Jeff & Gregg,
I have a biologist that works for a fish farm in Arkansas tell me the following on a different website. Apparently he may not be totally correct as Jeff's fish made it through the winter in Missouri and of course Gregg feels otherwise too.
Not trying to stir the pot here, but I just thought this would be something you guys would want to comment on and we could have a healthy debate about. I've left the biologist's name off as I don't see any point in that.
"Cecil The F1 bass, tiger bass or whatever will not make it in the great lakes region. They hardly make it in arkansas. We had about a week of ice cover this winter and I had dead floridas and F1 hybrids all over the place. They are best for the coastal regions of florida, georgia, alabama, mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. There is a lot of stuff out there about growh rates, but we have to remember that the number one difference between a florida and a northern is life span. Floridas live longer and thus get bigger. Northerns have to cope with stressful winters and do not live as long. Maximum size has a lot to do with time. Growth rate has a lot to do with available forage and thus primary productivity of water body (or feeding rate and feed quality if farm raised)."
Comments? Testimonials of F1's for your location?
Could it be his mortaliies were primarily Floridas and he didn't differentiate?
