My HSB went in spring of 2018 and fed on pellets, at first, very sparingly and eventually just quit showing up for the dinner bell. They were making meals of the FHM's and I could catch one occasionally on lures, rarely the same lure twice...smart fish! Now, the FHM's are all but gone, HBG YOY numbers are their, but not over abundant. Now, the HSB have taken back to feeding on pellets...big swirls and splashing at feeding time...just teasing me! They won't touch any crank bait, big trout flies, HBG YOY or big grasshoppers under a bobber (at any depth), rubber worms...nothing.
Has anyone figured out a way to get pellet food to stick to a larger hook AND float?
I just want to see a couple for measurement and weighing (I'm not saying I don't desire the thrill of the catch, but)...I'm going to drain the pond and teach them who's smarter!
are your pellets big enough to drill a hole thru or maybe glue the hook to a groove filed in pellet with egg white or super glue? a lot of work for regular fishing, but not in the interest of science.
are your pellets big enough to drill a hole thru or maybe glue the hook to a groove filed in pellet with egg white or super glue? a lot of work for regular fishing, but not in the interest of science.
I am using Optimal Blue Gill = 4.5mm pellets...not really big enough to drill and hook, but I have wondered about grinding, adding binder (elmer's glue - lol) and forming to the hooks, but maybe gluing several pellets to a hook would be enough to float. I'll try that this weekend.
Originally Posted By: NEDOC
How big were they when you stocked them? Just curious.
They went in at 4-6" long and were in the 2 pound range earlier this year. I caught 2 in early summer...that's all I have managed this year in may hours of fishing for them.
I am using a small hook (large bluegill size) in which I can jam a larger food pellet. I slip a tiny fly float above the hook and then press it down onto the eye of the hook (If the bait must float on the surface). Toss out some more pellets to start the feeding frenzy. Watch out for the fifteen pound CC...too much for a little rod. Anyway, the bait is grabbed and gone under...but you gotta give it a moment to dislodge the bait and expose the hook. Gotcha! With respect to lures, I have the same problem with my LMB, each lure works only one time...1/10th acre pond, I imagine every bass in there is watching the one get hooked...collective memory: "well, that's a fake also."
You might try lures designed to imitate pellets. Stubby Steves, maybe?Or perhaps put a hook through a golden raisin.
I have tried a DIY "Stubby Steve's" by cutting a pellet sized piece of small faded purple rubber worm. It closely mimics a pellet under water, similar in size and color. I am convinced that it must be the combination of floating, color, & smell/taste that they are tuning in to.
How can any fish resist a fat, juicy, live grasshopper during a feeding frenzy? They are only interested in pellets it wold seem.
Originally Posted By: DannyMac
I imagine every bass in there is watching the one get hooked...collective memory: "well, that's a fake also."
Fake or not...I'm a believer! Just last week during my first attempt to catch a HSB during the feed...I was using small HBG under a bobber (about 6" deep) and got a few hard strikes, but nothing landed. I have fished for an hour a day since during feeding time with the same rigging and NOTHING will touch it. I'm afraid I have trained them to NOT eat my HBG YOY. Surely not, but that's the way they're acting.
Originally Posted By: NEDOC
I'm asking you selfishly because I stocked some this spring in my pond in the 4-6" range. How many fish do you have per acre?
I'd also try very small jig head (1/32 to 1/64oz) tipped with worm.
I put in 40 HSB in my 1/4 acre pond (160 per acre). Their main purpose is to help control the HBG offspring as my goal is to grow some bigger HBG. They (HBG) seem to have topped out this year at 1/2 pound, but that's for a different rant. The first year, the HSB got over a pound each and should be over 2 pounds now, if I could just prove that.
If I was culling the fish, I would definitely get some Stubbys, but they recommend a small hook for floaty purposes and, at this point, I am afraid of them swallowing the hooks.
I am definitely going to glue a few pellets to an appropriately sized larger hook this evening with Elmer's and see what that does. Since Elmer's didn't kill Terri R. in the 1st grade (she ate a lot of that stuff)...it won't hurt my fish...LOL. I guess multiple Stubbys on a single hook may also work, but I'm not waiting on the mail, tonight's the night!
They do swallow the hook when they hit a Stubby Stever. I just cut the line and start over. A fish hook isn't worth me killing any fish that isn't meeting the filet knife. LOL.
