 200E7 casting reel and a spool of PowerPro braided fishing line.
New ShareLunker Weigh and Holding Stations were established at Lake Casa Blanca International State Park, Falcon State Park, Oak Ridge Marina on Lake Fork and Johnson Creek Marina on Lake O’ the Pines.
An analysis of ShareLunker entries since the inception of the program in 1986 shows there has been a slight decline in the number of entries per season, from an average of 19.6 the first 5 seasons to 18.8 the past 5. There has also been a slight decline in average weight from 14.1 pounds the first fi5ve seasons to 13.8 pounds the last 5.
Driving these declines were the fish from Lake Fork. It has contributed 253 of the 548 ShareLunker entries, and its decline from extraordinary to merely great has obscured the patterns observed among other reservoirs.
“There’s nothing wrong with Lake Fork, it’s just getting older, and largemouth bass productivity typically declines as reservoirs age,” said TPWD geneticist Dijar Lutz-Carrillo. “All reservoirs go through this process. What is amazing about Lake Fork is that is has continued to produce big fish for such a long time.”
