A stocking program on the Tennessee side of Kentucky Lake has seen thousands of larger, non-native Florida bass introduced to the waterway. Recreation and tourism officials think the fish will make for better, bigger sportfish, but Kentucky Fish and Wildlife officials warn the species will be negatively impacted by the region’s winters.
The Henry County Tourism Authority started stocking the lake in 2020 through a commercial sportfish hatchery in Alabama in the hope of bigger, faster-growing bass. Similar programs in places like the Chickamauga Reservoir near Chattanooga saw returns on the program as the native Northern bass crossbred with the Florida bass, creating a population of larger, faster growing hybrid offspring known as F-1 bass or Tiger bass within five years.
The program – which has stocked the lake with 500,000 Florida bass each year since its implementation – was approved by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA). Tim Broadbent, the TWRA’s regional fisheries manager, said it’s not meant to erase the native bass species or to create “trophy winners,” but they do want to make the lake a better place to fish.
“We're just trying to improve the quality of the fish being caught by anglers,” Broadbent said. “We’re just trying to improve genetics.”
TWRA is monitoring Kentucky Lake as the stocking program continues, but there is some concern across state lines. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife officials are “directly opposed” to the stocking of Florida bass in the waterway.
Adam Martin is Kentucky Fish and Wildlife’s fisheries program coordinator for western Kentucky. He said Florida bass will struggle over time in the region because of the harsh winters not present in its native environment.
“There are studies showing that when you stock them too far outside of their native range – specifically too far north, where the winters get a little too harsh – they actually perform worse than Northern Largemouth bass,” he said. “You're mixing genetics that have evolved over thousands to millions of years, and you're just mixing them very suddenly.”
Martin said stocking a species like the Florida bass this far north could actually result in stunted growth and lower aggression, which can make a species harder to catch. He also said the hybridized F-1 bass have reduced reproductive ability. Previously successful stocking programs in the southern portion of Tennessee have fallen within suitable habitats for the fish, which are determined by using climate measurement tools like Heating Degree Days.
The Henry County Tourism Authority recently announced the program will continue for at least two more years.
