Hooked Up Designs Magazine May/June 2017 | Page 51

D
eep in the south Texas brush
country, shimmering like a
mirage within the arid land-
scape, is a lake brimming with super-
sized bass. Constructed entirely by
man, Lake La Perla was created solely
for producing lunker largemouth for
anglers to catch, with the long-term
goal of birthing the next world record
of the species. While many have chased
this monumental feat only to see their
dream float belly up, the architect of
this endeavor is not your average fish
farmer. In fact, he may be the one per-
son capable of pulling it off.
MAN WITH A PLAN
Famous in the hunting industry as
the co-host of The Outdoor Chan-
nel’s The Bucks of Tecomate television
show, Dr. Gary Schwarz pioneered a
form of wildlife management in the
mid 90s that revolutionized the way
hunting lands were managed by creat-
ing a high protein food plot mix called
Lablab, that when planted in a ratio of
roughly 5% to the total land mass, saw
a dramatic increase in the body and
antler size of his native whitetail deer
herd. Now modeling those principles
to grow largemouth bass, “Doc” as he’s
known around the ranch, began an
ambitious undertaking of designing,
building, and managing a series of
lakes on his La Perla Ranch in Zapata
County Texas in hopes of growing the
next world record.
PARADISE FOUND
“I wanted to create the ultimate fish-
ing experience,” he said, as we drove
past a lake named Waterworld on the
property, where several schools of
redfish could be seen tailing near the
surface. Yes I said redfish. “I bought
this place about eleven years ago and
brought in a biologist by the name of
John Jones who specialized in private
pond management to help get the big
bass project underway. At first there
wasn’t a fish in the original lake that
weighed over a pound, now today our
guests catch on average at least one
ten pounder every trip, with twelves
and thirteens fairly common.” While
hookedupdesigns.com
the potential to catch a trophy bass of
this caliber is enough to get anyone on
a plane bound for Laredo, the real ex-
citement about la Perla is the rate at
which the largemouth are growing.
Recent survey data in la Perla’s sister
lake named Jalisco, which grew two
fish weighing over 8 pounds in only
two and half years’ time, predicts it
has a fighting chance at producing the
next world record.
eclipsed both George Perry and
Manabu Kurita’s world records of 22
pounds 4 ounces had it not been foul
hooked, Dixon has been a household
name in record book catches for de-
cades. Both it and La Perla are man-
made, and benefit from supplemental
forage. Dixon receives regular stock-
ings of high protein hatchery raised
rainbow trout courtesy of the Cali-
fornia Department of Fish and Game,
while La Perla bass feast on a regular
diet of giant freshwater prawns grown
on site. While Dixon has already pro-
duced dozens of 15-pound fish and
several 20 pounders, it was created in
the early 70s giving it a 40-year head
start over La Perla, which at a little
more than 10 years old is already pro-
ducing 15-pound fish.
THE MONSTER FACTORY
Schwarz strategically designed La
Perla for bass anglers by excavating
millions of tons of soil to create a 100-
acre waterbody with over seven miles
of shoreline to fish. He also added a
network of elevated ponds adjacent to
the main lake in order to grow supple-
mental forage to be discharged into
the lakes at different times of the year.
Interestingly, he found the size pond
that made the biggest impact to fish
growth rates was at least 5% of the
main lakes habitat, exactly what
he observed in the Tecomate
food plots for deer growth.
While la Perla was not directly
modeled after Lake Dixon in
California, they share several
key characteristics in growing
huge bass. Having produced
several 20-pound lunkers in-
cluding Dottie, the 25-pound
sowbelly which would have
MANAGEMENT
“We have a diverse ecosystem of for-
age for our bass to eat with threadfin
shad, bluegill, crawfish, and smaller
Gary’s son Blair shows off a
13-pound largemouth that was
surveyed and estimated to be
almost half the age of most fish
its size.
M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 7

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