The great fighting ability of the Florida Largemouth makes it more appealing than it’s northern counterpart.

 

The Florida Largemouth Bass was originally distributed throughout most of what is now the United States east of the Rockies, including many rivers and lakes in Texas. There are also limited populations in south-eastern Canada, north-eastern Mexico, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and Missouri.

 

The Florida Largemough Bass is a top game fish and very popular among freshwater anglers in North America and has even been introduced in other regions due to its popularity.

 

Due in part to its reputation as a top game fish, this species has been introduced into many other areas worldwide, including nearly all of Mexico and south into Central and South America and even into Asia.

 

The Florida Largemouth easily takes to most waterways but prefers lakes and slow moving rivers. It can grow very large, rivaling some of the peacocks and is a huge boon to local economies that have a large population of the fish. As with all freshwater bass, they are biggest in the south and their size reduces the further north they are found.

Tourism

It’s estimated that the value the Florida Largemouth brings to the Florida state economy to be in and around the US$2 billion dollar mark.

 

That’s a significant amount of money considering that the entire state’s economy generates just over US$700 billion each year. And all this revenue comes from a business that takes little effort be keep going. There’s also an estimated several billion generated from ancillary business from the Florida Largemouth that is accounted for in other markets.

 

Texas is another significant Florida Largemouth Bass angling ground and the bass also provides for a significant economic impact to the state with an annual impact of US$1.5 billion to the state economy. Some estimate the overall impact to all markets in which the Florida Largemouth Bass lives to be in excess of a whopping US$50 billion annually in direct and indirect revenue.

Size

The largemouth bass is native to Texas with the record fish caught there being 18.8 pounds. However, the Florida Largemouth Bass, after being introduced in the 1970s, reaches sizes greater than 20lbs, with the largest caught around 22 lbs.

 

After many years of cross breeding, it’s estimated that 40% of the bass population in Texas is a mixed breed of Florida largemouth and the northern largemouth.