Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding What the heck, gonna give Aquamax Largemouth a try

... even though I concentrate on big BG, not big bass. After the BG dominated fishkill I had last Winter, LMB are just about the only thing taking feed in my main pond right now.

Fish Wife just called me from our local Purina mill. It seems they have a big display (and special offer, I think) on Aquamax Largemouth. It's $26.95 a bag right now, and since Mrs. Gallus has some coupons good for $8 a bag off she got from our Purina Rep, I had her order me a bag.

I have been planning on reducing my LMB population to more closely match their current forage supply as soon as they spawn this year. For a net of $19 a bag - $0.38 a pound, I can fatten up those LMB and eat them cheaper than I can buy fish at the supermarket, cheaper than I could fatten up BG last year when Aquamax 600 was running over $35 a bag locally.

Revulsion from big bass afficianados may now ensue ...

Welcome to the dark side.

We fattened up our LMB on the pellets and then grilled the culls...it was excellent table fare!

I think all that fat encasing the fillets must give them a more moist, mild flavor.

What's that you say !! How do you think they get big LMB - same as you just described - something has to eat them. Plus with that food they should taste just like RT.

Fish Wife brought the bag of Largemouth we ordered home from the local feed mill today.

My LMB ate about a cup of it, on top of maybe a half a cup of Aquamax 500/600 mix. Some bass refused to take any Largemouth pellets tonight, sticking with 500/600, and others (I think ) ate multiple pellets. The bass are not eating the greatest right now, as some of them are already staking out nests and aren't at all interested in food.

7 or 8 of the pellets were left for the big CC to finish. I had the scary realization that my catfish could hoover down at least 10 pounds of AQ Largemouth in one sitting.

Theo, is it just me or am I seeing a theme with a lot of people fed up with their CC and the sheer amount of expensive feed they suck down? Are you considering removing most if not all of your CC to focus more on the bass and sunfish?

I find that the CC out hustle the bass everytime on the big stuff.

I have been doing that for 4 years. The information gathering and decision process are detailed in my article in the Sept/Oct 2005 PBMag.

Ive been trying to get all of the CC out of my pond too. They just skim the top of the water with there mouths open and inhale it. I dont even need a line and hook. They will come right to the bank sometimes and eat pellets. Ive even bent down and slapped one on the face to scare him off so the bg could eat and all he did was go down and come back up. This was a 5 to 7 pound cat!

Good luck on getting big hook shy CC out of your pond.
We took out dozens with hook and line before they got smart.
It took a fish kill to remove remaining 10-14 pounders and there is at least one left that I observed recently.

I catch some of the biggest channel cats in lakes while drifting for walleye using a floating nightcrawler harness. Seems like it is something no one else uses and they hammer it. Even in cold water... Maybe an idea for guys trying to thin their big smart channel cats out.