BILL ANALYSIS
By: Crownover
Culture, Recreation, & Tourism
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Lake Lewisville is a 30,000-acre public freshwater reservoir located within the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan are which draws more than 2.5 million visitors each year for recreational activities such as camping, picnicking, boating, swimming, and fishing.
Sport fishing is one of the most popular recreational activities in Texas, and Lake Lewisville has earned a rating of "excellent" by the Parks and Wildlife Department for catfish, crappie, and white bass and "good" for largemouth and striped/ hybrid bass.
In addition to the tens of thousands of recreational anglers who cast their lines in Lake Lewisville each year, hundreds of competitive and professional anglers visit the lake annually to participate in the more than two dozen fishing tournaments that are held there.
The first Elite 50 tournament of the Bassmaster Tour to be held in Texas took place at Lake Lewisville in June 2005. It was attended by the top 50 professional bass anglers in the world. The four-day event attracted nearly 20,000 spectators and generated national television coverage. The winner of the tournament netted an 11.81 pound largemouth bass, which ranked as the largest catch on the tour and which set a lake record that was bested three more times that calendar year.
In October 2005, the Bassmaster Tour returned to Lake Lewisville to hold its first-ever women's tournament, and the new Women's Bassmaster Tour staged a competition at the lake in May 2006.
Lake Lewisville served in October 2006 as the site of the inaugural Boat U.S. National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship, which is nationally televised. The championship is scheduled to take place at the lake again on September 17-19, 2007.
The excellent bass fishing to be had at Lake Lewisville has established that body of water as one of the foremost bass-fishing sites in the state, and it is fitting that the lake's special allure for bass-fishing enthusiasts be appropriately recognized.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.
ANALYSIS
Lake Lewisville is designated as the official Urban Bass Fishing Capital of Texas.