Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Anyone stock Trout as a forage species?

So it seems that some of the biggest bass feed on trout. Anybody tried stocking there pond with some smallish trout to grow some big bass?

I'm pretty sure Bob Lusk has done that in at least one of his personal ponds. IIRC, Dr. Cornwell and his dedicated helpers delivered some trout all the way down in Texas that they had worked long and hard to raise. But it was all for naught. Bob just wanted someone to high five, so the story goes, when the bass started blowing up on those poor, unassuming trout.

But seriously, I know many of us have read about it working well in some of the CA lakes with the jumbo-sized LMB. I don't know how many people have tried it in smaller ponds.

Mike,

It just doesn't seem like a very good idea to me either, unless you've got nearly unlimited funds to feed the bass with trout.

The LMB weight conversion ratio of feed forage vs. prepared feed is very significant. From what little I know, this weight ratio is probably about 5:1. The cost difference is far beyond that, depending on the protein content of the feed.

Unless you had a really big pond or lake that naturally fed the trout, I don't think you could make a case for feeding small trout to large bass. You would need lots of much larger trout, that would have to reproduce like crazy, and grow substantially over short periods of time, to make a difference. I would also think that in most parts of lower-48, most water bodies that were efficient for trout, would be very inefficient for bass. It would take very special temperature and fertility, that are probably only found in a few small regions of North America.

I feel like I've given a very negative answer. I could be very wrong. Please keep us posted. Please keep asking questions.

Good fishn'
Ken

Why not feed the large bass pellets to feed trained bass that Purina Mills makes? They are supposed to be very close in composition to rainbow trout. It sure would be cheaper.

Yeah that makes sense. I don't have any feed trained bass right now but i hope to in the future. My fish guy doesn't feed his bass.

I put trout in just as a diversity thing, but when I stock them, they are in the 12-15" range, so they most likely can't get eaten.

I only put in 15 or so in a 6-7 acre pond.

Have you ever caught any of those trout since you stocked them Sunil?

Just curious.

Oh yeah! They're around. I can't really say if they make it through the summer or not though. My pond tends to stay a little bit cooler due to the main water source being a stream.

We have a handful of clients that we stock every year with 8 inch trout. Actually cheaper than stocking FH's. About $6/lb vs. $8 ofr FH. They will grow quite rapidly and they help fatten bass over the winter. Yes it is someting to be done when you have extra funds in the pond budget.

I did some calculations based on local prices. I'm sure it all depends on how much you order though.

It appears that trout simply aren't very economical (at least in my area) to purchase at sizes less than 8".

Rainbow Trout
Length Price/LB
3 $38.22
4 $33.03
5 $36.23
6 $20.50
7 $15.18
8 $9.90
9 $8.53
10 $6.05
11 $5.28
12 $3.96

Channel Cats
Length Price/LB
3 $55.00
4 $27.50
5 $17.11
6 $14.45
7 $9.18
8 $8.01
9 $4.90
10 $5.12
11 $4.13
12 $3.14
13 $3.50
14 $3.50
15 $3.50
16 $3.50
17 $3.50
18 $3.50

The following species prices are based on number of pounds ordered:
Fatheads
Qty./ Price/LB
1 $12.00
2 $12.00
3 $12.00
4 $9.95
5 $9.95
6 $9.95
7 $9.95
8 $9.95
9 $9.95
10 $8.95
11 $8.95
12 $8.95
13 $8.95
14 $8.95
15 $8.95
16 $8.95
17 $8.95
18 $8.95
19 $8.95
20 $7.95
21 $7.95
22 $7.95
23 $7.95
24 $7.95

Golden Shiners
Qty./ Price/LB
1 $12.00
2 $12.00
3 $12.00
4 $11.50
5 $11.50
6 $11.50
7 $11.50
8 $11.50
9 $11.50
10 $10.95
11 $10.95
12 $10.95
13 $10.95
14 $10.95
15 $10.95
16 $10.95
17 $10.95
18 $10.95
19 $10.95
20 $9.95
21 $9.95
22 $9.95
23 $9.95
24 $9.95

Rosey Reds
Qty. Price/LB
1 $14.00
2 $14.00
3 $14.00
4 $11.50
5 $11.50
6 $11.50
7 $11.50
8 $11.50
9 $11.50
10 $10.95
11 $10.95
12 $10.95
13 $10.95
14 $10.95
15 $10.95
16 $10.95
17 $10.95
18 $10.95
19 $10.95
20 $9.95
21 $9.95
22 $9.95
23 $9.95
24 $9.95

nice breakdown. Interesting to me how much cheaper it is for fatheads and shiners in the midwest. I sell adult trout at $3.50/lb and folks tell me I charge too much while pond stockers in AL charge $6/lb or more. Western NC is main producer of rainbow trout in this part of the world so the closer you are the less folks expect to pay. Nate pm'ed me and wanted to know how much I paid for fatheads for the same reason. I would love to get them at the prices he can on wholesale level. I bet he wishes he could get trout at my prices. Thanks for helping to show the regional differences.

examples of bass that eat trout out here:

lmb



smb

Trout near me are only 3 dollars a pond. I pay 12 for golden shiners

per lb retail in my area:

golden shiners $7
fatheads $5
trout $5.50
catfish $3.50
largemouth $8.50
smallmouth $16
walleye $15
perch $8

trout are awesome as forage but $$$. Probably better to use them as a supplement to other large shiners/shad if they will survive the heat in your area. I caught 4 bass over 10# on a 12"/1lb trout lure, smallest was 5#. Many Bass to 9# on 9" trout lure, smallest was about 3#. A few fish i lost i almost dove in after, doh.

I have tried trout as cut bait for catfish and for some reason they did not like them. ???

robbor, how big is that hawg?

Crikey Robbor, If I ever caught a bass that big I'd air mail the moster to Cecil for a taxidermy trophy. Or hollow the bass out and turn him into a mail box. (where did I come up with Crikey?, you know sometimes I scare myself).

As has been discussed in some other threads, you might be able to get some of your bass to eat pellets. A number of mine have learned. They started with the Aquamax 600 so this year I picked up the bass food Cecil mentioned. They took to it no problem.

Chuck