The 2023 season was another banner year for the program, with multiple milestones reached and memories made by anglers working with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Inland Fisheries Division staff, who together make the program a success.

Above: Dalton Smith with his 14.76lb Legacy Class Lunker (left) and Kyle Hall with his 13.58lb Legacy Class Lunker (right).

Key highlights from the 2023 Toyota ShareLunker collection season include:

• A record 15 Legacy Class ShareLunkers produced from O.H. Ivie.
• Five fish weighing more than 14 pounds.
• Angler Kyle Hall recorded a Legacy Lunker in back-to-back seasons.
• Anglers Dalton Smith and Caden Cowan reeled in Legacy Lunkers at O.H. Ivie on the same day (Feb. 2).
• Anglers from seven states, including Texas, etched their name into the program’s record book: Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Mexico and Washington.
• Anglers have submitted 650 Legacy Lunkers in the first 37 years of the ShareLunker program and during the 2022 and 2023 collection seasons, all the loaned fish were healthy and returned to the lake where they were caught.

New for 2024

TPWD fisheries biologists have learned a great deal from genetic scale samples donated by Texas bass anglers. They are eager to receive more data, but for that we’ll need your help. So, new for 2024, anglers who contribute a lunker scale sample will receive a Lew’s baitcast reel, valued at up to $200, while supplies last*. Plus, all anglers who send in a genetic sample will get a 3-month subscription to Bass University. Instructions for submitting DNA samples are located on the Toyota ShareLunker website. * Limit of 1 Lew’s baitcast reel per angler, while supplies last. Specific model to be determined, valued up to $200.

How to Participate in ShareLunker Program

If you reel in a largemouth bass that’s at least 8 lbs. or 24 inches, you can participate simply by entering your Lunker catch information online or on the ShareLunker mobile app during the year-long season (January 1 – December 31). Lunkers 13 lbs.+ that are caught during spawning season (January 1 – March 31) can be donated to the ShareLunker program – just call the mobile hotline at (903) 681-0550 and we’ll come pick it up!

Once a Lunker is reeled in, enter the catch data on the Toyota ShareLunker mobile app – available for free from the Apple App Store and Google Play – or on the Toyota ShareLunker online app.