HPHS Senior Catches Fish of a Lifetime

Highland Park High School senior Dylan Sorrells is still several months from graduation, but the young angler has already made a once-in-a-lifetime catch.

Sorrells snagged a 13.64-pound largemouth bass at the Richland-Chambers Reservoir on Jan. 26. His fish is the largest bass registered in Texas this year, and the first over 13 pounds recorded at the reservoir by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Toyota ShareLunker Program since 2008.

“We call these fish of a lifetime,” said Toyota ShareLunker Program coordinator Natalie Goldstrohm. “We know that there are fish of this size out there throughout the state, but catching one is not a given. It is something that is very rare.”

Sorrells, who is president of the HP Bass Club, had never seen such a large bass in the wild before he caught this one. He was at Richland-Chambers to prepare for an upcoming tournament there, and initially thought he was going to reel in a catfish. Once Sorrells realized what he had, he and friend Andrew Waters used a net to bring it in.

“You don’t get many shots at that,” he said. “We wanted to take as many precautions as we could so we wouldn’t lose it.”

Sorrells explained that the average bass weighs about 2 pounds. He would consider a 7-to 8-pound bass a trophy fish. Bass over 13 pounds are so large that they don’t even exist in parts of the country. “When I put it on the scale, I was like, ‘oh my gosh, I caught a ShareLunker,’” he said.

Sorrells’ catch will be used in the ShareLunker selective breeding and restocking program, which is designed to bring bigger, better bass to the state of Texas by improving the population’s genetics.

Sorrells’ fish, a female, has been brought to a hatchery operated by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Goldstrohm said.

Sorrells’ bass is categorized as a Legacy Class ShareLunker. Since the ShareLunker Program started in 1986, only 671 fish have qualified for that distinction, which is limited to bass weighing more than 13 pounds that are caught between January and March, Goldstrohm said.

“He may never catch another fish like that,” said Dylan’s dad, Chris Sorrells. “They’re very special.”

Goldstrohm said that the ShareLunker program’s success depends on the willingness of anglers like Sorrells to share information about their fish, and encouraged anglers to visit the program’s website, texassharelunker.com, for rules and more information.

“Even if you’re not as successful as Dylan at catching a 13.64-pound largemouth bass, if you happen to be catching an 8-pound bass in a public reservoir in Texas, your information is still important to us,” she said.

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