We have seen 1-3lb annual growth rates on these genetics, which is not out of the ordinary for Florida largemouth bass. All depends on the conditions. The real difference that I see is that once these fish grow out to around 10 lbs, they can kick into another gear, so long as there is an abundance of the larger sizes of baitfish such as bluegill, tilapia, gizzard shad.
Our brood stock were acquired from camelot bell ranch lake direct, as well as from the successful lunker fingerling breeding programs of 2012 and 2014. I would be interested in mixing in a new bloodline, I suppose, but it would have to be a LEGIT source, documented and pure. Last thing I want to do is to water down or weaken the genetic purity of these fish, so to speak.
To me, these genetics are the equivalent of an heirloom or landrace strain, breeding true. One of my last concerns at this point in time is interbreeding.
Another thing to keep in mind, fingerlings from Overton Fisheries are produced from many individual brood fish (I put out 85 adults this year), allowed to freely choose their mate. In my opinion, this provides the consumer with a larger set of genetic remix possibilities, and would be preferable to fingerlings produced from a single female x few males.
