The traditional fish farming industry in the U.S. is currently faced with rising costs, labor shortages, competition from lower cost imports, increasing environmental regulation, and decreasing water supplies. Sales of the domestic channel catfish industry alone fell from $423 million in 2011 to $301 million in 2014. Catfish acreage in Arkansas which totaled 30400 acres in 2007 (NASS 2008), was reduced to 8200 water acres in 2013, down 1500 acres (15%) from 2013. Currently, catfish production in Arkansas is estimated to be less than 5000 water acres. As profit margins are shrinking in the catfish industry, many Arkansas fish farmers are searching for alternative species with greater profit potential. Largemouth bass (LMB) is one such H.V.S. It is estimated that there are around 2000 acres currently in production of LMB food fish in Arkansas and no more than 3000 acres in production throughout the United States. The majority of market size LMB produced in Arkansas are sold live to ethnic markets in Chicago, New York and Canada. Although it is estimated that LMB production costs can range from $4 to $5 per pound, farm gate prices exceed $5.00 per pound and the demand has exceeded the supply for several years. LMB production in open ponds is restricted by significant obstacles related to their behavior and biology. LMB fingerlings must be crowded and trained to accept formulated feed at a young age. Many fish farmers do not have the facilities or expertise to house and maintain these fish during the feed training process and prefer to purchase 6 inch advanced feed trained fingerlings. However, production of advanced fingerlings is variable and costs often exceed $1.00 per fish. This variable production and major cost risk arises from the low survival following the introduction of 2 inch feed trained LMB fingerlings into open ponds. It is not uncommon for 40 to 50% of the stocked fingerlings to lose the learned pellet feeding behavior shortly after being transferred from crowded feed training tanks to open ponds resulting in large losses due to cannibalization and starvation. Ponds are typically stocked in early June and summer temperatures prevent the frequent seining and grading of the fingerlings to prevent cannibalism. Our experience at J.M. Malone and Son, Inc. has shown LMB fingerlings at this stage are also very susceptible to bacterial infections which have proven difficult to treat in open ponds. As a result, survival of 2 inch feed trained bass fingerlings to 6 inch advanced fingerlings averages 25-40 %. We have also observed that advanced LMB fingerlings are very susceptible to predation by herons and cormorants. Sub adult LMB require high protein feeds, well oxygenated water, will not tolerate poor water quality or low oxygen events and are highly susceptible to blue green algae toxins. Feed intake is greatly reduced in the warm summer months when nocturnal oxygen concentrations approach 40% saturation and afternoon pH exceeds 8.5. Feed conversion ratios are often greater than 4 or 5 and yields in ponds rarely exceed 2000 lbs/acre and are often as low as 1000 lbs/acre. Many of the obstacles limiting LMB production in open ponds can be overcome when the fish are confined to an intensive tank or raceway. However, most fish production in Arkansas and the southeastern U.S. occurs in traditional open ponds. The Partitioned Aquaculture System (P.A.S.) developed by Clemson University, is an example of intensive confinement using a pond-based system. Although several variations of the P.A.S., such as the split pond production system and the in-pond raceway system, have been adopted by the catfish industry, these systems have not been widely accepted due to the high cost of construction and the low prices being paid for catfish (approximately $1/lb). There are nearly 2000 acres of P.A.S. variations devoted to catfish production in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas accounting for less than 2% of the total acres of catfish prod