Lake Austin gave up the third Toyota ShareLunker of the season to Austin angler Brett Ketchum January 29.  The 13.0-pound bass is the thirteenth ShareLunker to come from the urban lake.

Since Texas Parks and Wildlife Department launched a statewide appeal in early December for donations to aid a financially strapped Texas State Parks system, more than $1 million has been raised.

Dates for the highly-anticipated return of the Toyota Texas Bass Classic (TTBC), the world championship of professional bass fishing and country music festival, were announced today with all of the action set to begin Friday, Sept. 28.

If you’re a saltwater angler and don’t like the idea of hundreds of abandoned crab traps catching and killing game fish you could have landed, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is looking for volunteers willing to help get rid of these derelict traps along the coast.

Today, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation board of trustees voted to donate $500,000 to Texas State Parks, hoping to encourage more donations to aid the state park system, which is facing a $4.6 million revenue shortfall caused by heat, drought, wildfires and a drop in park visitation.

Student artists across Texas in grades K — 12 take notice: It’s time to start preparing your entries for the 2012 Wildlife Forever State-Fish Art Contest.  The contest is open to all students in public, private or home schools. Entry deadline is March 31 each year.

When Texas Parks & Wildlife magazine publisher Randy Brudnicki planned a fishing trip to Falcon International Reservoir with his sons Jason and Dustin for the week after Christmas, he knew the time was right to catch a Toyota ShareLunker.

Andrew Watson of Highland Village caught the first entry of the 26th Toyota ShareLunker season December 27, 2011, from Lake Fork.  Watson and his father were fishing under the Texas 154 bridge for crappie using live minnows when the 13.51-pound largemouth bass began taking their minnows.

The East Texas Woods and Waters Foundation (ETWWF) and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) will host two special fishing events in January 2012. Two thousand rainbow trout will be stocked into The Nature Center pond to provide a free fishing opportunity for area youth and their adult fishing mentors. Event dates are January 7 and 14, 2012, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., rain or shine.

United States Attorney John M. Bales announced today that Blake Powell, a 32-year-old Cherokee County man, pleaded guilty to the charge of negligent transportation of wildlife before United States Magistrate Judith K. Guthrie.