Nick,
Actually, Texas Parks and Wildlife stocks Fork annually with pure Florida bass fingerlings. It's shocked every year and age-0 bass are collected for electrophoretic analysis. You are right that a proportion of the fish are "Fx", or back-crosses of various types (F1 x pure F; F1 x F1; FX x F1; etc.). However, a certain percentage is pure Florida, which varies from year to year.
Greg,
You are also right that many of the fish entered into the TPW Sharelunker program are F1's (To be accepted into the program,the fish must weigh more than 14 lbs). However, the most recent data that I reviewed also included at least as many pure Florida's, along with a smattering of Fx's and even a couple of pure Northern's as I recall. I think the take-home message is that Florida genetics along with trophy-oriented harvest regulations are almost a necessity to create the kind of trophy bass fishery most Texans have grown to expect. :rolleyes:
As to the genetic mix of bass in TX compared to GA, it does sound like a similar situation. Warmer water generally = more Florida genes, most pronounced in heated power plant reservoirs.
