Many myths surround Florida bass. Here's one: All that's required for Florida bass to grow larger and faster is for water conditions and/or climate suiting their needs to be present.

Now, Florida bass do prefer warmer climates, where water conditions rarely if ever drop below 50 degrees, and while the exact temperature threshold for Florida bass is not known, most fisheries biologists agree that anything lower than 40 degrees is lethal, along with extended temperatures in the lower 40s.

"There is no established minimum temperature for Florida largemouths," Schramm said "I've got Florida bass in my pond, and I've had ice cover for up to a week. I think (the threshold) might be more like how long or how often the water drops below some temperature -- probably around 40 degrees. The 'magic line' above which Florida bass can't survive (in the Southeast) is from Virginia to Tennessee to southeastern Oklahoma."

Even then, severe cold snaps in the South the can kill Florida bass. One year, according to the AGFC, one such cold snap killed a cycle of one hatchery's Florida bass fingerlings.

Stocking Florida bass in lakes and rivers that do not meet the biological needs of Florida bass is basically impossible to justify. "Research in Northern states has indicated that stocking Florida largemouth bass into conditions that are not favorable has actually been counterproductive," Hopkins said. "For example: Florida largemouth bass and F1 intergrades in Illinois were shown to have slower growth rates and higher mortality than the native northern largemouth subspecies."

Biologists in Oklahoma found that, for the most part, Florida bass stocked north of Interstate 40 actually grew slower than did the native bass. When conditions are favorable, however, Florida bass can easily put on 3 pounds or more per year -- in Mexico and California, amazingly, up to 4 pounds per year. Growth rates in Texas often average 2 or more pounds per year.

For the most part, Florida bass thrive throughout the Southeast United States, including many Arkansas lakes. Constant stocking, however, is necessary to maintain large populations of largemouths that are mostly Florida strain. The northern-strain bass is, after all, the native largemouth, and is better adapted to survive in the region's lakes and rivers.

Research has shown that the subspecies of bass that's fitter in terms of its environment will outperform the other, eventually taking over the fishery in the absence of subsequent stocking of the other subspecies. Say that a lake is built in Southeast Arkansas, and half the bass stocked are Florida bass and the other half northern-strain; in such a case, the northern-strain fish will likely dominate, and without additional stocking, the Floridas' genes will more or less disappear. On the other hand, if northern bass were stocked in South Florida, the Florida bass would dominate.

Fishermen often ask why more lakes with conditions appropriate for Floridas aren't stocked with the fish. The answer lies in numbers: For a large lake such as Ouachita (which isn't stocked with the fish), feeling the effects would necessitate hundreds of thousands of the fish being stocked annually for many years before any significant difference could be seen in the lake's largemouth population.

"What we have seen is that if very intense stocking does not take place, it is very hard to alter the genetic makeup of bass populations," said Jon Stein, AGFC fish pathologist. "For example, we have stocked Lake Conway in the past with a small number of Florida largemouth bass . . . and the population has very low numbers of Florida largemouth bass and F1 bass."