Former Soil Conservation Service employee and longtime writer Mat Taylor offers his outdoors column for Dispatch Record readers. He can be contacted at (254) 518-2262 or via e-mail at mntaylor@agristar.net. While channel surfing recently, I viewed a program on an outdoor channel called "The Quest for the One." The program follows a person trying to bag a large deer, elk or other game animal, or a trophy-sized fish.

The program got me to thinking about some of the largest fish I have caught. None of them would make the record books, but they all are very special.

I have caught largemouth bass in a number of Texas lakes including the Highland Lakes, Brownwood, Falcon, Amistad and Toledo Bend. None of them would qualify for the Sharelunker Program (heavier than 13 pounds), as very few exceeded four pounds.

My heaviest largemouth bass was taken from an unusual place. It was caught in a medium-sized hole in the Blanco River. The fish bit a small, purple plastic worm and weighed just over eight pounds. That may not be large by Texas standards, but for a small Hill Country river it is a trophy, at least in my opinion.

I also have landed a few smallmouth bass, with the largest caught in Inks Lakes. It weighed almost three pounds.

In the true bass family, I have caught many white bass, but very few exceeded two pounds. The same for striped bass; my largest striper came from Lake Buchanan and weighed about 10 pounds.

Sometimes it is where or how a fish is caught that makes it a trophy. That is the case with the largest channel catfish I have landed. I was fishing with my wife and her parents in Lake Brownwood. Fishing was slow, so I decided to take my inexpensive Zebco 202 road and reel and see if I could catch some perch.

I baited my hook with worms and did catch a few. On one cast I had a strong bite, and the fish took off with the reel drag screaming. After about 10 minutes I managed to land the catfish. The channel catfish weighed just over 12 pounds.

I was tired after landing the fish, but the cheap reel was ruined as most of the gears were stripped. I discarded it in the trash.

My largest freshwater fish is another memorable catch. I was visiting my sister in Clarksville, Tenn. One day I decided to fish in the nearby Cumberland River. I used my spinning reel and baited my hook with commercial stink bait, hoping to catch a good catfish.

I fished for several hours without a bite and was ready to call it quits, when something took the bait and took off. After several minutes, I pulled a large carp from the river. Using my hand-held scales, the fish topped 14 pounds. It was not a catfish but a trophy nonetheless.

I haven't done a lot of saltwater fishing, but my wife and I made one trip to the red snapper banks on a boat out of Port Aransas. We caught a number of snappers, and I also hooked and landed a 21-pound amberjack. That was the largest fish I have caught on a rod and reel.

As I said, none of these fish are records, but they are trophies to me.

Speaking of big fish, I see where Texas Parks and Wildlife will expand its Angler Recognition Program with a public water body catch-and-release record category for 39 saltwater and freshwater fish species, beginning June 1. Currently, the only catch-andrelease records accepted by the department are for state records.

The records will be determined by total length. As with state records, the only fish that will be recognized for water body records are those that meet the minimum qualifications for a freshwater or saltwater Big Fish award. Some 22 saltwater species and 17 freshwater fish species are listed in the Big Fish award program.

"By adding a public water body category, we are allowing more anglers -- especially kids - - to obtain a record without having to locate certified scales," said TPWD Angler Recognition Program Coordinator Joedy Gray. "We've also long wanted to expand this program in a way that does not require an angler to kill a fish to be recognized for an achievement. This does that."

To qualify, an angler must submit a photograph of the fish next to a tape measure, as well as a photo of the angler with the fish and a signed application.

If an angler has a portable, certified scale, he can get as many as five certificates: state record for weight, state record for total length, water body record for weight, water body for total length and a Big Fish award.

Current state and water body records, as well as rules and application forms, may be found on the TPWD web site at www.tpwd.state.tx.us.