BFBASS FACTS
Texas Records • ShareLunker

Texas ShareLunker Program: 40 Years of Giant Bass

ShareLunker is more than a trophy list. It is an angler-recognition system, a long-running archive, a selective-breeding program and—in confirmed cases—a source of individual-fish history.

Bass Facts Editorial Reviewed September 2026
The short answer

The Texas ShareLunker program began in 1986. In its current form, it combines year-round trophy recognition, a public catch archive, optional DNA submissions and a January–March Legacy breeding program for 13-pound-plus largemouth bass.

Bassmaster Classic competitor holding two largemouth bass
Two largemouth bass at the 2017 Bassmaster Classic on Lake Conroe, Texas. Original Bass Facts photograph.

The current ShareLunker classes

Bass Pro Shops Lunker

At least 8 pounds or 24 inches. The broad year-round participation level.

Strike King Elite

10 pounds or more. Double-digit bass receive separate recognition.

Lew’s Legend

13 pounds or more outside the Legacy collection window.

Legacy

13+ pounds caught Jan. 1–Mar. 31 and loaned to TPWD for selective breeding.

Historical caution: sponsor names, eligibility rules and class structures have changed over four decades. Historical records should retain the program context that applied when the catch was submitted rather than being forced into 2026 categories.

From Ethel to the 40th season

TPWD traces the program’s beginning to Mark Stevenson’s 17.67-pound Lake Fork bass on Nov. 26, 1986. The fish later known as Ethel became the first ShareLunker and one of the program’s defining historical fish.

Texas ShareLunker: from one giant bass to a statewide data program Selected milestones in the program’s first 40 seasons 1986 Ethel Mark Stevenson’s 17.67-lb Lake Fork bass launches the story 1993 ShareLunker name The program moves beyond its original sponsor identity 1997 Athens facility Care and breeding move to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center 2022 Lone Star Bass phase Selective-breeding descendants become a larger stocking tool 2025 1,071 entries 469 anglers • 93 public waters 201 DNA samples submitted 2026 40th season 18 Legacy fish • 10 public lakes O.H. Ivie reaches 63 since 2020 The modern program is simultaneously recognition, archive, genetics and selective breeding. Historical sponsor names and class rules changed over time, so old entries should retain their original context.
Original Bass Facts timeline built from TPWD program history and participation data.
Texas Parks and Wildlife fish transport and hatchery trailer parked on a city street
Texas fisheries-management equipment used to move and handle fish. Original Bass Facts photograph.

Why anglers are part of the science

The modern program asks anglers to submit catch information and optionally provide scale samples for DNA analysis. TPWD can use those data to study genetics, identify offspring of known broodfish and confirm recaptures of previously documented giant bass.

That is what makes ShareLunker more useful than a trophy gallery. It is simultaneously a recognition program, a long-running archive of catch events and—in a smaller subset of records—a way to follow the history of individual fish.

1,071 qualifying entries reported for 2025
469 anglers in the 2025 program
93 public waterbodies represented in 2025
201 DNA samples submitted in 2025

TPWD program reporting lists 714 Lunker, 335 Elite, 14 Legacy and eight Legend entries in 2025. During the 2026 Legacy collection season, 18 Legacy fish came from 10 public lakes; O.H. Ivie produced five and reached 63 Legacy-class fish since the 2020 season.

A ShareLunker entry is a catch event—not automatically a unique fish

One fish can appear in more than one Texas bass dataset Bass Facts keeps rankings, catch events and individual fish as separate concepts — then links them when the source supports it. DATASET A Texas Top 50 A current TPWD ranking of the 50 heaviest listed Texas largemouth. 50 rows Ranking rows are catch records. The same fish can appear twice if it was caught again at qualifying weight. DATASET B ShareLunker archive Thousands of catch events with Catch ID, class, angler, date, weight, length, waterbody and photo fields. Catch events A row is not proof of a unique fish. Class rules changed across 40 seasons. BASS FACTS LAYER Individual fish entities Multiple catch records connect to one fish only when TPWD explicitly confirms a recapture or same-fish identity. 4 modeled Each fish can carry multiple dates, anglers, weights and ranking appearances. The linking rule is intentionally conservative. Similar weight + same lake + nearby dates can flag a candidate. It cannot establish identity. Public “same fish” relationships require explicit TPWD confirmation.
This distinction is central to the Texas records database: Top-50 rows and ShareLunker rows are catch records; a Bass Facts “individual fish” entity exists only when TPWD confirms that multiple catches were the same fish.

The official archive exposes Catch ID, class, date, angler, hometown, weight, length, waterbody and photo fields. Bass Facts preserves each official catch record as its own event. A second layer connects multiple events to one fish only when TPWD genetics or recapture reporting supports that relationship.

Primary sources

Toyota ShareLunker official site — current classes, rules and program information.
Official ShareLunker archive — catch-level records.
TPWD 40th-season announcement .
TPWD 2025 season recap .
TPWD 2026 Legacy collection-season recap .
TPWD Lone Star Bass / breeding history .

Related Bass Facts

Texas Giant Bass Data Hub Known individual giant bass Largemouth bass state records