Bassandgrass,
I think you have the tiger and gorilla reversed. Here's one biologist's take on them on another board. Not saying I agree with what he says, but I believe he does have the terminology right. I left his name out as he could get some flack from the suppplier.
BTW there is a study out now that does show superior growth with the "Georgia Giants."
"Lets nip this one in the bud. Tiger bass are essentially domesticated northern bass that have been raised for several generations on feed (ie. very assertive "aggressive" fish that will put anything in their mouth, not hard to find). Gorilla bass are the cross between the tiger bass (domesticated northern) and a wild florida strain bass. This blends the assertivness of a domesticated feed trained northern bass with the potential size of florida strain bass. In terms of rapid growth I cannot disprove the article but I will remind you that you can't believe everything you read. In my own experience yoy fingerlings from both domesticated stocks of northern bass and wild florida bass stocked at very light densities (50 per acre) in large minnow production ponds in May reach a size of 3/4 pound by November. In the southeast region there is a great demand for market size 1-2 pound feed trained northern bass for stocking in established fishing ponds to create good fishing when existing florida bass do not provide good fishing. These assertive domesticated northerns are eating machines and will put anything in their mouth resulting in rapid growth. I am not convinced that the creation of an F1 hybrid (gorilla bass) has a genetic advantage in terms of growth, I think the "aggressiveness" everyone talks about is simply the domesticated northern showing its true colors "assertiveness". Pure florida bass do not grow faster than northern bass outside of florida, they simply live longer thus reaching larger sizes. Therefore I am unsure about the rapid growth claims being made about F1 hybrids or Gorilla Bass. Research done in texas comparing the growth of northern bass, F1 hybrids and Flordia Bass when grown on a commercial feed indicate that northern bass grew faster, followed by F1 hybrids with a northern female, F1 hybrids with a florida female, then pure florida bass. All four feed trained similiarly. Lets not get carried away folks. If you want good fishing develop a wide forage base and stock market size domesticated feed trained northern bass. You can't keep them off the hook and they will eat everything they can get in their mouth. Lets not let this turn into another Georgia Giant fiasco, if it hasn't already."
