By Danny Blandford – AC Insider

We’re doing Travel Tuesday a little different this week; we’re taking you behind the scenes with us to the forefront of TROPHY bass production.

Being an AC Insider certainly has some perks!  Vance and I recently had the chance to tag along on a Strike King “outing” to the outskirts of paradise for a bass fisherman. For security purposes, we’ll just call it Lake X…approximately 300 acres of flooded timber and vegetation straddling the Florida and Georgia border, loaded with forage, very little fishing pressure, AND stocked with some “special” bass.

Lake X has been the proving ground for the early stages of a project we’re highlighting in this series, called Titan Bass.  The Titan Bass project, by Red Hills Fishery, is the intersection of science, technology, research and bassin’ passion.  With a claim to fame of, “Breaking Bass Barriers and Elevating Bass Angling Through Genetics”, we just had to go check it all out first hand.

Now before anyone goes off the deep end thinking about nightmares like Frankenfish, Teenage Mutant Ninja Bass, or some other finned freak of nature, hear us out.  Think of this more like pedigree breeding of certain working dogs, done in a way to enhance desirable traits and characteristics.  Red Hills isn’t making a “new” kind of bass, it’s making the existing bass even better! (More on Pedigreed Breeding)

We’ve seen a version of this succeed already with the Texas ShareLunker program, where fish that have exhibited trophy characteristics are collected by the state and used for “broodstock” …essentially adult fished collected to make baby fish with “some” of the same genes.  The Texas program has proven successful, but it’s based on learning a fish is a trophy specimen, only after it’s shown itself as such.  What if we could tell a two-inch bass was likely to grow into something spectacular…or better yet what if we could ensure that for an entire school of bass being stocked?

This is where the science of the Titan Bass comes into play…staff at Red Hills Fisheries in partnership with the Center for Aquaculture Technologies compiled MILLIONS of data points regarding trophy potential in Florida bass.  As of today’s writing, they’ve located 12 confirmed genetic markers, with a 13^th currently being validated, each tied to overall growth potential.  These markets and selective breeding are all part of the Titan Maxx line of fish.

Now these markers can pertain to both how fast bass grow, as well as their ultimate size.  Ironically, it is often males that grow the “fastest” but the females grow the “biggest” so traditional methods of selecting the bass that are growing the fastest can actually work against your goals of growing big fish.  With genetic testing methods, you can not only end up with BIG fish, but you can get them to that size quicker.   (More on Genetics)

I heard client stories of bass that were putting on 3 pounds per year!  Obviously, growth rates vary by location, the amount of food available, etc, but 2 pounds per year “used” to be a tough benchmark to obtain anywhere and one pound could be considered good.

Now I can already hear the drumbeats of the high fence versus free range whitetail war in the distance, but I think this is different.   Don’t get me wrong, Red Hills absolutely wants to sell fish to individuals who want the best fish they can get, but their goal is to make it available everywhere and elevate fishing for everyone.  These aren’t an “elite” quarry, or reserved for the privileged.  They are simply working to breed a better bass…something aggressive, hardy, and capable of being that “fish of a lifetime”, which will be different for everyone.  These fish are still the same species, just “optimized” for the characteristics we enjoy!

Red Hills has already been in collaboration with multiple state agencies and fisheries programs, including the State of Arkansas Game and Fish, as well as other state agencies throughout the southeast.  Bringing genetic testing and genetic data abilities to the state level will help managers enrich their own fish populations with quality genetics and healthier fisheries for everyone to enjoy.

There are genetic tissue sample kits available from Red Hills that allow anyone to collect samples, including private pond owners.  They mail you a kit, you collect your specimens according to their instructions, and return the samples.  You’ll end up with a report that can tell you about the genetic diversity in your lake or pond, as well as make recommendations on how to supplement it with new stockings.

I’m sure many states, including my own, will be slow to respond to something like this, but fortunately, as an individual pond owner, I can reach out to Red Hills Fisheries myself.  They have various distributors that they work with, and they can also ship direct, so I can get the appropriate testing and Titan Bass right here in Indiana right now!  Notice, I did say “Northern” Titan Bass.

The Titan Bass program has identified these desirable traits for each of the species of bass and has bred them with the genetic integrity of their respective species, i.e. Northern and Florida Strains.  They do also offer an F1 hybrid, which is a female Florida Titan Bass crossed with a Northern Titan male.  Unfortunately, I’m just north of their recommended climate, so although tempting, anything “Florida” simply aren’t the best choice for me.

As far as my own pond project, we’re actually still in the “prep” phase and not quite ready to offer some Titan Bass a good home.  After decades of throwing the bass back so they could get bigger, we ended up with a bass crowded and stunted population of bass, a general lack of cover, and an overall unhealthy bass fishery in need of rejuvenation.

The easy to do physical things have already started.  We drew the lake down last winter and added spawning gravel and lots of fresh habitat, spent this past season harvesting bass, adding additional shoreline cover, and we’ll be doing a heavy bluegill stocking this fall and again in early spring.  Our goal is to add Titan bass in late March so that the new fingerlings can feed on the existing bass and bluegill fry starting in May with a competitive advantage.  Once their home, it’ll be all about keeping them fed!

I’m not sure we can afford all the forage required to grow multiple double digits in my area, but I’m sure excited to get started on the journey!  Stay tuned for some fall fish management updates and “sample collection” soon.  We’ll be working on that bass crowding issue and finding out just how closely related all my little scrub bass actually are!

To learn more, visit Titanbass.com, and/or give them a call!