I don't know about Texas, but Florida's chances are slim. We have the right conditions but we have a problem. Thousands and thousands of anglers coming to Fl every winter to sit and watch bobbers over shiners and catch the 10 plus fish and take them back home to where ever. We will never have a shot at the record until regulations stop this from happening.

I'm no expert by any stretch, but I don't think that is the main barrier to 20lbs Florida fish. How many thousands of private lakes are there in Fla, or golf course lakes, or pits, that receive almost no fishing pressure (and literally no shiner fishing). They are everywhere. Even places like stick marsh are strictly catch and release only. My guess is that it is a mixture of climate and food sources.

I believe our main problem here in Florida is simply forage and cover.

Ya'll ever actually CAUGHT a shiner? I have caught a few giant shiners while bream fishing. They go nuts... jumping, running, whatever they can do. Pretty fun on light tackle. A fish that fights like that isn't just gonna sit there and look at a bass; they know danger, and know how to evade it.

The other problem is just as significant. In case ya'll havent noticed, we have a little bit of vegetation down here. It is all too easy for a shiner, bluegill, crawfish, or whatever a bass wants to eat to slip into the jungle, never to be seen again.

I love to hunt, but if I had to chase down a deer on foot, I would starve. I would rather find a tree, climb it and wait. Bass are the same way. They don't want to chase down their food, but sometimes they have to. With our climate, and waters that dang near boil in the summer, their metabolism goes off the charts. This means they have to eat more food, more often, and don't gain much weight for their effort. That could explain the numbers of long, skinny fish.

Of course, this may not be true. But it's what I believe...