28/10/2026
Great Story
Stocking Toledo Bend Lake through the years
Agencies in Louisiana and Texas initially stocked Toledo Bend in 1967 with nearly 3.5 million bass fingerlings (native / northern largemouth bass). This photo was included in a brochure for a utility company (LP&L or Cleco) featuring a segment about the excitement of Toledo Bend Lake.
Both Louisiana and Texas stocked native largemouth bass that year as the reservoir filled: 
• Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD): ~1,974,000 largemouth bass.
• Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF): ~1,500,000 largemouth bass.
Channel catfish were also stocked by TPWD in 1967. One or both of the agencies also stocked the lake with an unknown quantity of striped bass and walleye, according to the caption for the photo I’m sharing here. With the exception of the catfish stocked by TPWD, “it was felt that the river proper and adjacent oxbow lakes and sloughs would furnish the necessary bream, crappie and catfish,” the caption further stated.
These early stockings helped establish the bass population that exploded in the new reservoir’s flooded timber and habitat, quickly making it a major fishery. 
Florida-strain largemouth bass stockings in Toledo Bend began in the mid-1980s, with a major, sustained program ramping up around 1990. Florida largemouth bass are the ones typically associated with the modern trophy fisheries.
Timeline and Scale of Florida Largemouth stockings
• Earliest documented stockings: Louisiana’s Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) records note Florida bass introductions starting in 1984. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) stocking reports list the first significant Florida largemouth releases in 1985 (~332,000 fingerlings) and another in 1988 (~150,000). USGS nonindigenous species records also show Texas-side stockings beginning in 1985. 
• Major/sustained effort: Most accounts highlight 1990 as the start of the large-scale, ongoing program that transformed the trophy fishery.
From that point, both states stocked heavily (often hundreds of thousands to over a million fingerlings combined per year). By the mid-2010s, totals exceeded 28 million Florida-strain fish; LDWF later reported over 47 million stocked by TPWD and LDWF combined through spring 2024. 
The goal has always been genetic influence for faster growth and larger maximum size (trophy potential), not primarily boosting overall bass numbers. Florida genetics have been tracked in samples since the late 1980s.
Who Was Involved
• Primary agencies: TPWD (Texas side) and LDWF (Louisiana side). They have handled the bulk of production (from state hatcheries) and annual releases.
• Sabine River Authority of Louisiana (SRA-LA): Actively involved from the start of the major program, including supporting nursery ponds.
• Toledo Bend Lake Association (TBLA): In 1990, TBLA members (including pioneers like John Dean Sr., Glynn Carver, Noe Garcia, and Cal Bowlin) pushed for Florida stockings. They helped convince SRA-LA and were instrumental in building three nursery ponds on the Louisiana side.
Fingerlings donated by LDWF were raised in the ponds and released into the lake. Two ponds operated for years; one was abandoned later. 
TBLA has continued as a key partner for supplemental stockings. Volunteers (often association members and locals) have helped distribute fingerlings—sometimes larger 4- to 6-inch fish purchased or produced for better survival—into good habitat around the lake. Examples include events in the mid-2000s and ongoing smaller-scale releases.
The TBLA has also run the Lunker Program (since the early 1990s) that tracks and rewards releases of 10+ pound fish, supporting the trophy genetics. 
By around 2010, the main state agencies largely took over the core program, though TBLA and others still contribute supplemental efforts and habitat work.
In short, state wildlife agencies led the scientific and large-volume production, while local advocates via the TBLA and SRA-LA helped launch and expand the intensive Florida program that made Toledo Bend famous for big bass starting in the 1990s.
