Active cold water Florida fish in Texas

1. Biological creatures either adapt quickly or die—I was worried that the Monticello bass had been conditioned for fifty years/100 generations of bass to start spawning as soon as the days started getting longer (December 22nd)

Had the concern that as soon as the power plant shut down late summer of 2018? that the next three or four generations would continue to actively spawn starting late December and all those newly fertilized eggs would die decimating the lake’s bass population.

It didn’t happen, they adapted immediately.



2. The vast majority of the fish swimming around in Texas waters are not pure. They have enough northern strain in them to behave more aggressively in colder water. Now, thoroughly managed lakes like CB, where the genetics are kept pure; I would not fish if the wind farted from the north.


3. If mid and south Florida lakes were deeper with deep timber, bet you would find the same behavior on live sonar.


4. As seriously as fishing records are taken these days, I can’t believe the George Perry “record” is still on the books.

In order for that fish to have existed at that weight, it would have had to have been a Florida bass. Georgia had not received stockings of Florida bass yet, and to think a big fat lazy Florida bass would have left it’s cozy warm Florida waters to swim upstream to Georgia is beyond believability.
The second largest Georgia bass ever caught is 18 lbs 1oz in 1987 (thirty years after Floridas were introduced in Georgia). No other state has such a discrepancy between its alleged number one and number two.

I am an unapologetic fan of the program.

I like the program from the standpoint of breeding and stocking Florida strain bass into our Texas lakes. Only an idiot would argue that it has not changed the landscape of our lakes for the better. I am not sure that the Floridas they are producing with these SAL's are any better than any other pure Florida strain stock out there but I have to believe they are. Genetics plays a role in all other living things, so its gotta play a role in the fish world as well.

Yup- all other states could only dream we had something like SL- pretty neat deal.

Doubt anyone knows, but maybe. Do any other states stock FL largemouth? Surely Lake Guntersville with its big bags, were all Floridas.


The fish that Milliken is catching in Louisiana, Floridas?

Grandbass, do you know if Oklahoma stocks FL or do they even stock at all?

I believe the pure "Florida gene" in a true Florida bass gets mutated and "toned down". I know in Fork, you used to be able to spot a true Florida bass and a hybrid Florida/native mix and a pure native. Now the all look native. My clients and myself caught maybe 6 or 7 SALs, none of them ever went into the program. I know if I put the fish in the lake, it most likely survives. The TPW stopped putting the fingerlings back in the lake the donor fish came from. A lot of the lakes now do not have the habitat to generate large numbers of huge fish. The reason you dont see a lot coming out of Fork is they changed the lake. No grass, monkeying with the fish etc. Big fish grow big in great habitat. Fork no longer has that. Yea, you will catch some. Mostly its because of the numbers of fishermen on the lake. A lot of Tx lakes have some really good fish, they are just not fished extremely hard. Watch, Ive will go to hell in a hand basket. The big girls will adapt and become wary.

Next state record is more likely to come from Bois D’Arc than Ivie. Food supply is more important than genetics (assuming you have FL bass). How many 15+ fish were caught at Fork before SAL could have contributed anything? I think incremental benefit for SAL vs standard FL is minimal. Take the money spent on SAL and spend it on creating and maintaining grass and it will be money better spent.

SAL is worth it, darn good program.

I would love to see TPWD buy some Cuban Bass & start a spawning program with them.

We just got a new program that should yield great results a in a few years, previous attempts at FL strain’s always failed, water temps got too cold.
https://kellyjbostian.substack.com/p/will-tiger-bass-transform-grand-lake

I think the biggest detriment to the really big bass is mortality. It takes 10 plus years for most bass to reach SAL size. A lot can happen in that time with fluctuating water levels and quality, habitat changes, available forage along with a huge increase in fishing pressure. Most just do not live long enough to get that size.

There have been documented genetics that the program has worked, the last one I believe was from Marine Creek that was related to another SAL from 10 years ago. I can not see the harm in spawning a female with the known genetics to a male, also with known genetics. I know that the biggest downside was the program's mortality rate, but after last year's 100% success rate I think they have that part figured out. Besides, we seem to forget that the ones that did not survive had already produced 10+ years of their genetics - millions of eggs. And then their offspring has done the same and so on.

We all know that the great unknown for decades has been how to find and catch offshore fish. FFS has now made that more possible. As more anglers figure it out like Jones and Milliken, my guess is that more lakes will start giving up teeners. I vividly remember in the 80's I was fishing with Toledo Bend guide Bill Fox. He has said that he had found some monster stripers on his trusty paper graph in the river channel. We had a double - his being a 24 that he ended up mounting for his lodge and mine was a huge bass - easily the biggest I had ever caught. We did not have scales and my bass was not doing well from the deep water so I let her go. Bill said "there are bass even bigger than that in that deep water that will never see a lure their entire life. They spawn in the standing timber and go back deep." I think FFS has proven that correct.

The Florida lakes peaked and declined, the California lakes did too, Mother Fork is not the land of teeners it was. Ivie will be the same. Maybe not Ivie, but I predict the Texas record will be broken soon. These are just my opinions based on 60 years of chasing the green fish.

Ok, so the ol’ brain was thinking. Whatever happened to Lake X, the super secret TPWD breeding ground experiment?

It's a strip mine within spitting distance of lake Fairfield, likely being sold with that land is my guess.

Bois d Arc is too far north in the central planes. It’s practically in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma record is 14lbs 11oz. It’s also way too close to Dallas, Collin, and Grayson Counties.

Ever notice how all the professional fisherman gush about how awesome TPWD is and the great job they do with our fisheries? These are people with direct knowledge of the health of fisheries all over the country and they’ll tell you in a heartbeat we have the best programs of any place they’ve been. We’re spoiled rotten… and in true form we find a way to complain about the entity that is labeled the best out there. I’ll give you the whole screwing up with their grass eradication efforts, but the SAL program and overall health of our fisheries are the standard other states can only hope to achieve.

Toyota SL Program

Marketing: A
Education: A
Data Collection: A
Research value: A
Implementation: C
Ethics: C
Cost effectiveness: D