Article on big bass behavior

[BearFisher10]

1 hour ago, mojorig said:

I am one of those "worth-less" biologist but I don't want Florida Largemouth Bass stocked in the Ozarks. It would kill the great winter bite. Florida largemouth bass are very moody and fincky when it comes to weather.

 

I don't think pure Florida strains would survive the winters this far north. I've done some reading on them and they pretty much stop it somewhere along a line in Arkansas from what I understand, but I could be wrong. The only exception would be that little Swepco lake since it's warm year round. 

I think it's called the F1 hybrid or something similar that they're stocking in Kentucky and Tennessee and it seems that those fish are doing quite well. There's a lot of info out there on that type from the conservation departments in those states. They say it's got the growing qualities of Florida strains mixed with the aggressive nature and the ability to bear cold weather of a northern strain. Interesting stuff in my opinion. It's still somewhat new so we'll see how it plays out in the future for them. 

 

[fishinwrench]

Bass much over 5 aren't that much fun really.   They are too big to jump and just come up and shake their big ol' head and then try to go under the boat.   I honestly enjoy 2-5lbers the most, because of their energy level and acrobatics.

[Old plug]

All I know about things like fish and animal is when they say they cannot survive in Missouri I figure I  can expect to catch or kill one in the not to distant future.  I have killed a bunch of Armadillos. In their case they said the winters were to harsh sane as  the Fla strain. But they never missed a beat. Now they got their sites set on taking over the yards in the St Louis area. Oh ! are you ever going to love it you guys up in that area. They can also about demolish the front end of your car if you hit one too. 

I bet if they would stock fla type up here they might just grow smaller and would interbreed with other bass destroying the strain in a couple of years

[fishinwrench]

I have a hunch that stocking hybrid Stripers into lakes that already have a good white bass population kinda screws up the Whites.  The biologists say they can't breed but hey.....I catch hybrids with full sperm bags and/or eggs all the dang time.    If they aren't hybrids then they are hybrid/white cross.  

I used to think having the hybrids here was really cool but now I'm not so sure and I wish they had never done it.  Alot of our Whites aren't regular Whites anymore I don't think.

[mojorig]

Actually, some recent literature suggest there can be back-crossing between white and hybrids. This has made us rethink our management efforts toward stocking hybrids in some of the reservoirs in Arkansas.

 

[fishinwrench]

26 minutes ago, mojorig said:

Actually, some recent literature suggest there can be back-crossing between white and hybrids. This has made us rethink our management efforts toward stocking hybrids in some of the reservoirs in Arkansas.

 

See !    Too late now for some bodies of water.  

[Champ188]

3 hours ago, mojorig said:

I am one of those "worth-less" biologist but I don't want Florida Largemouth Bass stocked in the Ozarks. It would kill the great winter bite. Florida largemouth bass are very moody and fincky when it comes to weather.

You guys keep doing what you're doing, mojorig. I don't agree with every decision biologists make but that's generally out of my own selfish wants. We'd be in a pickle without you guys. We'd be in trouble without mechanics, too, but some of them aren't as smart as they pretend to be either.

[jolicious]

5 minutes ago, Champ188 said:

You guys keep doing what you're doing, mojorig. I don't agree with every decision biologists make but that's generally out of my own selfish wants. We'd be in a pickle without you guys. We'd be in trouble without mechanics, too, but some of them aren't as smart as they pretend to be either.

Agreed - well said

[fishinwrench]

Ouch!  

I'm smart enough to know that permanently altering a fish species throughout an entire region just because I don't have anything better to do is a bad idea.  

[Sam]

If the biologists would whip up, say, a Frankenstein-BLUEGILL strain that reproduces prolifically and grows to weigh about 7 lbs. in 5 years, we'd all be buying heavier tackle just to handle 'em and we'd maybe forget all about bass fishing.  Good eating, too.

Just kidding.