JB :

While I am not a client of Greg's I have great respect for his views and I have used some of the same fish providers that he has. Because we are both from the southeast we see many of the same situations. I have been looking into the question of Florida's vs. northerns vs. F-1 {or other combinations ie. % of fla/north.} for a number of years. I agree with Greg's approach that a combination of the above is best and that is what we started in 1998. I have seen the best results with a combination of 40% northerns, 40% F-1 and 20% floridas. For a number of reasons I think the floridas out compete the others if all other factors are equal . The factors that lead me to this conclusion , in simplefied terms and without stating sources and reasons, are floridas have a longer life span , are less subject to predation by man and have a faster growth rate . There may be other factors both pro and con but these are the main ones. Because I did not and do not want the problems discussed above by ML and others , if I make an error I want it in the direction of northerns {aggresive trait}. I do think that larger bass are harder to get to bite artificial baits no matter which type of bass. They did not get big and old by being the dumbest bass in the pond . There is much more to this that I am leaving out for space considerations such as % and rebalancing over time. Having pointed this out please note that I am answering your question and giving my experience. This is not advice. My advice would all depend on the factors in your pond and your goals as Greg noted. ewest