Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations bass fishing survey

I have a basic question. would you rather catch ten 3# northern feed trained bass or one six pound Florida strain bass. just thinking

James, IMO that has a big "it depends" written all over it.

Fishing my own pond, in a 3 hour bout of fishing I'd prefer the challenge of catching the 6# Florida bass. In a full weekend of fishing I'd prefer catching 10 3#'rs opposed to spending that much time for one catch, albeit a nice one.

Fishing a lake, spending hours catching the 10 3lb'rs gives me hope there's a lunker just waiting for my lure, yet still happy with my day if I don't catch it. Spending hours catching nothing until the one 6 lb'r hits would be frustrating,,,, for the impatient me. Or catching it right off the bat giving me hope there's more, only to spend the next several hours getting shut out.

Back to if it were my pond, I'm okay with the challenge of catching the lone 6lb'r knowing I've raised it and it's messing with me until I outsmart it and it takes the bait (likely out of pity ).

Agree on the "depends".

My personal preference

On one particular day...I'll take the 6 pounder

but if I can regularly catch lots of nice bass
I'll gladly take that over the very rare 6 pounder
plus I want guests that visit to catch multiple bass too

Excellent point, Zep!

I'll answer the question this way...
If I was fishing a lake full of 3 pound bass, I would probably harvest a couple and release the other 8. Sounds like the lake might actually benefit from some harvest to free up more chow to get some of those other 3 pound fish to grow bigger...and I get lunch!

If I caught a 6 pound bass here in N. Illinois, I would giggle like a girl, take a lot of pics and measurements, release the fish and then give Cecil a call to discuss the replica mount he is going to make for me!

[quote
If I caught a 6 pound bass here in N. Illinois, I would giggle like a girl, take a lot of pics and measurements, release the fish and then give Cecil a call to discuss the replica mount he is going to make for me! [/quote]

Things are relative to where you live. Six pounds here, people say "nice". Has to be 10 plus to get a "wow!" Probably has to be 12 plus near the gulf coast.

My goal in the management of our 3 BOWs is to catch a large number of 2-4 pound LMB consistently.

Given that, I'll take the ten 3 pounders any day of the week, all day long. BM61.

The reason I asked the question is that I am considering stocking feed trained bass that at the max potential grow to a very rare six pounds.They are easy to catch but only live five years. The other option is stock fewer Florida bass that are harder to catch but grow potentially larger and require much more forage. I'm leaning towards the feed trained bass that are smaller but easier to catch due to numbers and aggressiveness or they just aren't as smart? Im thinking about the days I enjoyed fishing the most and they are almost all days that we caught more fish even if they were smaller? Zep I have almost come to the point I enjoy having my guests catch fish more than me.

Yep James...I have arrived there too...especially the kids. Several friends have told me recently "man your lake is full of fish". That and the smiles, excitement of watching visitors catch fish make it all worth it. Most of them don't care what or if it's a lunker, just that they reel something in and get a picture.

I agree zep

I have had the pleasure of watching 3 kids, so far, try fishing for the first time and catch their first fish in my little puddle. It doesn't get any better than that! Problem was getting them to quit fishing and come to eat dinner!

James, I want both threes and sixes. lol

James H. I actually stocked 50- 4-5 inch FEED TRAINED FLORIDA bass exactly 8 months ago. Just yesterday my wife caught one over 12 inch and weighed near a pound!! What kind of bass only lives 5 years? On the other subject, I believe a 3 pound bass puts up a MUCH BETTER fight than a 7 pound plus fish. Bigger they are the less they fight. Though I have had one over 11 jump out of the water!!

Guess I would choose the 6Lb+ over a day or so period. I would say if it were my pond I would stock HSB so I would have fast growing easy to catch fish while searching out that larger LMB.

James I personally would go for catching numbers of fish over fewer large fish. But I am satisfied the reason for that is that I started fishing late in life and have not caught that many total fish. I suspect that for the guy that has caught his ten thousandth 2# LMB the thrill is largely gone.

