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Spawning 3 of 5 teener largemouth produced more than 92K offspring

Posted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 7:25 pm
by WB Staff
sharelunker spawning for offspring 13 pound largemouth.jpg
ATHENS — The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Toyota ShareLunker Program is having a banner year in its efforts to create bigger, better bass in Texas.

After successfully spawning three of the five 13 pound or larger Legacy Class largemouth bass loaned to the selective-breeding program in 2019, the department’s hatchery staff produced more than 92,000 offspring to stock in Texas public lakes.

“We are extremely pleased with the number of ShareLunker offspring produced this year, and we couldn’t have done it without the anglers who generously loaned us their 13 pound and larger bass for our selective-breeding program,” said Kyle Brookshear, Toyota ShareLunker Program Coordinator. “This generosity doesn’t just increase the lunker potential of the lakes where those fish were caught, it also helps us in our effort to convert our entire hatchery broodstock to ShareLunker offspring, which will benefit every lake in Texas.”

In total, more than 55,000 fingerlings were stocked in the 2019 Legacy Class donation lakes — including Lake Conroe, Lake Fork, Marine Creek Lake, and Lake Leon. Additionally, more than 30,000 pure Florida largemouth bass offspring from ShareLunker 577 and ShareLunker 581 are being retained as hatchery broodstock so that TPWD can stock these big bass by the millions statewide in coming years.

Three of the five Legacy Class fish loaned to TPWD in 2019 were released back into their home lakes after spawning, which includes Lake Conroe, Marine Creek Lake and Lake Fork.

The other two fish caught from Lake Leon and a private research lake were donated to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, where ShareLunker 578 can be seen on display and hand-fed by scuba divers during the daily dive show.
More info: https://www.panolawatchman.com/sports/s ... b0a4f.html