Texas Border Business
In a remarkable achievement for Texas angling, Fort Phantom Hill ReShareLunkercated just north of Abilene, has made its mark on the prestigious list of public reservoirs in Texas with the catch of a Legacy Class ShareLunker largemouth bass. The fish, weighing in at 13.33 pounds and tagged as ShareLunker 660, was caught by Eric Lewis of Haskell, distinguishing Fort Phantom Hill as the 77th public waterbody to have produced a Legacy Class ShareLunker.
This significant catch occurred during a Couples Association of Sport Tournaments event, with Lewis and his wife hitting the water early and securing the catch by 7:30 a.m. after a tense struggle involving dock posts. Lewis’s catch not only sets a new record for the largest largemouth bass at Fort Phantom Hill, surpassing the previous record of 12.90 pounds, but also becomes the 10th Legacy Class largemouth bass of the 2024 Toyota ShareLunker collection season, highlighting the reservoir’s exceptional fishing quality.
Natalie Goldstrohm, the Toyota ShareLunker program coordinator and a former management biologist at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) in Abilene, expressed her excitement over the reservoir’s achievement. This event underscores the reservoir’s potential, which she has witnessed firsthand, and celebrates the ShareLunker program’s success in promoting and preserving Texas’s bass fishing heritage.
The ShareLunker program, a cornerstone of TPWD’s efforts to enhance Texas’s bass fishing, offers various participation levels for anglers catching significant bass over eight pounds or 24 inches. The program rewards participants with merchandise, VIP access to annual awards, and entries into prize drawings, alongside contributions to bass genetics research and conservation efforts.
Lewis’s remarkable catch, now a lake record and a highlight of the ShareLunker collection season, not only showcases the Fort Phantom Hill Reservoir’s potential but also emphasizes the unpredictable nature of bass fishing, where luck and skill intertwine to produce memorable moments on Texas waters.
