I finally found some larger size SMB to put in our pond. They arrived on Saturday along with 2 gallons of minnows. I purchased 50 SMB in the 6-7" range with a few larger ones up to 9". I have them penned in with a blocking net next to our dock for the moment in 3-1/2 ft. of water. I have been feeding them minnows and have started "training" them to eat small BG. Yesterday I made 3 short passes with a 4' x 25' siene and collected 350 small BG averaging 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" that are now roaming the pen with the SMB. I do have one LMB "issue" that I need to take of tonight, I discovered yesterday that I accidentally penned up a 16-17" LMB with the SMB. The LMB is getting pulled tonight after work and his stomach contents will be getting checked.

Shorty's water is so clear you'd probably be able to count the scales on that rebel largemouth from his dock!

It may be hard to catch that rogue without a seine. I sometimes use a 22 to get them out of the blocked net area. I think you were wise to use the net even if only for a couple of days while they adjust and learn about the other rogues. Good luck and be sure to post often about the results .

Thanks for the spell check LR.

That LMB was hanging tight to the bottom along the weeds yesterday. He would have been tough to shoot 3-1/2 ft down into the water with a 22. I will be using my siene to get him out of there tonight, hopefully he has been eating minnows and BG and not any of the SMB. Right now the blocking net is set up in a octagonal shape and is only about 15 ft across, it should be fairly easy to remove him tonight with the seine.

Right now I want to get the SMB "trained" to eat the small BG before they I let them loose. If that LMB has eaten a few of the SMB I may keep them netted up a lttle longer until they are a least 8". Minnow sized BG are very plentiful right now in the pond and are very cheap!

Steve -- let us know what is in the stomach of that LMB!!

Dave - I'm guessing there will be one SMB in the LMB's stomach, he looked very satiated and inactive yeasterday compared to the SMB. I did put in a dozen BG in the 3-1/2" size range in the blocking net which might be a little more his size. There were also lots of FH minnows in the net as well so we will see once I get him yanked.

Shor-tay, I am now directing all of my mental fortitude and powers to protecting your new Smallmouth from this rouge LMB.

I almost forgot. I had guessed that Shorty would be getting SMB for Xmas. I was wrong as the Easter Bunny brought them instead. I guess it was to cold for them on Santa's sleigh.

I use the 22 to stun them when they get in about 1 ft. of water and then dip net them and out they go. You need to have a good angle - not straight down and not a flat angle as those are to dangerous.

I know the Electrical Engineer Pondmeister chant, if it will help:

Ohm-Money-Pondme-HUM (repeat ad nauseum)

Do you guys mean "rogue" or is this a bass with makeup and lipstick?

I was referring to "red bass" in French -- not. Thanks for catching the cosmetic error as we rogues can't spell.

Layton, you got me. In hindsight, I now realize I was trying to demoralize this rogue LMB by implying that he was a make-up wearing wussie. Yeah, that's what I meant.

I once had some bluegills in a floating cage. I went out to feed them and looked down and saw a largemouth in there! Then I saw another! "What the heck!" I thought. "How did they get in there?" Turns out I had failed to fasten a three foot section of an overlap underneath and the bass were getting in and getting easy meals.

I have since learned that fish will find an opening if there is one and are quite the escape and entry artists.

"fish will find an opening if there is one and are quite the escape and entry artists."

This is especially true if the fish are wearing make-up and lipstick, so beware.

Well guys, I got that 16-1/4" lip stick wearing LMB out of the pen last night! I didn't get him on the first pass but got him on the second, the dang weeds in the pen made it hard to keep the siene net along the bottom. I sure wish the water temps had been a little warmer last night. Anyhow, I did check his stomach contents, there was one semi-fresh 2" BG and one unidentifiable larger fish that had been reduced to three broken sections of backbone about an inch long a piece, I'm guessing the larger fish was 4-6" but there was no way of telling if it was a SMB or BG. The good news is that his stomach was not full of a bunch of 6-7" SMB.

His metabolism should be slow enough this time of year that I'll bet if it was a smallie you would have still been able to identify it...I hope.