PS One advantage of using a very light jig head tipped with worm is that the jighead makes it much less likely to be swallowed, and much easier to remove.
Mix in Optimal large hand throw food , The HSB will target on those and then easier to put on the hook and hide the hook. Also , chicken liver no weight, cast into the feeding and hold on....
drat... the photobucket photos are purposely blurred now. But on this page they showed how to make your own pellet fly using panty hose and a pellet.
A good tip from this thread is that if you store the pantyhose pellet hooks in a container with your optimal or Aquamax it may help get the proper scent too.
If I was culling the fish, I would definitely get some Stubbys, but they recommend a small hook for floaty purposes and, at this point, I am afraid of them swallowing the hooks.
I am definitely going to glue a few pellets to an appropriately sized larger hook this evening with Elmer's and see what that does. Since Elmer's didn't kill Terri R. in the 1st grade (she ate a lot of that stuff)...it won't hurt my fish...LOL. I guess multiple Stubbys on a single hook may also work, but I'm not waiting on the mail, tonight's the night!
If you use barbless or crimped-barb hooks you can use as small a hook as you want and easily retrieve it with a hook remover with minimal damage to the fish. I highly recommend having one in your pond tackle box. It has saved quite a few of my nicer BG.
I am definitely going to glue a few pellets to an appropriately sized larger hook this evening with Elmer's and see what that does. Since Elmer's didn't kill Terri R. in the 1st grade (she ate a lot of that stuff)...it won't hurt my fish...LOL. I guess multiple Stubbys on a single hook may also work, but I'm not waiting on the mail, tonight's the night!
Post pics!
Last edited by jpsdad; 09/13/1904:46 PM.
It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers
How much fishing pressure did you put on the hsb when they were smaller?
How clear is your water, can they see you when your fishing?
Have you tried fluorocarbon lines and have you downsized your fishing line and hook size?
What about slowing down your feeding the hsb? Maybe bite might improve if they are hungry?
I ask this because in my situation, I did not add the hsb until the second year and then I started ladder stocking each fall and spring by adding 15 or 20 different sized fish each time. From 10" to to 17" sized. In the beginning I very seldom caught one and I almost never saw them come to the feeders. And very little fishing pressure at that time. Today, I allow little fishing pressure with most fisherman being children and the catch rates on the hsb are pretty good with about 25 hsb per acre. We vary the baits so we try to fish with baits they have not seen before. I just mention all this because this is what I see today but things may change as the world never stays the same from my experience. And I might be in your position tomorrow.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
I've discovered that the HSB are much more eager to bite if the feeder has run out for a couple of days. Just throw in a few larger pellets and they go crazy.
For removing my cats, I used optimal bass pellets. Drill a 1/16" hole and thread your line through 1-2 pellets, through the hook then back above the pellet around the line and return the line and tie to hook. It works great, floats a smaller hook-but not too small. Use the biggest pellet you can to keep others from consuming if possible. HSB may not be able to detect glue but the cats sure did and wouldn't touch it. If you catch a fish and loose pellets just double line over about 6" from hook, twist and shove doubled line back through 2 more new pellets and pull the loop the doubled line makes back over pellets and pull snug-like a palamar knot.
Also , chicken liver no weight, cast into the feeding and hold on....Both are pretty much guarantees for me.
I'll try the chicken liver as I was thwarted this weekend. I did get one to the dock using a 2-3" HBG, but it spit the barbless hook out at the dock. It looked fat healthy, at least.
Originally Posted By: Bocomo
If you use barbless or crimped-barb hooks you can use as small a hook as you want and easily retrieve it with a hook remover with minimal damage to the fish. I highly recommend having one in your pond tackle box. It has saved quite a few of my nicer BG.
A hook remover is now on my shopping list.
Originally Posted By: anthropic
Noel, what's your water temp?...Just curious.
The water in the morning is about 75 degrees F top to bottom. By the time evening hits, it's 75 on the bottom and 76 18" down, with 82 at the surface.
Originally Posted By: TGW1
How much fishing pressure did you put on the hsb when they were smaller?
How clear is your water, can they see you when your fishing?
Have you tried fluorocarbon lines and have you downsized your fishing line and hook size?
What about slowing down your feeding the hsb? Maybe bite might improve if they are hungry?
I only caught about 8 last year and only two this year. I have fished alot, but most usually land the fish if it chooses to bite.
