Northern-strain Bass vs. Florida-strain Bass

[RoLo]

Having lived in New Jersey, Georgia and Florida, I've been fortunate in being exposed to both northern-strain and Florida-strain bass.

It has always been my opinion at least, that Florida-strain bass are moody Prima Donnas compared to the more aggressive northern-strain bass.

Well, at least one northerner who feels the same is Kevin Vandam, and I laughed to myself when I read Kevin's comments.

After 18 years, he finally broke his mental block and made his first win in Florida. This is a partial quote from Kevin, published on the Net:

Lake Wales, Fla:

So often you've got to fish so slow to catch them here, and it's not in my nature.

I just can't force myself to do it. If I'm not getting bit very often, I can't stay still, it's who I am.

I was shocked at how tough it is out there, you just have to work really hard, and when you get a bite

you have to be precise with your next cast.

I'd be real interested in hearing the opinions of other members on this, who've been exposed to both northern-strain and Florida-strain bass.

Roger

[Raul]

Down here we 've got both, some older lakes were stocked with northern strain, newer lakes were and are stocked with Florida strain, in some lakes there are both, originally stocked with northern strain later restocked with Florida strain which caused hybridization between both.

To a certain point you are correct Roger, while younger fish of both subspecies are "easy"  Florida strain fish specially older individuals are more difficult to catch, they prefer stealthy more quiet and subtle presentations, they don 't rush to take a bite and they do make you work hard. There 's a lake about two hours drive from my hometown that 's called by us as Lunkerland stocked with Florida strain, big feesh there   and the place does make me scratch my head most of the time  :-/ .

[Tin]

Something tells me this is going to be a great thread. Get out the notebooks, time to go to school.

[Fish Chris]

As most of you know, I've fished hard-core for big Florida bass here in Cali, for about 10 years now. But I've also been fishing for big Northern strainers for the last few years as well. They do seem somewhat easier to catch, although it's still easier to catch a double digit Florida bass, as they are so much more common that double digit Northerns.

Anyway, Floridas seem to slow down and (if such a thing is even slightly possible) think more about what they are about to eat, rather than just firing now, and asking questions later {a reaction bite} like Northerns tend to do.

To stick a big Florida bass, you really have to do everything right, and still have enough luck on your side, to catch a big one slipping. To catch a big Northern, you just have to find a few big, hungry Northerns, put your bait in front of them, and one or the other will probably bite it.

Speaking of Northern strain bass, what do you think about this one I caught yesterday ? She went 10.4 lbs, and is my new Northern PB :-) Is she purty, or what ? She hammered a Hud, on a slow steady retrieve in about 12 feet of water.

Peace,

Fish

[Bassnbrett101]

i live in Pa and i am surrounded by northern strain largemouth, and they bite extremely well!  I went to Fla last summer and i did notice that to catch the fish down there its better to slow down than to fish fast with a spinnerbait or something of that sort.  my friend did break off a double digit bass on one of my homemade spinnerbaits, but other than that i caught 4x as many fish as him fishing soft plastic creature baits. i never thought about it until i read this thread but now that i think about it theres some proof lol

[Rand]

Fish Chris you never cease to amaze. You just catch hawgs. My new personal hero. I would love to fish with ya.

[CJ]

I know the thread may be based on the agressivness. One thing that caught my eye about Florida bass was they were more reluctant to jump during the fight and their explosive top water strikes. Most of the quality northerns I have caught on top water just slurp the lure under. I saw some explosive strikes while fishing east Toho and I mean EXPLOSIVE!

CJ

[George Welcome]

Biggest difference is the decision factor - Florida strain picks up - decides, and spits. If you don't strike on the first tick you probably won't catch them. Northern strain hold longer.

Beyond that I have seen no major difference.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

I've noticed a HUGE difference personally.  The Florida strain seem to have a much better tan while the northern strain know how to make a better snowball.  We all have our differences.

Yea,...I'm clueless....... ;D

[fishizzle]

I found that the slightest cold front in Florida shuts the bass down hard.

In CT, you can still catch a small limit if you slow down.

[jrhennecke]

Very nice Fish Chris!

[WRB]

Florida verses Notherm strain largemeouth bass behavior differences are both genetic and regional.

Florida LMB living in their natural range are conidtioned to servive in the shallow rivers and natural lakes, plus have adapted to similar environent of the lowland reservoir and interconnecting canal system.

Florida's prefer larger bait fish than NLMB as a result of golden shiners and other larger prey are availble. FLMB in their natural habitate appear to be more of an abush feeder and wary of other large preditors in their environment.

FLMB that have be transplanted into California reservoirs have kept their genetic preference for larger prey fish and their wariness, however have adapted to the deeper cooler highland reservoir habitate. Large bait fish in the highland reservoirs live in deeper cooler open water and are school fish. The FLMB can't rely on ambushing a passing golden shiner and must feed on open water baitfish, therefore tend to rely on other large bass grouped up as a small school to effectivily capture large prey fish.

