It was actually ten years before any really significant results from Florida bass stocking showed up on Chickamauga. Here's what TWRA Fisheries Biologist Mike Jolley had to say regarding the more recent Florida bass stockings on other lakes: "People need to remember that on Chickamauga the pure Florida bass have contributed very little to the catch. We really didn't see many of those in our research," he said. "The big bass we saw mostly were F1 hybrids. That's the cross between a Florida bass and our native largemouth. Those are the ones that have really shown up."
Jolley says that largemouth don't mature and spawn until they are at least three years old. Then it would be a minimum of five years before their offspring - F1 hybrids - start showing up as trophies. In other words, Jolley believes it will likely be at least 2023 before fishermen really see whether the Florida bass stockings in other lakes yield similar results as they did on Chickamauga.
