As far as F1's surviving in the north I do not know the answer to that. I know Florida's won't so I would think a hybrid would be less likely than a northern bass. Just a guess though and could be wrong.

Did anyone know that scientists have nw decided that Floridia bass are now considered not just a subspecies, but now a sepearate species? It seems they have decided this through major differences of DNA.

As far as conversion of feed vs. live forage, live forage has a lot of water in it. It takes a lot less dry feed to convert in to pounds. I believe I have read somewhere that the conversion of feed to bass weight may be as high as 2lbs to 1 lb of gain. In trout it can be even higher at one to one.

I feed my bass twice daily for the following reasons: I can have a higher density of bass per acre than if they fed on natural feed. Fish also grow faster on feed than if they are left to feed on natural feed. I can grow a 4 lb bass here in the north in 4 years after I get them as 5 to 8 inch fish vs. 7 to 8 years for a bass to reach that size in the north on natural feed. All fish species trained on feed will be several years ahead of fish left to fend on their own.

There is one disadvantate though. Your bass will need a complete diet (I only use a high protein low carb diet now put out by Mellick in PA). You will also be fertilizing your pond which may promote weed growth and a phytoplankton bloom which you many or may not want.

For those of you who don't know, you will have to purchase bass that are trained on feed. However they are not that difficult to find anymore as it is more economical to feed bass on pellets that to feed them live feed. What the grower does is crowd the bass in tank when they are about 2 inches long and the feed is all they get. Sometimes they will start with something more natural and wean the bass to the feed. Some bass do not accept the feed. But through generations the bass are more likely to accept the feed.

My fed bass also have high relative weights compared to the ones that do not. My bass on feed are built like footballs.

However, I'm still new at this and although I have over 100 bass from 1.5 to 4.5 pounds that feed on feed I don't know what the maximum size will be. There is some data that says max size may be limited, and other data that says fed bass do not overwinter as well as other bass. But I do know my fed bass also feed on bluegills as I have seen them. I'll keep you posted.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.