The nothern LMB is common everywhere bass live and are very adaptable to whatever enviornment they can survive in. NLMB prefer smaller prey fish and other creatures than FLMB. NLMB tend to prefer ambush site feeding, similar to FLMB in their natural habitate, however have adapteted to feeding on open water bait fish like shad working in schools. NLMB rarely eat bait fish larger than 6", where FLMB will normally eat bait fish over 8". There will always be exceptions to prey size preference and where FLMB and NLMB spawn together creating a mix or F!, F2, F3 generation of intergrades that have behavior traits of both species.

The bottom is NLMB are more agressive feeders the majority of the time when compared to the more wary and larger size FLMB.

Studies have proven that NLMB catch rate per man hour is about 3 to 1 when compared to FLMB.

WRB

[Bob Lusk]

You guys are right. I make a living designing, building, stocking and managing private lakes and ponds all over the nation. Back in the earlhy 80's when I first started stocking pure strain Florida bass, I had no idea their behavior might be different than natives. But, there is a difference.

By 1985 I started getting complaints from clients whose catch rates were low. Four fish, maybe five in an afternoon wasn't exactly what they had in mind when the lake was built and stocked.

As a fisheries biologist, I naturally figured the anglers didn't know how to catch the fish. After all, every time we launched an electrofishing boat, we shocked up big numbers of great fish. The food chains were in good order and weights of the bass surpassed what they should be. Plus, a 13 pound bass didn't grow that large without eating. I knew they had to feed.

Then, one day I was at a private fish hatchery where the proprietors were preparing to cross some natives with prime Florida fish. They had all their broodfish tagged and inventoried with the Florida's in one round tank that held 10,000 gallons of water and their natives in a different tank.

I asked that proverbial question "Do the Florida's act differently than natives?"

The hatchery manager said "Definitely." Then, he went to a concrete vat full of 3-4 inch long goldfish, filled a five gallon bucket halfway to the top with water and filled the rest of it with goldfish and said, "Watch this."

He poured the bucket into the tank with natives. It was a frenzy, akin to pirhana eating. Within a few minutes a few lonely, scared goldfish with missing scales were left. A few minutes later, they were gone. Those natives ate everything as fast as they could.

Then, he did the same with the Florida bass. A few bass immediately took the bait, but for the most part, they sat perfectly still, as though calculating their moves. One by one, a bass would watch, sit, then strike. I watched them for at least an hour that day. When it was time to leave, less than half the goldfish had been eaten. The next morning, when I came back, there were no goldfish.

I see Florida bass as "grey poupon" fish...picky and finicky. Natives are aggressive by nature.

Another thing I have learned is that bass up to 15 inches have feeding habits similar to their younger relatives. While the Floridas are picky, young ones are less picky. But, once any fish reaches 16 1/2 inches, their world changes. With a larger mouth, they can eat larger prey.

As they grow larger than that, their lifestyle continues to change. Bigger fish have bigger habits. It takes much less energy for a five pound bass to eat a 12 inch bass than several smaller bluegill or trout, or shad or whatever they have. So, big Florida bass lie in wait much more than any of their native cousins.

My vote is that there is a distinct difference in behavior patterns between natives and Florida strain fish.

[RoLo]

Thanks for your replies fellows, I really enjoyed reading them.

Raul made a point that I hadn't considered. Mexico has both northern-strain and Florida-strain bass 8-)

Fish Chris (incorrigible trophy hunter) doesn't consider any bass under 10 lbs a "catch",

therefore Florida-strain bass are easier to catch ;D

(Chris, she isn't purty, she's beauuuuutiful)

Roger

[RoLo]

WRB we share the same opinion, that is: northern-strain bass are more aggressive feeders than the Florida-strain snobs.

The statistics you quoted are remarkable but nonetheless credible: Quote> Studies have proven that the NLMB catch rate

per man hour is about 3 to 1 when compared to FLMB.

I found that the slightest cold front in Florida shuts the bass down hard.

In CT, you can still catch a small limit if you slow down.

Fishizzle, I totally agree.

A cold-front in Florida is a real party-pooper, and it sometimes lasts for days.

On the flipside, when I lived in New Jersey we were usually able to muster a couple of runts after a cold front

as far north as the French River district of Georgian Bay, Lake Huron (Ontario, Canada).

Mother Nature apparently designed the Florida-strain bass to withstand hot water, while designing the northern-strain to tolerate cold water.

Roger

[Duma]

what i dont understand is how the mexican bass playgrounds are filled with such aggressive heavy feeding fish, yet they're stocked with FLMB. Im referring to the lakes in and around the state of sinaloa (huites, baccarac, comedero, el salto, etc) where all the fish are FLMB, as opposed to the older lakes further south raul is referring to. ive had fish ascend airborne trying to demolish my senko hanging over stickups....2 bass in unison lol.

im from illinois so i know NLMB well and although i think their thump is sometimes more distinct, its hard for me to buy FLMB as being more picky and lazy. then again, i dont have much experience with FLMB in the states. .....should that matter though?  

