How do you get theses bass? I have very poor hatcheries around my area and everyone I have tried to get fish off of say they can not send them to me via mail or ups. Any suggestions? Do I have to drive from ohio to texas to get a fish or is there someone who can ship fish?????????

You do not want southern strain bass (Fla bass) where you live. They will not have good survival in your winters. Stick with northern strain bass and if they get plenty of food AND the correct size of food as they grow larger they will easily grow to 6 to 8 lbs. However this may be problematic in your size of pond.

Ok thanks I was not sure and heard people talk thought I would ask.

call anerican sport fish,they are located in alabama.they have a web site,but not sure how to locate.if you do not find number write back tomorrow and i will bring number to work.

i found there number,334-281-7703.i've ordered fish in the past from them.they seem to be good people,they will federal express them to your door.

bc.sorry,i forgot they only sale the f1 bass.that might be best for you anyway in your part of the country.

bc Fender's sells good quality bass that will get quite large for you if you manage them corrrectly and provide them ample food. Most bass never achieve their maximum size due to being too crowded and not getting enough of the right sized food.

anyone, how far north will fl. strain do well?

I read an article where the state of tennessee was stocking florida strain largemouth in some of their lakes to increase genetics and they talked about a line in their state that was as far north as florida's could make any difference in the bass' total size or genetics.

I am not sure where exactly that line is but a search on the web about "tennessee florida largemouth" might yield a result.

American Sportfish in AL is about 30 minutes away from me. They sell FL bass as well as F1's.

ok, i typed in tennesse florida largemouth and it had several links. a few were about the stocking of florida largemouth bass in tennessee, in hopes they will mix their genes with the tennessee bass to produce basically a better fish. interestingly, ARKANSAS, where i'm from, supplied tennessee with many of the florida strain bass! well, guess i need to track some of those down!! also, they mentioned that american sportsfish in alabama place as a supplier. now, what are f1 's !! and what good would those do to stock them?! thanks mark

hey guys, good article by the...bob lusk... i typed in "american sportfish in alabama florida strain bass" and the first link i clicked on was www.bassresource.com/about/fish_genetics.html and it features an article by bob lusk ya'll might want to check it out...good job bob lusk, you make us...so...proud.!! mark

I bought some 4-6" F1's from Dunns last month. Dunns is out of Arkansas,.... http://www.dunnsfishfarm.com/
I am raising them in cages in central Missouri - just to see how well they grow. They are growing well on Purina Game fish chow - they are 7" - 9" now. I am curious to see how long they will eat pellets. (They also eat alot of fatheads that swim into the cage to get the pellets).
I plan to tag 1/2 of them and release them into the pond with my native Northern Bass before winter. The rest I will leave in the cage to see if they can survive the winter.

Mark,
I was told that there are some large public lakes in Northern Arkansas that were stocked with F1's years ago. If I remember correctly, the F1's did very well - GOT BIG! Some of the top 10 Oklahoma State record bass are also F1's.
(I have not heard about any F1 stockings north of Arkansas so I am doing my own experimenting.)

Mark,
I think I got this right.
F1's are the first year offspring of a cross btw 2 different strains of a fish species.
IE: Florida x Northern first year offspring are F1's.
Or Green Sunfish x Bluegill first yr offspring are F1's.