Published: November 20, 2008 10:57 am      

Program will put more lunkers in Lake Austin

Outdoors

Central Texas bass anglers may have a better shot at the world record bass in a few years on Lake Austin. This Lower Colorado River Association (LCRA) lake will be stocked with 13,000 six-inch largemouths spawned from 13 pound plus Sharelunker fish by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The fish were selectively bred at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens for use in Operation World Record, an on-going research project to determine if fish descended form 13-pound or bigger bass will grow faster and/or bigger than “wild” fish naturally occurring in a reservoir.

Because hatchery production was exceptionally successful, about 33,000 six-inch bass are available in addition to the 27,000 needed for the research project.

Electrofishing research has been encouraging on three test lakes stocked with bass carrying these trophy genes. The special fish are showing faster growth.

The world bass record has become a legend among legends. To break the record would be like breaking the all-time homerun record or Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak.

The world record bass weighed 22 pounds, four ounces, and was caught in 1932 in Georgia by a postal worker named George Perry, who after documenting the fish’s weight, took it home, cut it up, cooked it, and with the help of his family, ate it. Those were the Great Depression years.

Whoever tops that 22 pound, four-ounce benchmark will have a “million dollar fish.” Any angler with a little personality and a few marketing skills should be able to “cash in” with fishing seminars, speaking invitations and tackle endorsements.

That’s what the Operation World Record TPWD program is all about.

“It’s the most revered record there is and we’re actively going after it,” says Phil Durocher of the TPWD. “It’s not going to happen by accident.”

Fishermen spend some $116 billion a year in the US — and any state that beats “Perry’s fish” would get a windfall.

The keys to producing the world record bucket mouth are superior-genetics, a protein-rich diet, a warm habitat (for a long annual growing season) and life longevity. The fish will most certainly be a female and will probably be near to 12 years old. But even with all the growth factors in place the chance of producing a bass that will live long enough to top 22 pounds is very infinitesimal. Many believe it’s a mark that can never be eclipsed. Others disagree.

Lake Austin is a good Texas pick. It is known in our area for big fish. Several years ago, when the lake was lowered in January for people to work on their docks, Bobby Whiteside and I caught some very large bass at night.

“Lake Austin was chosen as one of the sites to stock the excess fish because of its history of producing trophy largemouth bass,” Steve Magnelia, the TPWD Inland Fisheries biologist in charge of the lake, said. “Seven Sharelunkers have come from Lake Austin, and the lake record is a 14.35 pounds.”

But if the record is busted it will probably happen on a Southern California lake. Twenty-one of the top 25 bass ever caught have come from the Gold Rush State and largemouth bass aren’t even native to California.

California imported fast-growing, long-living Florida-strain bass in the 1950s. Combine these ingredients with a bountiful forage base, including a generous winter stocking of put-and-take, protein-rich, hatchery-reared rainbow trout, and you have a super-size strain of the largemouth bass.

A little 72-acre lake in San Diego County, named Lake Dixon, may be the lake that produces the record lunker. On May 31, 2003, Jed Dickerson landed a 21.7 pound largemouth that vaulted him to the number 4 spot on the Bassmaster Top 25 list.

Then in 2006, Mac Weakley and his long time fishing partners Dickerson and Mike Winn claimed to catch the same fish. Their hand-held digital scale weighed the fish at 25.1 pounds. The fish that they named Dottie in 2003 had the same black beauty mark under her right gill plate.

So now we have a new world record?

Not so fast cowboy!

Like any good fish story, this one comes with intriguing sidebars. For one, they were sight-fishing for the bass in a spawning bed and accidently foul-hooked the fish in the side. Then it wasn’t weighed on a certified scale and ultimately, the fish was released. All those factors work against it being certified as the world record.

“When you’re talking about the all-tackle record bass that could put a million dollars in the pocket of whoever catches it, there’s potential incentive to exaggerate the catch,” Mike Leech, the ambassador-at-large of the International Game Fish Association in Dania Beach, Fla, said.

The pursuit of a new world-record bass has led to intense, sometimes maniacal scenes being acted out at many California lakes. Guns have even been drawn. In the choice between bass or spouse, some anglers have chosen bass.

At lakes that are open only on Wednesdays and weekends, some anglers will pay college kids to sit/sleep/eat in their trucks with trailored boats so that come Saturday morning, they will have a good place in line at the boat ramp.

Crazy?

You bet it is.

But the possibility of catching a 15-or 20-pound bass can do strange things to the afflicted.

Some records may stand forever. But many believe the bass record is only a few casts away.

“I do feel there are bigger bass than 22-pounds swimming in some lake or river some place.” Leech said. “It could just as easily be a 9-year-old kid with a Zebco rod-and reel that catches it, and hopefully they’ll have lots of witnesses.”



Jim Darnell is an ordained minister and host of the syndicated outdoors show, God’s Great Outdoors. his column runs every Thursday in the Daily Record