Cecil,
I seem to remember a post where you thought that the feed trained largemouth possibly were dying of some type of liver disease due to the pellet diet. Am I remembering correctly? If so, an ample natural diet of fish should keep the LMB alive longer and possibly reach a larger size.
It wasn't a disease per sei but a condition known as "fatty liver." It's something you usually don't see in bass on natural feeds vs. pellets. According to the experts I talked to it not actually fat in the diet it's excess carbohydrates.
Good point though. Their shorter lifespans may have been due in part to their diet and not just that they grew so fast.
I believe Dwight could do it if he had a pond in Southern Cal that had excellent water quality, Florida strain bass (longer lifespan), and he was able to plant it with small rainbow trout along with an ample supply of other items. But I think he has a better chance of winning the lottery in Minnesota than growing out a 10 lb. bass. And we all know how lousy the odds are of winning the lottery.
