Passport to Texas

ShareLunker: Breeding Better Bass Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

One of inland fisheries’ management goals includes creating world class angling opportunities in Texas. One way that’s happening is through the Toyota Texas ShareLunker program.

A lunker is a largemouth bass caught between October first and April 30th that weighs 13 pounds or more.

David Campbell oversees the program and says anglers loan these bass to Parks and Wildlife for spawning and research purposes.

The Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center here in Athens is where we pick up the fish, and we spawn ‘em. We do some of the genetic identification and stuff like that here. Also, Lorraine Fries and her staff at A.E. Wood is doing the actual genetic research on it – on the muscle tissue and the blood samples and the stuff that we send them. And we have a geneticist on staff down there that is actually directing the program. You need that. I’ve raised fish for the last 38 years or so, and when you start looking into the genetic side of things it takes people who have special training.

Hatcheries staff conducts research on bass loaned or donated to the program to produce potentially trophy-sized fish for stocking in Texas public waters.

Learn about the program by logging onto the Texas Parks and Wildlife Website.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series and works to increase fishing, hunting, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

History of a Fish Story Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Anglers help keep bass fishing interesting in Texas by donating their lunkers to the Toyota Texas ShareLunker Program where they’re used for spawning and genetic research.

07—A ShareLunker is a largemouth bass that weighs 13 pounds or more and is caught between October the first through April the 30th.

David Campbell’s oversees the Toyota ShareLunker Program. He admits in the beginning he wasn’t convinced anglers would participate.

07—I was reluctant for the fact that I didn’t think the anglers would be willing to loan us the biggest fish they ever caught in their life.

When the first lunker came to the program in 1986, not only did Campbell’s concerns disappear, but the fish caused quite a splash.

08—We made national news and it was just like from there on, people call you, and they want to loan you their ten pounders…their eight pounders (laughter)

Thousands of visitors traveled to the Tyler fish hatchery where TPW kept the lunker, just to get a peek.

13—Sometimes they were lined up all the way up to the house, which I lived on the hatchery there, around the office, they’d be lined up down the road, and I’d go out there and open up the door
and let them see the fish…and we had over ten thousand visitors that signed a register one year.

More about the ShareLunker program tomorrow.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

ShareLunker Club Tournament Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

The annual Toyota Texas Bass Classic tournament raises funds and awareness for the work of Texas Parks and Wildlife. This world class bass fishing competition takes place Halloween weekend on Lake Conroe. Tournament Director Lenny Francoeur says if you can’t make it to the Lake, and you have an internet connection, you can still keep track of the action.

11— They can still check it out online and we’ll have a real time scoring function as well. So, you can check the website, and see exactly up to the second how every angler is doing and what
weight they have for that day. So, it’s a neat little feature.

Francoeur says there’s a special competition currently underway as a lead up to the Bass Classic, and a kick off to the ShareLunker season, which began October 1.

25— The TTBC has created the ShareLunker Club Tournament. It’s only on Lake Conroe and it’s going to be for three weeks. Anyone who’s interested in catching a bass over 13 pounds, and signs up
to be a member of the ShareLunker Club—it’s a hundred dollars, but you get tickets to the event and parking and other benefits—the largest ShareLunker caught on lake Conroe between October 1
and October 21 will win a hundred thousand dollars cash.

Find a link to more information at passporttotexas.org.

We record our series in Austin at The Block House.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

TPW TV--Last of the Bayous Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Last of the Bayous airs this week on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series. It examines efforts to save Houston’s last natural namesake. Producer Ron Kabele.

Good grief! It’s the Bayou City and there are no more bayous. Now, they call it Bray’s Bayou and Sims’ Bayou, but they’re just channelized ditches. When I was a kid, we would play in bayous;
we would catch crawdads. The only thing you’re going to catch in a channelized ditch is a disease.

Maybe it will give them an idea of what Houston once was. And with other aspects of what made Houston the great city that it is—we’re just not going to throw it away for
the sake of progress.

Thanks, Ron.

Check your local listings.

The Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports
our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Cedar Hill Anniversary and Fall Festival Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

If you live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, or need a reason for a road trip, our State park guide Bryan Frazier recommends a day at Cedar Hill State Park.

That park is really a neat place. It sits on Joe Pool reservoir, and it borders on Dallas and Tarrant county; you’re across the lake from the city of Grand Prairie.

So, check out the harvest heritage festival and 20th Anniversary celebration coming up in October—put it on your calendar.

Thanks, Bryan!

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet…building dependable, reliable trucks for more than 90 years.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife I’m Cecilia Nasti.