[RoLo]

Bob Lusk, that's a very interesting and informative post.

When I lived in northern Georgia I had my own backyard pond that I stocked with bass I caught locally.

Very much as you described, those northern-strain bass were unbelievably voracious creatures.

My tiny pond was self-sufficient, but for my own selfish enjoyment I'd occasionally feed them store-bought minnows.

I transported the shiners in a clear plastic oxygenated bag. The water-filled bag was heavy

so I normally laid it down in a few inches of water while supporting the bag with one hand.

On this particular day, one of the bass in my pond obviously saw the minnows through the clear plastic bag.

You guessed it, he walloped that bag with such force that it busted the bag wide-open freeing all minnows at once.

In a matter of moments there wasn't a minnow in sight. By the way, the bass that blew up on the bag

actually caused my thumb to bleed, so I guess that makes it my most intimate moment with a northern-strain bass :

Roger

[Nitro 882]

I took my dream trip to Florida a couple years ago. Now, I don't consider myself a great fisherman, but I think I'm a good fisherman. I fished Lake George and the St. Johns river for 10 days and I don't think I caught a dozen bass. And none over about 2 1/2 pounds. When I got home(Massachusetts) the first week of March it was still real cold but a week later we had a warm spell and I went to one of my favorite local lakes about 15 minutes from my house. LOADED THE BOAT. Including 2 over 4# Now I'm screwed cause every time I start to talk about another fishin vacation to some exotic place that I've read about, my wife reminds of this.

I guess those Florida bass just did'nt realize who they was messin with.

[WRB]

The FLMB stocking program in California's San Diego city lakes back in 1959 was planned by Orval Ball to improve the over bass fishing success and provide anglers with a larger average size bass. The FLMB introduction into San Diego's lakes has proven to be a boom to giant bass populations, however it never achieved it's goal to improve the over all fishing. The man hour per bass caught went down dramatically, however the average size went up, becoming trophy fisheries.

The Mexican lakes were first stocked with northern strain LMB and some of the fisheries have FLMB from Texas. The majority of Texas strain are intergrades, few if any are pure Florida strain. The big factor with Mexican bass is the low fishing pressure from rod & reel fisherman, the pressure comes from commerical fisherman using nets. There isn't much selective harvesting or catch & release to educate the more agressive individual bass.

In California, you can go to a FLMB lake or a NLMB and you will know the difference without anyone telling what type of bass the lakes have. The northerns are so much more aggressive striking lures and react to much wider selection of lures. The FLMB are heavier bodied bass that are more difficult to catch.

WRB

[sodaksker]

I always enjoy reading your post as, they contain a lot a great information.  I was just curious as to what your name is and where you are located.  I am just an average joe out in south dakota that enjoys visiting this forum.  I understand if you choose not to share this information.

Thanks

Rob Tuttle

[WRB]

I always enjoy reading your post as, they contain a lot a great information. I was just curious as to what your name is and where you are located. I am just an average joe out in south dakota that enjoys visiting this forum. I understand if you choose not to share this information.

Thanks

Rob Tuttle

Southern California, charter life BASS member, tournament fisherman back in the late 60"s & early 70's, trophy bass fisherman forever. Fished nearly every state, Mex and Canada that have fresh water bass. Wrote a few early In-Fisherman articles. Marlin and tuna fish on occasion, love to musky fish. Grew up fishing and working at marina's. Aerospace engr by trade, about to retire soon.

WRB

aka; Oldschool

[llPa1nll]

I'll put it this way. Northern strain bass can be caught through the ice. A Florida strain bass at the sight of ice would probably go belly up.

[Chris Lockwood]

I have never bass fished any where other then Florida. I grew up here, and have been fishing it for 15 out of 19 years of my life. I still have plenty of sucess though, but this might be because I am used to fishing here. St. George and the St. Johns is a tough place. You could go weeks with out catching fish if you haven't fished there before. Many of the people who do have a huge success there have been fishing it for decades. All good bass fisherman should understand that sometimes it takes patience. Dream Florida trips shouldn't always be on the big waterways though, I find the smaller lakes the best place to catch a nice lunker, and there are plenty of them in each lake. Basically every pond/lake in florida that hasn't dried up in the past decade holds a 10 plus bass. This past summer I fished a small pond on a golf course, which has plenty of those trophy fish. I pulled 5 or 6 ten pounders out of this pond.

[Vyron]

thanks for the great info guys

[Catt]

WRB, Aerospace engineer?

I'm retired engineer Boeing, Northrop/Grumman, & EADS (Airbus)