Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Juan Martinez, a hatchery biologist, is the guy anglers call to donate lunkers (largemouth bass 13 pounds or larger caught in Texas waters) to the Sharelunker program.

06 — I became a hatchery biologist in 2005 here at the Texas Fresh Water Fisheries Center in Athens. And since my years here. I’ve essentially taken care of the lunkers from the point that they come in until they go home.

The Sharelunker program is an angler recognition program which involves anglers in largemouth bass conservation. Since taking over the job of “the lunker
guy” last year, Martinez says he’s had a few extra duties added to his job description.

10 —The only additional duty that I got is coordinating with the anglers on the picking up of the fish and talking to the media as well as far as educating them about our program.

I’m introducing you to Juan Martinez now, because October first through April 30th is when anglers may share their lunkers with the program to help Texas Parks and Wildlife breed bigger, better largemouth bass.

24—The main reason we do it during that time is because that’s when the weather is cool enough so we can handle fish. We had experimented in the past when the program was in its infancy stage, and we picked up fish in the summer. But the water gets too hot for the fish – the warmer water stresses the fish. We
want the best for the fish, and that’s to return it back into the lake where it’s alive. So, by doing it during this month, it allows us to take better care of the fish.

After one breeding season the fish is returned to the angler or to the water body where it was caught. Find more information on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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CONTACT INFORMATION IF YOU REEL IN A LUNKER:

ShareLunker Program — Juan Martinez (903) 670-2285, (903) 681-0550
or pager (888) 784-0600 to report a lunker only from Oct. 1 through April 30

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 1st, 2013 at 12:00 am and is filed under Fishing, Freshwater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.