Florida Strain Largemouth Bass vs. Northern Strain; What’s the Difference?

Hey all,

Does anyone have any thoughts on Florida Strain bass and how they may act differently than a Northern Strain?I am curious to hear what some have encountered.

Also, if you have some time, go check out a new article I posted "Florida Strain Largemouth Bass vs. Northern Strain; What’s the Difference?" Luckily I had the opportunity to talk with specialist Richard Ott of TPWD. He was willing to share some very helpful insight on Florida Strain genetics and I am glad to be able to share his knowledge in this new article. Give it a look and let me know what you think in the comments section!

www.dakotajonesfishing.com http://dakotajonesfishing.com/florida-strain-largemouth-bass-vs-northern-strain-whats-difference/

All you have to do is say the words "Cold Front" or "Rising Pressure" and Florida bass get lock jaw! IMO Florida strain fish are much more finiky and definitely more affected by weather changes than northern strain. Floridas grow big, but lakes with a larger population of northern strain fish make for better fishing overall.. again IMO as I am not a biologist.

My opinion exactly. I lived in South Florida for 20 years, so I have a lot of experience with 100% Florida gene reputation. It is my opinion that the negative side of Florida strain bass is one factor involved when older anglers talk about how such and such lake "used to be" and how the fishing has declined. Part of what happened is that TPWD fouled the gene pool in those lakes with Florida strain bass.

Temperament

Northern Strain know what real perch are. Southern and Florida bass call anything smaller than your hand a perch.

Northern Bass will bite most of the time I'm told...

I agree with most of what you have said. However.............

That "fouled gene pool" you speak of is what put the State of Texas on the map with regards to Double Digit bass in the last 30 years. Had it not been for the efforts of TPWD we would still be calling a 6 pounder a Giant.

Agreed, if it weren't for TP&W my PB wouldn't be 14.19. Before Lake Fork, TP&W's pride and joy, anglers were mounting 7 lb'ers. I saw a few of them. Now a lot of 7 lb'ers are slot fish.

SIZE

Northern strain bass will grow to some nice weights, not just "6 pounds". Over the years, I've caught numerous eight pound bass from a pond my grandfather stocked in the 1950s - sure to have only Northern-strain genes.

Today's lakes have a number of positive differences that affect creel statistics; it is NOT all about having introduced Florida-strain genes. The water and habitat management may even be better than it once was. The gotcha is in that "big fish" so many get focused on - but so few catch. The number of DD bass caught in the minds of anglers is also larger than if all the fish were put on scales. The percentage of anglers who have actually caught a DD bass remains small. MILLIONS of angling hours go into bass fishing annually in Texas, yet, just how many DD bass get reported? ...or turned into the Lunker program. After all that money, and all the years, I doubt the catch rate for DD has changed by even 1%.

We have given up a population of MILLIONS of what would have been more easily "catchable" 5-8 pounders for the chance (not definite outcome) to catch an extremely rare DD bass. Many "zero" days would not be zero days, but hey, you had a chance to catch that DD you didn't catch either, right?

Don't have any factual statistics that prove the catch rate of DD bass before and after Florida strain were introduced but I'm sure TP&W does if anyone is really interested. All I know is I caught mine and very pleased with it. Sitting here staring at it right now.

I can't see my lunkers, per se, as they are still swimming around at the lakes I caught, and released, them at. ;/) But I've got great enlargement photos of them with me holding them up, with the lure hanging from their mouths, then framed with the actual lure in the frame too! Beats having to dust off an old, dead bass hanging on the wall too, and takes up less space, and lets another angler or two have the pleasure of landing it too.

Here we've got both types of bass, mostly Floridas, which are very finicky over the northerns. I've noticed, pound for pound, the northerns fight harder. Nobody mentions that I've noticed.

