The day started out as a practice run and ended with DeGray Lake’s first Arkansas Legacy Lunker Program entries.
Twin brothers Trace and Levi Loe headed from South Arkansas to the Caddo River reservoir on Feb. 1. The 13,800-acre lake is one they don’t typically fish this time of year; however, they were eager to log some pre-fishing time before an upcoming event.
Trace told Wired2Fish that he and his brother cruised around DeGray, where the fishing was good despite the season’s “definitely different conditions.” They caught nearly 30 smaller fish before landing Trace’s lunker.
Lake DeGray’s First-Ever Lunker
Launched Jan. 1 of this year, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s (AGFC’s) Arkansas Legacy Lunker Program aims to increase state waters’ trophy potential by selectively spawning anglers’ trophy-class fish with Red Hills Hatchery’s Titan MAXX bass that have fast-growth genetic markers. Every largemouth eligible for the Legacy Lunker Club has to meet a handful of criteria, like exceeding 10 pounds in weight and having been caught between January 1 and March 31 via rod and reel in AGFC-managed public waters.
Will Lancett, the lunker program’s coordinator who met up with the brothers after they reported their catches, said that both the 40-year-old Toyota ShareLunker Program and local anglers’ input shaped Arkansas’ new program.
“Texas is the only other state that has successfully developed brood-stock donation program. Anglers love it, and our anglers have been asking us for it for a long time,” he began. “We revised our reservoir black bass management plan for our state and we gathered public input throughout the whole process. We had a stakeholder committee made up of bass anglers and those working with bass anglers who helped us develop the plan, and one of the key things they identified that they wanted to see was a trophy-bass donation program.”
The program logged four entries throughout its first month. The 11.16-pound, 24.5-inch bass Trace caught marked its fifth lunker — but the first both for February and from DeGray Lake.
“I was biting my nails getting a lunker into the program, so it’s good to get that out of the way,” said Trace.
An Even Bigger Catch
The brothers immediately called the lunker hotline. And then to pass the time it would take for a program representative to reach them, they kept on fishing. Soon, Levi hooked the program’s sixth lunker, a 12.63-pound largemouth measuring 26 and a quarter inches in length.
Unfortunately, the twins recognized that DeGray Lake’s second program entry wasn’t faring as well as the first, as did Lancett when he arrived. Its poor health was evident in fungal spots that had become sores, as well as an uncharacteristic lethargy.
But even deceased bass and ineligible spawning donations have stories to tell and data to explore. Lancett noted that studying Levi’s bass revealed that it was 13 years old: “Rarely do we see fish over 10 years old in Arkansas — so that’s really old for a largemouth in the South!”
“They’ve been texting whenever they find out something new about our fish,” Trace added. That includes strong evidence that Levi’s catch was previously caught-and-released by another angler back in July.
Good Experiences with a Great Cause
Trace said that he and his brother couldn’t have asked for a better experience with the program.
“They were great, they told us everything we needed to do, and got there as fast as they could,” he said. “They really care a lot about the fish. It’s a good program to help support, and I wanted to help get the word out.”
In turn, Lancett has been pleased with how much guidance the Texas program’s officials have already offered their Arkansas counterparts to ensure the country’s second successful intuitive of this kind got off to the best possible start.
“We worked with Texas a lot and asked them a bunch of questions, picked their brain, and learned a ton from them before we launched the program, so they’ve been a huge help to us through this process,” he said.
And he reports that the Loe brothers aren’t the only local anglers happy to welcome the Arkansas Legacy Lunker Program.
“I get stopped at gas stations all the time, with people telling me they’re excited and asking questions,” Lancett said of any time he’s out and about with program-branded vessels and vehicles. “I had another guy on the highway with five or six fishing rods in his passenger seat who pulled up next to me, matched my speed, and then honked at me three times. I didn’t know what this guy was doing until I looked over — and he gave me the biggest thumbs up I’ve ever received.”
