FISH & GAME

'Lone Star' Bass Head to Texas Lakes

Texas’ own ShareLunker-bred
fingerlings promise future big bass.

Between May and July, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department staff are stocking Texas lakes with 6 million pure Florida-strain largemouth bass fingerlings. That’s a lot of big bass and bragging rights on the horizon. 

What’s special about this year’s arrival? For the first time, every one of these future lifetime achievements was produced from our own Toyota ShareLunker broodstock. Dubbed “Lone Star” bass for their special significance to Texas, the unique fish are made possible by the valued partnership with anglers who loan their fish to the program.

“This is a potential game-changer in elevating largemouth bass fisheries management to the next level,” says Craig Bonds, Inland Fisheries director. “Since the ShareLunker program’s inception, we’ve stocked offspring from successful spawns of donated fish, but fully incorporating a portion of those offspring into our hatchery broodfish lines dramatically increases the number of ShareLunker descendants being stocked throughout Texas waters.”

In 1974, TPWD started using largemouth bass acquired from Florida as the source of broodfish for stocking our public waters. The state’s largemouth record increased from 13 to 18 pounds by 1992.

The ShareLunker program launched in 1986, providing incentives for anglers to donate their 13-plus-pound bass for what has proved to be a highly successful breeding program. Learn more at TexasSharelunker.com.