Summer 2019
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The reason why it’s not all out here at once is that we have to build this organization from the top down. If we’re not healthy at the top, the base has nothing to look forward to. We have been real slow and methodical, while building this from the top down
WB: MLF is quite a legacy. Is there anything else you want everyone to know about it?
KLEIN: History still has a lot to be written. I think there’s still a lot left. I’m not finished yet. I know the management team isn’t finished yet. We have a long way to go and a lot of goals to accomplish, but one thing I will say about the sport is that I know that what it has done for me in my career and my whole thing has always been that I want to be able to share that.
I want to be able to create something, so many young anglers can have the same experiences that I had growing up being able to be a competitive angler, travel the country travel and the world. It has been a real good career for me.
I have approached competitive angling and the outdoor industry as there is a lot of opportunities for someone that wants to get involved in; so basically I would just like to make it available to more people and be able to share my experiences with more people.
WB: Okay, so I have to ask… how ‘bout that ShareLunker. Was that a bucket list thing or did you just happen to be out one day and land a teener?
KLEIN: I have caught enough big ones (not that big), but I’ve cut my fair share of 10’s and I could never predict when I’m going to get a big bite like that. When I got that bite, we were actually out fishing for ShareLunker fish.
It was really a cool two-day opportunity. We were trying to catch some fish over eight-pounds that were pure strain Florida’s, so that we could move them to a fish hatchery in the state of Texas to participate in the ShareLunker program.
Officials will come and pick it up and take it to the
Athens fish hatchery here in East Texas
and they run DNA
samples on the fish. Then, they will spawn the fish, they will raise the fry and then they will take all the offspring and plant them back into the public lakes in the state of Texas. It is really a cool program.
I got the DNA samples back from the ShareLunker I caught, and she was linked back to a 13.1 pound that was caught in Lake Fork in 2004.
When I caught my ShareLunker in March, she weighed 13.79 pounds. They took her to the Athens fish hatchery. She’s there now and they’re getting ready to spawn her. They feed her trout and she weighs 16.9 pounds now. When they get done spawning her, they are going to put her in the public aquarium at the Athens fish hatchery.I kind a have a personal connection with that fish.
WB: Tell us the deets on how you caught her.
KLEIN: I caught her on the bottom in about 30-feet of water on a spinning rod and six-pound- Berkeley 100% Fluorocarbon. I was using a Berkley MaxScent D-Worm, rigged wacky-style on a dropshot. I was using a little, tiny number one Berkley Fusion19 dropshot hook.For those of you that think you can’t land big fish on small stuff – well that’s about as small as you’re going to get.
WB: How long did it take to get that one in?
KLEIN: Probably about seven minutes. It was 10:30 a.m. I’m glad I caught her then; because, I don’t know how much longer we were going to stay out. The weather was deteriorating quickly. It was 26° outside with 25 MPH winds and the windchill dropped down below 26. My carpet was white with sleet.
WB: Were you nervous or excited when you brought that one in?
KLEIN: No, I was pretty calm when I got that one .It was just a matter of me doing everything right and the fish doing everything right. But I was also excited. I had a good friend with me in the boat who is a fisheries biologist for the state of Texas, and he knew how big it was. All I knew was that it was a nice one. He was as excited as I was. It was very cool to have somebody in the boat to
share it with. •
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