I had every intention of releasing mine but the store owner there at Lunker Lodge ask if he could keep her in his aquarium there for his customers to see. I said OK but after the McDonalds Big Bass tournament is over I want to release her back. Unfortunately about a week later she jumped out of the aquarium one night and he found her dead the next morning so I had her mounted. By the way, how big were your LUNKERS ? Until you know the facts you should hold off on your digs about someone mounting a fish. Guess you are aware that all the former state record bass have died and have been mounted. The ones you released have probably died too and the turtles ate them.

Good lord.... I remember Scot Wishart specifically telling me about your fish jumping out of his aquarium. He was sick about it.

Yeah I was sick about it too. He was so apologetic. He hated it worse than I did. He was a good guy.

Yes Scott was a great guy. Fished with him several times. Sad what happened to him prior to him opening Lunker Lodge.

So are you saying that in the last 30 years, you think the catch rate of DD bass hasn't changed by even 1%? If so you are way off. I do agree that many DD's are only DD's in the mind of the angler and have never been actually weighed.

To say, "After all that money, and all the years, I doubt the catch rate for DD has changed by even 1%" is ludicrous. You can doubt all you want but the record books state the facts.

Before the introduction of Florida bass into Texas waters a DD was virtually non-existent.

H.R. McGee’s 13.5 from Medina Lake in 1943 was the first bass EVER to have been found with Florida genes. The it wasn't until 1980 when Jimmy Kimbell broke that state record with his fish from Monticello. That fish certainly had Florida genes.

I had someone well connected tell me that the bass in Fayette are a hybrid of Florida and native black bass. Not sure if it is true but would explain why catching 40 to 50 bass in a day on Fayette is common. Personally I would take that any day over getting a couple of bites searching for a giant. To each his own though... would be nice to have more lakes with native black bass and some with Florida then we would have the best of both worlds. If you want to catch a lot go to this list of lakes, if you want to try and catch a giant go to these...

The difference can be seen in this photo. I'm getting ready to publish a new bass fishing book and I got this photo from Tom Young out in California during the research process. Both fish are approximately the same length. Both fish were caught out of the same lake. The bottom fish was caught before the introduction of Florida Strain Genetics and the top fish of course after...

In addition to top end size differences, the two fish behave quite differently. Florida strain bass are a lot more finicky to weather changes and generally more difficult to hook with artificial lures. The trade off is top end size potential. I think the world record northern strain fish is somewhere near 15lbs. The Florida strain record, is of course, 22 lbs 4 oz.

This weekend I witnessed one of the best examples of the difference in Florida vs northern/native fish. Conditions were absolutely perfect Sunday with overcast, off and on mist and rain and a light wind on Monticello but the fishing was HORRIBLE. I went 4 hours with 1 bite before going to a spot they always bite. I think it was because the barometric pressure was climbing all day and was 30.21 - 30.24 while I was there. Monticello probably has the highest % of Florida strain fish of any public lake in Texas (go read the report on TPWD site) and that high pressure had them completely shut off despite what should have been perfect weather conditions.

Since I posted Friday, a lot of what I have heard is based off of personal experience. There is no doubt you pick up on irregularities when fishing lakes with both Florida and Northern Strain or even different bodies of water across the country. I made a video yesterday after a successful trip at Athens. In it I covered some of my own "hunches" when it comes to Florida/Florida mix fish and the way they act. Check it out (link below) and let me know what you think!

http://dakotajonesfishing.com/florida-st...tinued-hunches/ www.dakotajonesfishing.com

Ken is right on and if anyone would know he would. Many DD bass are caught on Fork, Falcon, Rayburn and Toledo Bend to just name a few and the only way you would know it would be to go to the many guides website or Facebook page where they post them. There are so many caught that they hardly draw any attention as before unless they make the state top 50. I think they have to be 13 lbs. to make the share a lunker program and even then only certain times of the year. They didn't take mine because it was caught in September. Before Florida's were introduced people were mounting 6-7-8 pounders, now they are slot fish on Fork.

Very True. Also open the gates on the dam.... Forget about it on the Florida bass.