The water has been 18 to 24 inches clear for a few weeks now and that's why i think the HSB have started feeding on pellets now. I suspect they can feel my heartbeat through the dock (and see me too). I have tried fishing from the shore a few times, but no change.
I have not tried fluorocarbon line or smaller hooks. My reels are rigged with cheap 6 or 8 pound test and I use hooks that are not likely to get swallowed.
I tend to feed my fish as much as they will eat when weather and water conditions allow. They don;t eat much and are rarely overly excited at meal time. I don't know why entirely. Pond tends to be muddy and that causes some DO issues, but it's improving. I was thinking about stopping the feed for a few days, but I just started an Optimal food trial and I do not want to mess with the results.
Originally Posted By: anthropic
I wonder if a bit of moistened chewing gum would securely attach the pellet without triggering the negative response glue does?
I may have to start chewing gum. Friday night was a bust. My fist attempt at the glued pellets on a hook taught me that the glue needs to dry longer than a hour or two before wetting in the pond. The glue turned ghost white after about a minute in the water. I glued 3 pellets on a hook and it floated, but I think the white glue spooked them...IDK. I did get a hit on a small HBG under a bobber, but it got away.
Saturday night I had the pellet glue cured for hours and added several more pellets, BUT the fish turned off. The HBG were feeding OK, but the HSB were nowhere to be found. The added pellets helped it float longer and hid the hook better. The dried glue never turned white, maybe a bit yellow, but not screaming..."Don't Eat ME". I switched feed type this night according to a feed trial that I am conducting for Optimal, but surely a slightly different feed would not have such a dramatic affect on the HSB feeding enthusiasm. Tomorrow is back to the Optimal Blue Gill that I have been using all year (part of the trial - BG feed for three days then one of seven new types for tow days). Hopefully they come back tomorrow and tease me some more.
Tonight was a repeat of Saturday and I didn't even throw out a Pellet -on-a-Hook. No HSB to speak of, but I did catch several HBG, a few over a half pound.
Thanks for everyone's participation in the thread...
The glue turned ghost white after about a minute in the water.
QA, my bride keeps a glue gun and something like it may work. It melts plastic sticks and these are relatively clear. Being plastic it probably doesn't have a lot of scent. While hot you may even by able to dust it with ground feed.
Quote:
I did get one to the dock using a 2-3" HBG, but it spit the barbless hook out at the dock.
2" to 3" sunfish are awesome bait. When I fish with BG with my son I usually hold my pole and he leaves his in the holder (I drive 1 1/2 pvc cut at an angle on one end into the ground). He is always getting distracted and usually he doesn't even know he is getting a bite until he has already hooked one. The interesting thing is ... despite the extra attention I give my pole ... he catches as many fish as I do.
It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers
Pellet fly ala George - panty hose around pellet, wrap the top with floss or sewing thread, hook a corner of the hose with hook, done. You'll need a fly rod to cast or use a float for some weight on a spinning rod.
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau
IMO, TJ nailed it with the pellet fly (which he taught me). My HSB were extremely elusive so when it came time for "sampling" or just wanting a good fight, since I was feeding LMB food, I used the panty hose and since the HSB knew where the food would be twice a day (feeding time), using a spnning rod I was able to get a full cast and had nearly a catch every time. Oh, and since the food floats, it's like a violent top-water strike .
Another idea learned from Esshup (if not mentioned earlier) would be to soak the smaller food until you could form it in a ball and mold it around the hook. As long as the food wasn't too soggy it would stay on the hook very well.
I love all the options that have been given (Thanks a million) and have yet to try the panty-pellet fly. I think this has the most promise when it comes time to harvest my HSB, but for the tome being, I'm making it hard on myself by sticking to larger hooks that lessen the likely hood of cleaning a fish unexpectedly.
BUT...I got one last night an the chicken dinner goes to the mikepjr (thanks for the suggestion Mike! (from a different thread)) and the night crawler...Kinda!
Once the fish was on the dock, it was hooked near the eye, not the mouth. This is the second one snagged in this fashion this year. So, in reality it caught itself during the feeding of pellets. Last nights HSB feeding enthusiasm was the best I've seen to date (it was raining too). At times the bobber was moving back and forth a foot or so just from the surfaces hits on either side. It was near frenzy.
At any rate, my goal has been achieved. The fish weighed in at 2 pounds even and was 16.25" long. New pond record by a hair's weight...
HSB fishing for the year is now over for the most part and the pressure can go back to the HBG for my entertainment.