Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Anyone else observe this with feed trained bass?

With one of the hottest driest summers in a long time I am finding my largemouths are actually feeding less once water temps reach the mid 80's. I was feeding twice a day with feeding nowhwere near as aggressive as when I feed once a day. I think metabolism is peaking out somewhere in the upper 70's or low 80's. Now I am only feeding once a day and the feed bill is lower too. However growth still seems quite good.

Not very profund and I'm sure literature coincides with this. Some scientists actually call the largemouth bass a "coolwater fish."

The bluegills however in the small pond (different pond) at 86 F. are feeding as good as ever. I do have literature that shows peak feeding or bluegill in that range.

BTW the Will 'O' Wisp bug feeder is doing a dynamite job on feeding insects to the bluegills at night. They just love sucking in insects around that thing. I do feed them pellets in the daytime too.

Now if I could just persuage a Great Blue Heron to stay away. I have preventive measures to keep him out of the water but he keeps coming back. I don't want him crapping in the water and spreading parasites.

Cecil, We are seeing the same thing. LMB feeding has decreased dramatically the past 10-days. BG and CC are still aggressively feeding. We also feed twice a day and haven't tried cutting back to once a day.

I hear you on the herons. The fledglings come to the ponds in pairs and are too stupid to be afraid. I have to walk within 25 yards to kick them out. We had stakes and string set up at the prime ambush points but the water levels have dropped so much that the trip wires are high and dry and we haven't reset them.

From what I understand from Telemetry (spelling? )
bass feed as much as 90% at NIGHT when the water gets above 70 degrees. Maybe this is why you are not seeing them eat as much during the day?

It's been hot and dry here also. Pond's down about 18" now. It does'nt seem to have slowed down the fish any though. When I walk out onto the rocks the fish come running. I can't tell how may are bass but the Bluegill and Catfish eat aggressively. I can see some Bass darting around but it's hard to tell how much they're eating. I seem to have good growth rates though.
Where did you get the bug feeder Cecil? Sounds interesting.

HT

I feed only once a day, in the late evening. My bluegills come up quickly, when they hear my footsteps on the dock. You can see hundreds of wakes in the water heading toward me. When they start thrashing the water really good, the bass move in and ambush the bluegills. I've seen bass jumping three feet out of the water chasing their supper. If I catch a bluegill on my flyrod, very often a large 4-6lb. bass will swallow it and take me for a ride. It's like a circus at feeding time. I sometimes get to laughing so hard I have to sit down and just marvel at the whole show.

BD,

The night feeding thing makes sense but my bass are on welfare. That is, they are so used to the pellets I don't believe they do much night feeding but I could be wrong.

Houston,

I got the bug feeder from an outfit in Colorado but you can get it from lots of suppliers. It's made in Wisconisn by the Fresh Flow company. It's listed and pictured on the following site:

www.aquaticcontrol.com/

Not sure if other's sell it cheaper. There are other bug feeders such as the bugslugger and bugomatic. I haven't tried them.

Hi, Cecil --
I always enjoy your posts and find them most helpful and informative.
Sorry your bass are off their feed. Summer here in Virginia is hot this year ... and very, very humid. But we're not suffering the drought you all are enduring in the Midwest (we had that from 2000-2002, thank you); nevertheless, the heat has been pretty intense and sustained.
The upside is that the "bonsai" bass in my spring-fed, 1/4 acre pond have never fed better. They're avidly taking pellets (Zeigler Gold 3/8" pellets - 42% protein, usually intended for my trout) and just about every damsel fly within reach.
Alas, my poor rainbows are gasping up at the inflow where the water comes in from the spring. It's so distressing I've given up taking surface temps at the pond, and have cut feeding back to once a week. Looks like it's going to be a long hot summer for my poor rainbows -- any suggestions to help keep them cool and comfortable?
How are your trout faring?

ML Smith,

Actually I wouldn't say my bass are "off feed." They just don't feed as heavily twice a day as they do once a day. I believe it's due to temp above they're optimum metabolism. It actually saves me money on feed as it cuts my feed bill in half feeding them only once a day. Once a day feeding also reduces nutrient levels and subsequent weed and algae growth. They still seem very healthy and growing.

As far as the trout there are three things you can do if possible:

2.) Increase the coldwater inflow

3.) Increase the splashing or air contact of you coldwate inflow ie. raise the height of the pipe if you have one etc.

3.) Add some type of surface aeration to increase 02 levels without mixing the water column and increasing temps.

My trout seem to be doing O.K. I've had an odd mortality here and there about once every month or two, but overall they are healthy and growing. One of my taxidermy students took a brook trout out of the pond on his first cast that was 18 7/8 inches on a board and 3 lbs. 4 oz. I believe there are bigger ones.

Cecil --
Some excellent suggestions for my trout. I think I can rig up a small aeration system near the inflow without raising temps. We may get a good storm blowing through here late this afternoon -- that could help.

Houston,

What feed are you using? Is it a commercial feed?

Bass
I just use Purina floating catfish food. They all seem to like it and they are growing well. I think I give about $11 for 50lb.

HT