Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Florida Bass in Kentucky

Does anybody know if they've had any luck stocking Florida bass anywhere in Kentucky? And, if so, was lakes conditions need to exist in order to make them take hold?

I don't know the answer to your question, but I'd recommend stocking local bass, not Florida bass. We have seen problems with southern Illinois bass surviving northern Illinois winters, and that is no where near the climatic difference between Florida & Kentucky. See the link below for plant hardiness zones. You will see that Northern Illinois to Southern Illinois goes from zone 5 to 6, where Kentucky to Florida goes from zone 6 to 9.
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html?

Thanks Mike. I kind of figured as much. I'm sure I'd have heard of people stocking Florida bass around here if it had been successful. Oh well, guess I'll just have to be content with the standard largemouth.

I was wanting to stock florida strain bass in our pond and the local hatchery talked me out of it and I am a little south of you. I ended up putting in a northern strain large mouth bass.

hth...

-lee-

This might help anser your question. The pond I worked on last year in KY had a massive fish kill of coppernose bluegill the winter before I arrived. They stocked native bluegill and they are doing great at this point. Something similiar my happen with Florida subspecies largemouth bass.

As I live close to the Ky line in Tennessee I have also asked the same question and had a couple of hatcheries to tell me that the intergrade northern florida cross should do a lot better than pure florida's. Isn't that what an F-1 is? Good luck; I would love to eventually stock bass with florida genes in them. I know the TWRA is stocking Florida strain in Tennessee but only south of a semicircle that goes from around Memphis over to I think Winchester but a little further south. This area is at least a couple hundred miles south of me and that much further for you.