Congrats Shorty! Wait til one of those boys gets 16+ inches. Wowsa!

Are these SMB feed trained?

Hi Steve: congratulations on getting the SMB! Who did you get them from? If they are from Richard Carlson, do you know where he got them from? Are they feed trained? How much did you pay for them? Good going Steve!

Great job -- go Shorty go !! I agree with Bruce that the digested fish was in there to long to be one of the SMB .

Shorty, my smallmouth have erected a recognition plack, to be awarded to you, for bravery and valor under adverse circumstance not limited to rogue LMB.

Norm - I did get them from Carlson, he had to get them from somewhere in KS and he did not know if they were feed trained or not but was going to try and find out if they were, they were a little pricey though due to the timing and a lack of supply of bigger SMB at the momment. Right now I am working on getting the SMB well trained in catching small BG before I let them loose in the pond. Carlson did mention that I should have talked to him last year, he said he had a bunch of larger SMB that came from Indianna that he sold cheap last year that someone wanted to get rid of, the first person that came to mind was maybe that they might have come from Cecil.

On an intersting note, Carlson did say one of the keys to getting SMB started in a pond was to stock lots of FH minnows. He recommended a gallon of FH's per acre once in the spring, and then once again in the fall, his thoughts were that this would be the best way to get them established and to keep them going for the long term.

If he is a rogue, and there is any truth to territoriality, he will stay where the feeding is good.
“You may have to hit him with three barrels to bring him up Chief”. (Jaws!)

:D

Here is the back half of the pen I am keeping the smallmouth in, the steel posts are roughly spaced 6ft apart. 50ft of netting cost $20.20 (tax included) that I picked up at Menards in the lawn and garden section.

Shorty, I'm jealous. I wish my big pond had 1/10 that much clarity. Of course, you probably wish you had some of the suspended clay that I have.

Absolutly, less clarity would keep the excessive weed growth down to more healthy levels for the fish.

I think there are several contributing things that keep the water as clear as it is. The cedar tree lines on both the south and north side keep the Nebraska wind from stiring sediment up along the bank, the cattails in the west end also serve this function, and we have prairie grass planted in the water drainage areas keeping a lot of sediment from cominig into the pond when it rains hard.

Nebraska wind? Huh, I hadn't noticed any the last few days.

Wind??

...and here I thought all along that the wind was always calm here, but the entire state was always moving at about 25 mph.

Shorty how are your baby SMB behind the net doing. Don't keep them there to long if they are not eating. Keep us posted.

Ewest, the smallmouth are doing fine, I put the last of my FH's in the pen yesterday, about 15-20 dozen of them. The water temps are in the upper 50's right now and I will keep them in the pen until the water temps start to warm up a bit more. The SMB ate so heavily yesterday that they they were reguritating a few of the FH's. I even saw a few minnows jump a foot or more in the air yesterday trying to escape. I also ran the seine net yesterday and added (100) 1" to 1-1/2" small BG in the pen. I was a little suprised as I also caught 2 small LMB in the 2-1/2" to 3" range which have to be from last years spawn, I added them to the pen as well. The SMB should be good for a couple of days until I can go siene again. The siening right now is getting tough in places, the milfoil has really started to grow in the last 10 days, the bottom of the siene net just starts to roll up as you go through the weeds. We have 200 lbs. of Navigate on the way that should be here early this week, it looks like we will be treating a good portion the milfoil here in a day or two. BTW - there was a large dragonfly laying eggs on some of the floating vegetation in the pen Friday night.

Steve, I got 50 of those Indiana SMB from Richard Carlson last year. With delivery, they came to about $5 each. Before that, I got 100 HSB from Richard that came from Keo in AR. I gave 50 of them to Jim Mannerud by Brookings via Dave Willis. In return, I got about 50 SMB. The feed trained SMB from Indiana are definitely larger than the other SMB this year. I fin clipped the different groups in different ways. When I count the cost of delivery, I consider both to cost about $5 each but keep in mind, these are fish big enough to escape predation.

If you let Richard know you're interested in something, he will keep you in mind forever.