State fine-tuning ShareLunker program
Texas’ high-profile ShareLunker fish-hatchery program is undergoing a significant overhaul that fisheries managers say will better benefit the state’s bass fisheries and the million-plus anglers who target the most popular game fish in the state.
Three decades after creation of what was then a unique cooperative project between anglers and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department inland fisheries managers to enhance the state’s bass fishery through integrating angler-caught, trophy-size largemouth bass into the state’s fish hatchery production, the ShareLunker program is shrinking the period during which it will accept huge largemouths for potential spawning by more than half — from seven months to three months. Other changes in the selective-breeding program include attempting to spawn qualifying fish regardless of their genetic strain and using the progeny of ShareLunker entries that prove to be pure Florida-strain largemouths as brood stock to produce all largemouths stocked in Texas public waters.
The changes are part of an ongoing process of using knowledge gained from the almost 600 13-pound-or-heavier largemouth bass entered in the ShareLunker program over the last 30 years to develop longterm goals and refine and implement strategies to meet those goals, said Kyle Brookshear, ShareLunker program coordinator based at TPWD’s Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens.
“The goal is more and bigger fish in Texas,” Brookshear said. “That’s what Texas anglers want. That’s what we want. That’s what the changes are designed to do — benefit the fish and fishermen.” Window of opportunity
The first change to the program took effect with the Oct. 1 start of the 2016-17 ShareLunker “season.” Previously, the ShareLunker program accepted and attempted to spawn qualifying fish caught between Oct. 1 and April 30 — a period that started when female bass begin developing eggs and ended at the close of the fishes’ annual spring spawning season.
This year’s ShareLunker season began Oct. 1 and will end April 30. But only entries caught between Jan. 1 and March 31 will be accepted for attempted spawning.
The change is a result of long-term data showing ShareLunker fish taken during that three-month period stand the best chance of successfully spawning in the hatchery.
“That’s the bull’s-eye,” Brookshear said of the Jan. 1-March 31 period. “We narrowed the window because that’s what the data shows us has been the best for getting fish that successfully spawn.”
Anglers landing a largemouth that meets the 13-pound minimum for entry into the program between Oct. 1 and April 30 but outside the Jan. 1- March 31 window still qualify to enter their fish in the ShareLunker program and will receive the rewards that include a fiberglass replica mount of their fish and fishing gear. If their bass is the heaviest entered that season, they will win a lifetime Texas fishing license. Curb service added
Anglers catching a 13plus largemouth outside the Jan. 1-March 31 window should call the ShareLunker program contact line — 903-681-0550, operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week during the ShareLunker season. An inland fisheries staffer will come to where the fish is held, measure and weigh the fish on certified scales and certify that the fish qualifies for the program. The staffer also will take a small tissue sample for genetic research. Then the angler can release the fish back into the lake from which it was caught.
Not subjecting the bass — fish that are 10 years old or more — to the stress of being transported to the hatchery and the stress of attempted spawning when odds are low that effort will be successful is the best option, Brookshear said.
In the past, the ShareLunker program attempted to spawn only those entries that proved to be pure Florida-strain largemouths. Florida-strain largemouths, a subspecies of largemouth bass native to Florida and southern Georgia, are genetically predisposed to grow much larger than the northernstrain largemouths native to Texas.
Introduction of Florida-strain largemouths into Texas in the 1970s changed the face of Texas’ bass fishery. Before the introduction of Florida bass, a 10-pound bass was almost unheard of in Texas and a 13.5-pound largemouth had held the state record since the 1940. A 14.1-pound Floridastrain bass from one of the early stockings broke that long-standing Texas record in 1980, and the has been topped several times since. A 17.67-pound Florida largemouth caught from Lake Fork in 1986 was the first fish entered in the then-new ShareLunker program. The current Texas record largemouth — an 18.18-pounder caught from Fork in 1992 — also was entered in the program.
Over its 30-year history, the ShareLunker program has generated 564 entries from 65 water bodies in Texas. Genetic testing of those fish showed more than half of them to be “intergrade” largemouths — hybrids between northern and Florida bass. While the fish obviously had the genetic predisposition to grow to mammoth size, TPWD fisheries managers opted to concentrate on spawning and stocking only bass with pure Florida genetics. ShareLunker entries that proved to be intergrade fish were given back to the anglers for release back into the lakes from which they were caught. But that is changing. “Now, we want to be able to spawn all of the ShareLunker fish, even if they aren’t pure Floridas,” Brookshear said. “These (intergrade) fish have proven they have superior genetics.”
Beginning this year, TPWD will attempt to spawn all ShareLunker entries accepted between Jan. 1-March 31 regardless of their genetics. Fry and fingerlings produced by those hybrid largemouths will be stocked in the lakes from which their parent was landed, Brookshear said.
In another major change, TPWD plans to begin integrating the offspring of pure Floridastrain ShareLunker entries into the hatchery system’s brood stock. Eventually, all brood stock used to produce largemouth bass fry and fingerlings for stocking in Texas waters will be offspring of ShareLunker entries.
“It’s going to take some time to make the shift, because you have to grow those fish to spawning size,” Brookshear said.
But the goal is to have all of the hundreds of male and female largemouths used as brood fish in Texas’ freshwater hatchery system and the tens of millions of fry and fingerlings they produce for stocking back into Texas waters be direct descendents of 13-poundor-heavier bass that grew up in a Texas lake.
That the progeny of ShareLunkers have the ability to grow just as large as their parents has been proven. Genetic testing of a tissue sample from a 12-pound-plus largemouth caught from Lake Naconiche showed the fish to have been from a stocking of ShareLunker-produced fingerlings, Brookshear said. Participation crucial
The success of the ShareLunker program hinges greatly on the cooperation of Texas anglers. And the program is developing plans aimed at increasing angler participation, Brookshear said.
Over the last few years, the number of ShareLunker entries has been lower than average. This year, only six fish were entered in the program — the second-lowest total in the program’s history. Only nine fish — half the program’s annual average — were entered the previous year. Nearly three months into the 2016-17 season, no fish have been entered. (There was a near-miss in November when a 12.8-pounder was landed from Lake Lewisville.)
Texas’ bass fisheries, bass anglers and fisheries managers have benefited from the ShareLunker program. Over its 30 years, it has shown anglers in Texas and the nation what a tremendous trophy-bass fishery the state has developed. It also has given fisheries managers insights into best practices for handling and spawning these incredibly large fish, with those handling insights passed along to anglers who now know how to avoid injuring any bass they intend to release. And most largemouth bass landed in Texas are released — a result of a catch-and-release ethic the ShareLunker program greatly fueled.
“It’s been a very successful program for 30 years,” Brookshear said. “Now, we’re taking a hard look at how to enhance it over the next 30.”