By Jessica Domel
Multimedia Reporter

Texas anglers can help create bigger, better bass for the future while also earning a chance to win a $5,000 Bass Pro Shops shopping spree and other prizes.

It’s all part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Toyota ShareLunker program.

Now through the end of March, any angler who catches a largemouth bass weighing 13 pounds or more in a Texas lake can loan it to the program for selective breeding at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens.

“We really rely heavily on our anglers’ participation in the program,” Natalie Goldstrohm, Toyota ShareLunker Program coordinator, said. “The program itself started out as a collection program of bass that are 13 pounds or heavier. They go through a selective breeding program where they’re bred with male descendants of other ShareLunkers. The offspring have a genetic potential to be really large bass, and those are stocked back out into the public waters they (the adult lunkers) came from.”

The loaned female bass is then returned to the waterbody where she was originally caught, giving other anglers a chance to catch her again.

For loaning their lunkers to the program, anglers earn Legacy class status, will receive a catch kit filled with merchandise, a decal for their boat or vehicle, VIP access to the Toyota ShareLunker Annual Awards and a high-quality replica of their lunker fish from Lake Fork Taxidermy.

The anglers will also be entered into two drawings. One is just for those who loan fish to the program. The other is a year-end grand prize drawing. The winners selected in the drawings will each receive a $5,000 Bass Pro Shops shopping spree and an annual Texas fresh and saltwater fishing license.

Those who catch a Legacy class lunker are encouraged to call or text the ShareLunker hotline at 903-681-0550 soon after catching the bass to ensure it can get to the fish hatchery. The phone is monitored 24/7 during the loaning period.

While the loaning period only runs through the end of March, anglers can help improve Texas’ bass fishing year-round by submitting catch and genetic data.

“If an angler catches a bass that’s eight pounds or heavier, or is 24 inches or longer, they can share a little bit of information about their catch data online or through the app,” Goldstrohm told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “All they need is a few pictures of their fish—either a picture of the fish on a digital scale so we can read the weight or a picture of the fish on a measuring board. We also love to see those pictures of the angler with their catch, making sure they’re holding their fish with two hands.”

Texans can also further bass research by submitting genetic data from their lunkers.

“We just want to encourage all of our anglers, as they’re catching these eight-pound bass, to think about the genetics pieces too because those are really important and really help tell a story of these big bass,” Goldstrohm said. “Our breeding program is working, that we’re seeing that these big bass are producing other big bass. Keep in mind, as you’re weighing your fish and taking photos, if you wouldn’t mind, please take three scales from your fish and send them into our geneticists. That that’s also really important.”

Details on how to submit the genetic data are available here.

Anglers who enter data for any lunker they catch greater than eight pounds or 24 inches during the calendar year 2023 also receive a catch kit, a decal for their vehicle or boat and an entry into the year-end Grand Prize Drawing to win a $5,000 Bass Pro Shops shopping spree and annual fishing license.

ShareLunker entry classes include the Lunker Class, which is eight pounds or more; Elite Class, which is 10 pounds or more; and Legend Class, which is 13 pounds or more.

The Legacy class is a fish weighing 13 pounds or more than it loaned to the program.

There is one change anglers should take note of this year that affects Legend class lunkers.

“We used to require those 13-pound bass to be weighed on a certified scale, but we’ve removed that,” Goldstrohm said. “The Legend class ShareLunkers no longer need to be weighed on a certified scale for entry. All the anglers have to do is include a picture of their lunker on the digital scale to qualify.”

Entry criteria is available on TexasShareLunker.com/entry-criteria.

That website also includes a section detailing which lakes this year’s lunkers are coming from.

“In the past, Lake Fork has always been a really good top producer of big bass,” Goldstrohm said. “There’s also lakes like Sam Rayburn and Ray Roberts. Eagle Mountain was a big one last year with a 16-pound bass out of that reservoir.”

There have also been some unexpected “hot lakes,” including Lake Daniel in West Texas and Coleman City Lake.