Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss SAL care by TPWD

This video shows how Texas Park and Wildlife handles LMB contributed to the Sharelunker program. They must be 13 pounds +, and pure Florida genetics.

The handling of a stressed fish is interesting to me.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1222363927020

Here's details about the program and records if you're interested
SAL Program

Cool video,thanks for sharing.

The male they used to fertilize the eggs looked more like a meal than a mate though

Al very interesting. TX based LMB research on genetics has indicated that many of the very largest aggressive LMB have some northern genes (not pure Flas). I was not aware that TPWD required pure Fla genetics for the SAL program. I did not see that in my quick review of the link but could easily have missed it. If so I wonder how they do the testing quick enough to decide on if they should take the fish. If I caught a fish that qualified other than being possibly not pure Fla I would not participate if there was a chance it might be rejected. Too special of a fish to take that risk. I would either call a hatchery and see if they wanted it or release it back or use it as a brood fish myself.

Eric, I'm right on board with you about the Northern/Florida deal. IIRC, the mixed LMB are accepted and recognized in the program but not used as breeders for future lake stockings.

I'll research this a little because historical documents show that many of the LMB listed are in fact mixed. Besides, after almost 30 years, pure genetics in public lakes may be a tough find.

I'll update after I confirm info.

EDIT with TPWD info:
"The genetics lab is important to the ShareLunker program, since fish must be genetically identified before being used as broodfish. Traditional protein electrophoresis and a relatively new RAPDS DNA technique are used to identify the different subspecies of largemouth bass (northern and Florida)"

"Why are some ShareLunkers returned to their reservoir of origin and not spawned?
All donated fish are tested to determine their exact genetic make-up. Only fish that test out to be “pure Florida bass” are accepted into the selective breeding program. While we know bass having a combination of northern and Florida bass genes (intergrades) can reach large size, the majority of the donated ShareLunkers are pure Florida bass. By limiting the selective breeding program to those fish, we are able to cross pure Florida bass females over 13 pounds with pure Florida bass males which are offspring of previous ShareLunkers, increasing the odds of superior genetics and potential for achieving maximum size. All fish that are not accepted into the breeding program are returned to the lake of origin as soon as they have fully recovered from the initial trip, if that is the desire of the angler who donated the fish."

I believe any LMB that reaches 13 pounds has merit for breeding, but TPWD apparently doesn't. Also, IIRC, in 30 years, no brood from a SAL has ever been entered to the program. Several of the fish have been re-caught though.

If you stocked 1/2 Florida and 1/2 northern in a body of water that were previously devoid of LMB, would all of the LMB (other than the original stockers) be genetically mixed in several years? In others words, do Floridas seek other Floridas to mate and can their genetics stay "clean" in a mixed body of water?

That male looks bite sized to the big girl.

From a prior thread.


http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/visit...5&Submit=Go

For the last 3 years, not only has Texas posted records of every LMB submitted to the lunkershare program, but they also have posted the results of genetic testing as to whether the bass was a pure strain florida LMB, or a hybrid florida/northern cross. I found the numbers surprising.

Of all of the 13 pound plus bass submitted, there were 34 pure strain LMB and 34 hybrid cross bass.

Of all of the 14 pound plus bass, there were 12 hybrids and 11 florida strain bass.

Of all of the 15 pound plus bass, there were 5 hybrid, and 4 florida strain bass.

Of all of the 16 pound plus bass, there were 3 hybrid and 1 florida strain bass.

I was expecting that as you increased the size of the bass, there would be a greater proportion of pure strain florida LMB. There aren't enough numbers for statistical significance, but it appears that the numbers skew in the opposite direction. More of the larger fish, especially when you look at the 15 and 16 pound fish, appear to be hybrids. This actually is consistent with the thinking that the world record fish, from Georgia,was a hybrid cross, and that most of the giants caught in California are also hybrid crosses.

I would think that the absolute best way to stock a new lake would be with stock from huge LMB caught in the same geographical area. For instance, in Virginia, if stocking a new lake and hoping for trophy bass, you might be best off using trophy fish caught from Briery Creek Lake, and Lake Connor, which have produced most of the huge fish in the state in the last 5 years. In California, you might be best served by stocking bass from Lake Castaic, and similarly productive waters. Certainly the food supply and water quality from the above waters played a huge role, but in stocking from proven stock, you would be nearly assured that your fingerlings would have the genetic potential to get huge, if given ideal growing conditions.