SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — O.H. Ivie reached another milestone on Saturday with its 13th Legacy Class fish of the 2023 Toyota ShareLunker collection season.

The official record-breaking angler of the season was Lee Beuershausen of Marble Falls who reeled in 13.34-pound ShareLunker 648 to set a new collection season record of Legacy Lunkers for O.H. Ivie, bringing the overall total for the year to 16.

Lee Beuershausen landed ShareLunker 648 weighing in at 13.34 pounds. This makes 13 Legacy Class Lunkers from O.H. Ivie and the most collected from this reservoir during one season in program history! CC TPWD

According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, the lake produced 12 Legacy fish in both the 2021 and 2022 collection seasons and shows no signs of slowing down, with 13 already in 2023. Since January 2021, O.H Ivie has had a combined total of  37 Legacy fish with only one lunker having been recaptured from a previous year.

“O.H. Ivie is a fishing destination for many anglers and tournaments for good reason,” said Natalie Goldstrohm, Toyota ShareLunker program coordinator. “Despite high fishing pressure, this reservoir continues to produce Legacy Class bass week after week and month after month because of excellent fish care by our anglers and great fisheries management.”

The record-breaking catch happened during Beuershausen was competing in the Bass Champs Tournament Saturday. He told TPWD he had been catching fish successfully at various locations on the lake during practice, but on Saturday afternoon, he headed back to one spot that showed promise.

“I caught a couple of four-pounders; from there, I started catching them almost every cast using a Brush hog bait on a Carolina rig,” said Beuershausen. “The 13-pounder took the bait and, about two casts later, I reeled in another fish, around 12 pounds. That added a lot to our tournament bag really fast.”

The fish he landed, Legacy Luncker 648, launched Beuershausen to the tournament championship. In 2012, he landed a 13-pounder on Choke Canyon, but this is the first time for a firsthand interaction with the ShareLunker program.

“This experience with the ShareLunker program was fantastic,” said Beuershausen. “TPWD staff arrived quickly to collect her and were very careful handling the fish. We took really good care of the fish and it’s in great shape. I really respect what TPWD does and think this is an awesome program. The results of the work TPWD is doing are shown in our lakes. We never caught 25- to 30-pound bags up until the last 15–20 years since this program has been in place. This is a big deal to us.”

During the first three months of the season (January through March), anglers who reel in a 13-plus pound bass can loan it to TPWD for the ShareLunker selective breeding and stocking program. These anglers can call the ShareLunker hotline at (903) 681-0550 to report their catch 24/7 through March 31.

Once a Lunker is reeled in, anglers need to enter the catch data on the Toyota ShareLunker mobile app – available for free from the Apple App Store and Google Play — or on the Toyota ShareLunker online app at TexasSharelunker.com. Besides basic catch information, anglers can also provide a DNA scale sample from their Lunker bass to TPWD researchers for genetic analysis.