I think this applies to about any sport. My wife and I scuba dive daily in warm Caribbean waters most of the winter (over 200 dives per year usually - 2016 was 212 dives total for me). I see this all the time with new divers or ones that only get to dive on vacation once a year for a week. They want to see turtles, big tarpon, sharks, big rays, big eels, etc. Show them a 3" frog fish or a squat shrimp on an anenome and they kind of shrug and wonder what it is. A sea horse usually impresses them but not nearly so as a big eagle ray. My wife and I where we dive so much are the opposite. While we still enjoy and like seeing all the common big stuff, it is the elusive frog fish, very difficult to find sea horse or minute elusive different anenome shrimp that causes us to suit up and jump in the water. We have seen thousands of what excite casual divers. It is the unusual that "floats our boat" so to speak.

So I can see it could very much be the same thing happening with anglers. Sure they still like to catch the ordinary, but the elusive is now what gives them that adrenalin rush they used to get as a kid cathcing anything and everything.

I also get great pleasure watching others get excited. Be it a kid catching their first fish from our pond or showing a new diver a frog fish that is camoflaged so well you have to point at it closely, repeatedly till I hear the underwater yell of exclamation that they amazingly finally see something that they swam right over the top of without even noticing.

snrub...have you ever done any cave diving? that is something that has always intrigued me, but I would never do.

Flame, some are saying that feed trained bass live shorter lives due to the potential 'unhealthy' aspects of eating super high protein food (different than eating other fish).

Thanks Sunil, makes sense... my doctor wants me to back off of high protein red meat too!!! Bummer Said it may shorten my life.

I'm cavern certified which is the same training. Caverns are caves where ambient light is still visable (even if it is only a pinpoint of light). Caves are where no natural light penetrates. I've dove a few caverns (that are technical caves if penetrated further) in the Yucatan.

It is kind of neat but there is hardly anything living so it's not particularly my cup of tea. I like to see critters when I dive. The water is ultra clear. It is so clear it appears to be air rather than water. One cavern I dove had a pinpoint of light penetrating from the forest above through a small hole. In this particular part of the cave there was an air pocket above the water. The water was so clear and still that as the beam of light went through the air and hit the water it caused the beam of light to change directions because of the water being denser than air. But you could not see where the air left off and the water started. So it made the beam of light appear to abruptly change directions under water in an otherwise dark environment. Very cool.

There are underground rivers in the Yucatan (which is what I was diving) that cave divers have penetrated up to two miles. Big springs in Florida that divers penetrate into the caves also.

I just did pudd stuff. Never got into the hard core.

You definitely have to keep your composure when there is nothing but rock above you and the only exit is the way you came in.

James, if my memory serves me, and not very well these days, I remember seeing some nice HSB pics from your pond, is that right? And what about the lmb? Do you already have Florida's lmb? If so, and they are harder to catch or in fewer numbers? What would be the problem of adding such fish as the Tiger bass, feed trained? And would they not breed with what you have already? I might look at that deal, if I wanted a better catch rate and higher numbers if feeding. And at spawning time, would the new lmb breading with the older Florida's improve overall bite? Just wondering!

Thanks everyone for all of your comments. I'm not sure I even have an answer for myself. I fished for thirty minutes Saturday with a new lure from christmas and caught a very healthy six inch bass. It was the only fish i caught but I felt very satisfied and went home. It was a very good day.

James,

You had several replies to your survey but, IMO, yours was the best and speaks to the heart of every true fisherman.

James,
As others have said, it all depends. I have caught many +7lbs and a few 8lbs fish from our big pond and it was very memorable. I have a very healthy pond supported by several friends and we are blessed with great water. So for me, a few big ones are more fun. I always have the CNBG to catch if I want numbers one day.

That is not to say 3lbs LMB aren't fun, it is just that a few really big ones are not soon forgotten.

I enjoy the journey.

Brian do you have a stocking program? Do you feed your fish? How many feeders? Do you remove small bass? Do you stock tilapia or hybrid striped bass? How big is your pond? Im just trying to get an idea of your strategies not trying to be too nosey. How do you keep your water quality high? Do you aerate or have a high flow rate through the pond?

I much prefer the 10 3# over the 1 6#. If I want more challenge, I'll fish light weight fly or ultra light rig.