BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.C.R. 58
By: Harris
AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Lewisville Lake is a 30,000-acre public freshwater reservoir located within the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.
Lewisville Lake draws more than two and one-half million visitors each year for recreational activities, such as camping, picnicking, boating, swimming, and fishing.
Sportfishing is one of the most popular recreational activities in Texas, and Lewisville Lake is rated as "excellent" by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for catfish, crappie, and white bass fishing and as "good" for largemouth bass and striped-hybrid bass fishing.
In addition to tens of thousands of recreational anglers, more than two dozen fishing tournaments are held on Lewisville Lake each year, drawing hundreds of competitive and professional anglers.
In June of 2005, the Bassmaster Tour held an Elite 50 tournament at Lewisville Lake, the first Elite 50 tournament ever held in Texas; the four-day event drew the top 50 professional bass anglers in the world, attracted nearly 20,000 spectators, and generated national television coverage.
The winner of the tournament netted an 11.81-pound largemouth bass, the largest on the Bassmaster Elite 50 Tour; the winner set a lake record that was bettered three more times that calendar year.
In October of 2005, the Bassmaster Tour returned to Lewisville Lake to hold its first Women's Bassmaster Tour event and returned again in May of 2006 to hold another Women's Bassmaster Tour tournament.
Also in October of 2005, Lewisville Lake was the site for the inaugural BoatUS National Collegiate Bass-Fishing Championship, produced and televised nationally by FOX College Sports, and the lake has now been named the site for the 2007 championship event.
RESOLVED
That the 80th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby designate Lewisville Lake as the Urban Bass Fishing Capital of Texas, and that a copy of this resolution be prepared in honor of the Urban Bass Fishing Capital of Texas.