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Falcon Soars with Toyota ShareLunker 476
 ATHENS, Texas - Another West Texas reservoir rebounding from the
drought of the late 1990s is starting to pump out monster largemouth bass.
On January 19 Falcon International Reservoir produced a 14.4-pound Toyota ShareLunker for Bryan Aubin of Zapata.
Aubin was fishing in six feet of water with a watermelon red lizard. Water temperature was 60 degrees at the time of the catch, 9:00 a.m.
The fish was cared for until pickup at Robert’s Fish n' Tackle, an official
ShareLunker weigh and holding station. Proper handling and care are important factors in survival of big fish, as shown by Toyota ShareLunker 474, caught from Falcon on December 20 by Debbie Baker.
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ShareLunker NO.475
O.H. Ivie Back in Toyota ShareLunker Fold
 ATHENS, Texas - O.H. Ivie Reservoir and other
West Texas lakes suffered from drought from the late 1990s until 2004, when rains came again.
The drought took two forms: low water and few big bass caught.
The fish drought ended January 16, when Ben Blaine of Merkel landed a 14.02-pound largemouth bass from O.H. Ivie. It became Toyota ShareLunker No. 475.
We’ve been expecting it, said Bobby Farquhar, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) inland fisheries regional director from San Angelo.
About six to seven years after the end of a drought you usually see the big fish start to come out.
Blaine caught his fish at 5:00 p.m. in 12 to 15 feet of 48-degree water on a DD-22. The fish was 25.5 inches long and 21.25 inches in girth.
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Toyota ShareLunker 474
Comes From Falcon Reservoir
 ATHENS, Texas—Ever since rains refilled Falcon
International Reservoir, TPWD Inland Fisheries biologist Randy Myers has been holding his breath, waiting for the Rio Grande reservoir to start turning out big bass. Myers is now breathing again.
On Sunday, December 20, 2009—a date that will live in Randy Myers’ memory—Debbie Baker of Wartrace, Tennessee, pulled in Toyota ShareLunker
474 from Falcon. The fish weighed 13.26 pounds on the certified scale at Robert’s Tackle in Zapata, an official ShareLunker receiving station. It was 25 inches long and 20.125 inches in girth. Baker was
fishing in 25 feet of water with a Brushhog shortly after noon.
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Toyota ShareLunker 473
Comes From Henderson County
 ATHENS, Texas—The latest Toyota ShareLunker had
a short ride to its new quarters at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center: It was caught from a private lake in Henderson County only a few miles away.
Paul Detwiler of Tyler was fishing in five feet of water
on November 16 when the big bass attacked his Strike King lipless crankbait. The fish weighed 14.43 pounds and was 27.5 inches long and 21.75 inches in girth.
Detwiler’s fish is the second entry into the Toyota ShareLunker program this season and only the ninth ShareLunker ever to be caught during the month of November. It is the first entry from a private lake during
that month.
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First Toyota ShareLunker Is Early Arrival #472
 ATHENS, Texas—The first Toyota ShareLunker of the season slipped in the back door of the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center (TFFC) on September 28.
The fish wasn’t supposed to be a ShareLunker at all. When Lanny Smalley of Athens, Alabama, caught it from a private
lake near Ben Wheeler, he did not have a certified scale to get a correct weight on the fish, but he called TFFC to see if they would like to have the big bass for display. The fish weighed
exactly 13 pounds, the minimum weight needed to be entered into the Toyota ShareLunker program. She was 26.75 inches long and 18.25 inches in girth. The fish is now Toyota ShareLunker No. 472.
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