Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Titanic Bass?

Folks in Georgia are raising what they call Titan bass. From what I can tell from their website, their claim to fame is the emphasis on entire family traits of the genotype, rather than just the phenotype. They argue this should yield more consistent results in terms of growth rate, ultimate size, catchability, etc.

I only heard about Titan bass from a relatively new poster here at PB Forum. Does anybody else know anything about them? Stocked their fish? Results? I'm guessing this is a Florida strain, but maybe an F1. I've tried to contact them several times without success.

Following

Sounds a bit like Camelot Bell bass.

Genetics are important, but forage is King.

Both are critical. Not enough food and nothing grows well. Bad genetics can't be eaten away.

Seems folks want BIG bass but if they Aren’t catchable then what then

anthropic - I visited the Titan bass website. The information looks pretty good. However IMO if they are not providing some data studies and customer feedback from some of their stockings I question the quality of their practical research and marketing program.

The website of RedHills Fishery has ample theoretical and promotional material but no examples of their Titan Bass growth during the first 1 to 3 years in a pond. I assume they have sold some stocker bass during the last 3 years. I suggest that you click their button of Request More Information. Ask to see some electroshock and fish survey data from their customer's newly stocked ponds. If you get some info please share it with us.

Al, I’ve always figured that about 50/50.

First, without proper, readily available, groceries/calories, nothing is going to excel.

Second and equal; You don’t get an NFL lineman out of undersized parents without the proper genes.

Agree. Both are critical!

You also can't get an NFL lineman regardless of genetics if they are severely caloric limited during critical growth periods.

My community took in lots of Vietnamese refugees during the 70s. I did sports with my age peers, and have helped coach their children in the next generation. The children uniformly tower over their parents. All of the boys that I know are taller than their fathers. All of the girls are taller than their mothers. Some of the girls are taller than their fathers. (I always thought that was a very interesting observational study!)

I'll stick to my statement. I will call it forage 1A, and genetics 1B though.

I update my fish fairly often and am adding a ton of my last years hatchery pond CNBG. I am looking forward to getting them in my big pond this spring, but they do need to eat heartily to grow to the size we all want. If not, then we should be ok backing off our feeders a bit to get the same growth?

I had 50 6+ inch Titan bass added to my 5 acre pond in Nov of 2022. I am eagerly waiting to see the growth of these bass this year. I agree with the above statements concerning having the necessary forage for the bass to have an opportunity to grow to its potential. That being said, I have been working on drastically improving my forage by feeding 3 times a day with two feeders. I have also added more than 7500 BG over the past year. The fishery guy commented on how impressed he was with all the sizes of BG and number of threadfin shad he observed. I had an extraction done last Thursday and removed 37 LMB that were under 100% RBW.

Dean

Dean, did they fin clip or some other way mark the Titan LMB so that they could be ID'd in the future to track their growth? I will be interested in seeing your report on how they grow.

Hello Esshup,

Yes all of the Titan LMB were fin clipped for future ID. I have been watching the impressive progress of a YouTuber, BamaBass, that built a 5 acre pond and hope that I have similar results. Does anyone know if his progress is normal or above normal because of the F1 Tiger bass he stocked? I plan to keep everyone updated on my progress.

Dean

Dean, he's spent a ton on forage, and I bet he does have some toads by next spring. If you haven't seen his last post, he just added 5,000 prawns to the big pond, and built a grow out pond for them also.

Yes, I've seen his latest video about his prawn pond and its impressive. I can't help to wonder how a non F1 LMB would perform under the same conditions.

Dean

Dean, for some reason I have the impression that F1 bass are more aggressive & grow faster initially than pure Florida bass, but that their ultimate max size may not be as big. However, the current world record LMB was an intergrade, so what do I know?

For most pond owners, IMO forage is essential while top line genetics are not. You can have average genetics and lots of forage and have a good fishery. In thousands of studies the main limiting factor is "food" not genetics. The opposite is not true - you can have fabulous genetics and without enough food you will have a stunted out of balance fishery.

Genetics is IMO the last 15-20% of having a trophy fishery. That is assuming plenty of forage and good management. Even top 5% genetics fisheries get out of balance without harvest.

F-1 LMB are more aggressive than pure Fla LMB but they do not grow faster than Fla LMB (possibly except for the first few mths). In a natural enviorn aggressiveness can be both a positive or a negative trait. Some studies show over aggressiveness can result in the recipient being eaten by larger fish. Over time I am not sure there is a difference in size actuality of Fla LMB and F-1 or Fx. The studies I have seen show that a small % of Northern genes greatly reduces the negative trait of non-catchability. I have seen no info on the breakdown of LMB genetics and ultimate growth (size) potential.

I have to always caution that this applies to 50% of the LMB population. Male Fla LMB are much smaller in comparison to their female counterparts than is the case for northern LMB. F-1 and Fx - I don't know if that holds true.

Thanks for the info! I've the notion, perhaps totally mistaken, that Northern LMB have to be more aggressive considering their relative lack of forage and short growing season. Also, there may be fewer predators capable of eating them up north. Why the difference in sexual dimorphism is a puzzle.

We stocked some 12-14" Camelot Bell LMB are few years ago. We also routinely stock 3000 or so pure Florida fingerlings every year. In theory the constant influx of Florida genetics should offset the presence of some native LMB and give us predominately Floridas and F1 LMB in the lake. We also stock shad as needed, 40,000 last year on top of a good survivor class, and we have a thriving bluegill population with native, CNB, red ear, long ear, etc. We see a good many 7# fish, 6 last week, some 8-9#, and a few times a year we see double digits. My personal best was 8.6# and 12.5# in the same day. Lake record is over 15#. This lake has had Florida genetics for over 40 years since Charlie Inman used it for his personal lab before bringing Floridas into the Texas P&W hatchery system.

You can have the population genetically sampled. Have done that a few times and the results can be unexpected. In the results I have seen covering varying situations in the deep south Fla genetics tend to predominate over time. Suggest you give Bob a call if you are interested.

Thanks, Eric. Do you have any idea how much this may cost? I have electroharvest scheduled in a couple weeks, would this be good time to take some bass for genetic analysis? Floridas, F1s, and Northerns all have been stocked over the years.