Texas Transplant
Well-Known Member
Got this from the outdoors writer for the Dallas Morning News, Ray Sasser. Interesting reading.
Lake Fork statistics rank right up there with Barry Bonds'. Fork has produced 35 of the 50 biggest bass ever reported in Texas, including the six biggest, all more than 17 pounds, and eight of the top 10.
Unlike Major League Baseball, where every pitch is documented and dissected, bass fishing is largely a solitary sport, generally shared by two anglers in a boat. Thanks to the lake's big-bass production, Lake Fork bass have been tracked more closely than those of any other fishery in the nation.
The latest database is the Lake Fork Trophy Bass Survey. Anglers who catch Lake Fork fish that weigh 7 pounds or more are encouraged to report their catch to any of 13 major marinas scattered around the lake. The survey started in March. August marked its sixth month.
Texas Parks and Wildlife fisheries biologists make the marina circuit at the end of each month, collecting survey data. Six months of the voluntary Lake Fork Trophy Bass Survey revealed 1,570 largemouth bass that weighed 7 pounds or more. Of the big fish reported, 202 weighed more than 10 pounds. As the baseball statisticians might point out, nearly 13 percent of the big bass reported at Fork from March through August weighed 10 pounds or more.
As unbelievable as those numbers seem, they're not even close to the real story, says Kevin Storey, the TP&W biologist who monitors Lake Fork. Storey figures that about 50 percent of the big fish are being reported to the survey.
"When we do angler creel surveys at Lake Fork, we ask if they've caught a big bass," says Storey. "We make a note of those who caught a big fish, then we check the survey records to see if we can find a fish that size caught at about that time. We're able to find about half of the fish.
"The amazing thing is how many quality bass are being caught at Lake Fork after all these years."
Those folks down in Texas, know how to manage a world class fishery.
Tex
Lake Fork statistics rank right up there with Barry Bonds'. Fork has produced 35 of the 50 biggest bass ever reported in Texas, including the six biggest, all more than 17 pounds, and eight of the top 10.
Unlike Major League Baseball, where every pitch is documented and dissected, bass fishing is largely a solitary sport, generally shared by two anglers in a boat. Thanks to the lake's big-bass production, Lake Fork bass have been tracked more closely than those of any other fishery in the nation.
The latest database is the Lake Fork Trophy Bass Survey. Anglers who catch Lake Fork fish that weigh 7 pounds or more are encouraged to report their catch to any of 13 major marinas scattered around the lake. The survey started in March. August marked its sixth month.
Texas Parks and Wildlife fisheries biologists make the marina circuit at the end of each month, collecting survey data. Six months of the voluntary Lake Fork Trophy Bass Survey revealed 1,570 largemouth bass that weighed 7 pounds or more. Of the big fish reported, 202 weighed more than 10 pounds. As the baseball statisticians might point out, nearly 13 percent of the big bass reported at Fork from March through August weighed 10 pounds or more.
As unbelievable as those numbers seem, they're not even close to the real story, says Kevin Storey, the TP&W biologist who monitors Lake Fork. Storey figures that about 50 percent of the big fish are being reported to the survey.
"When we do angler creel surveys at Lake Fork, we ask if they've caught a big bass," says Storey. "We make a note of those who caught a big fish, then we check the survey records to see if we can find a fish that size caught at about that time. We're able to find about half of the fish.
"The amazing thing is how many quality bass are being caught at Lake Fork after all these years."
Those folks down in Texas, know how to manage a world class fishery.
Tex
