Budweiser ShareLunker No. 400, a 13.1-pound largemouth bass worth
$5,240 in cash.
– Lake Mohave
Now the huge fish is paying dividends for everyone who fishes Lake
Amistad. On April 18 ShareLunker 400 produced 46,678 eggs, the most
produced by a ShareLunker in a single spawn in the program’s 20-year
history.
The fry from that spawn, along with the big fish herself, will be returned to Lake Amistad in a few weeks.
“This is an outstanding example of why the Budweiser ShareLunker
program has been so successful in improving the genetics of largemouth
bass in Texas reservoirs,” said Allen Forshage, director of the Texas
Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, home to the program. “In the
wild, the fish would have spawned with an unpedigreed male. Here at
TFFC, we pair the ShareLunker females with males that are themselves
descendants of ShareLunkers on both the male and female sides. We are
concentrating the genes that make these big fish special. The ultimate
winners in this program are the anglers of Texas, who will be catching
these genetically superior fish in the future.”
Forshage also emphasized that returning ShareLunkers to the lakes
where they were caught is an important part of the program. “Returning
the fish to their home lakes gives other anglers a chance to catch them
as well as allowing the fish to continue to spawn in the wild in the
future,” he said. “Plus, everything we know about genetics indicates
that the offspring of the ShareLunkers have an increased probability of
growing to a trophy size. Taking the big fish out of the lake
temporarily allows us to improve the quality of fishing in that lake
permanently.”
In addition to the usual prizes of a Budweiser ShareLunker jacket
and a fiberglass replica of the number 400 fish, Jason Baird will
receive a cash award of $400 per pound of fish and a G.Loomis rod with
Shimano reel valued at a total of $600. Prizes will be funded by the
Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, Anheuser-Busch and G.Loomis.
– Lake Mohave
