Trophycatch Florida

[headfish]

The TrophyCatch angler recognition program that started in Florida last October is going strong. It encourages anglers to catch, document and release largemouth bass heavier than eight pounds and provides rewards for doing so. Just registering enters contestants into a drawing for a Phoenix Bass Boat with a Mercury Outboard and trailer. Sponsors provide great gifts, and it's a great web site to see where and when lunkers are turning up.  Report your catch and release for rewards and bragging rights, and be able to say "My Trophy Swims in Florida."

[roadwarrior]

Welcome aboard!

 

I hope your plan is as successful as the Texas Share Lunker Program. 

Some people have speculated on why Florida has never officially

produced a 20 lb bass. My theory is that too many tourists keep the

"fish of a lifetime" or double digit. In order to grow 20+ lb bass you have

to have a large population of 15+ and an occasional 19 I would think.

[fl_bass]

I tried to enter my information but it did not recognize my license number. I would use the customer ID number from the license site right? Or is there some other number I would use. May have open the tackle box to get it lol

[fstr385]

Wish Id have known about this a little sooner. Definatly more motivated now to get a 13+ lb bucketface

[headfish]

Thanks for the feedback.  A couple quick points, first Texas ShareLunker was highly successfu,l and we hope to have comparable numbers soon, so please help us spread the word.  We won't be picking the fish up to take back to the hatchery, so hopefully we can get these beauties back in their home waters quickly to be caught again. If we can encourage folks to release fish and use fiberglass mounts, we hopefully will expand that base of 15 lb plus bass you spoke of, and give biologists a better idea of what programs help generate sustainable trophy fisheries.

 

On the registration page, you use your customer number and the phone number you used to register at the time (that tends to be the mismatch).  You can find both by looking them up, or you can simply type your information into the alternate registration approach on the right side of the screen.  Either works, one is just intended to reduce how much typing you need to do.

 

BTW, when you register for TrophyCatch you also register for Big Catch.  Big Catch is pretty-much a certificate only program, as such we don't have to be quite as thorough documenting weights and lengths. So if you have older records and photos of bass you've caught that exceeded either 8 lbs or 24 inches, you can enter them in that program and still have your photo on the site. TrophyCatch has to be after Oct. 1, 2012 and have photos of the weight and length.

 

Like us on Facebook and you'll see all the new Trophies as they are approved and released.