Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Adios Amigos

To my Easter Weekend SMB. I plan on dropping the net Saturday morning and letting the SMB swim off and have free range of the pond. The water temps have really jumped in the last week so it's finally time to formally end their BG trainning program. The good news is that 75% of them are now 8" or larger, I still have a few in the 6-7" range but not many.

feed trained smallie


My feed trained smallie. Probably a cousin to yours.

Sorry, momentarily forgot how to post pix.

Hello, Brothers in Smallmouth.

Shorty, please let me know the local time that you will be releasing the smallies. I will then convert to EST and make sure that I am having a drink and saluting in celebration.

NEDOC, nice smallie!

I took yesterday off and went fishing at my pond. Water temps were about 57 degrees. It was slow fishing, but I managed to catch a 2lb 4oz smallie, and my buddy got a 3lb 5oz smallie.

The smallies asked me to say "hello" to all of your smallies.

Could be Nedoc! I am absolutely amazed how much the SMB have grown in the 5-1/2 weeks I have had them penned up. When I got them all but 3 were dollar bill length, there was one 9"er and two 8"ers, the rest were right at 6". I have two or three of the 50 that didn't grow much at all but the rest really took off. BTW - I have been throwing pellets in their pen daily but have yet to actually see a SMB eat a single pellet. I have seen them eat lots of FH's, small BG, nightcrawlers, and have even treated them to an occasional dozen small crawdads. I have been adding 8-10 dozen small BG in their pen every other day but I think it was the 25 dozen free nightcrawlers I feed them one week that really kicked in their growth spurt.

Sunil - the water temps in the SMB pen were 82 degrees Tuesday evening before I turned on the sweeper nozzle. I have a sweeper nozzle running full time now on one side of the pen to keep the DO levels up and the water temps down. The funny thing is that the SMB prefer to hang out on the warmer side of the pen and out of the very light current the nozzle is creating.

RE: feeding them pellets. Mine won't touch a pellet until after 8pm and won't touch one after 7am. They feed like crazy during low light periods. Occasionally, on a cloudy day they may feed at 7pm. Since ours are from the same grower, they should feed.

Also, what kind of feed are you feeding them?

Well, not the good stuff, , just a cheap bag I picked up at TSC. I was told that once they start on live food SMB rarely go back to pellets. The other thing is there was a question as to whether or not the SMB I got were actually pellet trained or not. Carlson said he would call an let me know if he found out if they were but I never heard back on it. I have been going on the assumption that they were not. At the very least the pellets in the pen should have attracted some aquatic insects through the netting.

I've noticed most of my pellet trained smallmouth rarely stay on pellets as well as the largemouths. However it could due to the fact that the largemouths are more agressive at feeding time.

SHORTY - you need the good stuff. I went 6-8 months without feeding my SMB and they seemed to take it back up pretty well. Maybe I have a poor supply of other food sources though.

Cecil - I don't have any feed-trained LMB, but my SMB actually out compete the wipers for pellets. The biggest feed trained ones seem to be about 15-16".

Nedoc - there are probably somewhere between 10,0000 and 20,000 BG that range in size between 3/4" and 1-3/4" in the pond right now, the BG are basically minnow size, somehow I don't think the SMB will have to look for food very far once they have been set free.

Sunil - 9:00 A.M. CDT is the set hour of freedom.

Oh, I would feed them for YOUR enjoyment.

I had a couple jump over 2 ft. out of the water the other night to feed. Unbelievable. And one hit my bobber when I was bluegill fishing.

From what I understand they absolutely won't feed on a soymeal based feed (most catfish feeds like TSC) but need a feed based on fish oil (most higher protein feeds).

I am sure others know much more about feed than I do but that is my 2$ worth of info.

Nedoc - I do plan on purchasing a feeder this summer and I will talk with Bruce about where to get some quality pellets locally. After being on here some time I believe supplemental feeding and selectively harvesting below average indivdual fish would be the best way to improve the fishery at our pond. The only other part of the equation is keeping the excessive weed growth down, as the weeds get denser, WR's and growth rates tend to drop on the LMB. BTW - the sechi disk reading I took last week was 108", , that needs to change, the water is just too clear as it feeds the excessive weed growth.

OK, Shorty, so that's 10AM EST.

In keeping with my mantra of "no brown liquor before 10:30AM" (unless steelhead fishing in sub-freezing temperatures, of course), I will toast and salute with a premium beer.

GO SMB GO !!!

Shorty when yours get bigger I would like to have a PB SMB (smartest fish in the world) quiz bowl ... Penn. vs Neb. The champion Bassmasters classic Penn champs (via Sunil)vs the pen tempered Neb. champs (via Shorty).

Uh-oh...I guess it's on then.

We were planning a nice picnic with a spit- roasted pig for the Memorial Day Holiday, however, the Smallies disagreed and insisted on a crawfish boil instead.

My Smallies aren't going to be too happy when I pull out the flash cards and start drilling 'em over the holiday weekend. Hopefully their competitive nature will overshadow their dismay at forced intellectual/academic activities on a holiday weekend.

LMAO!!

Shor-tay!

Well Man, how did it go?

Did you let freedom ring?

Freedom rang Saturday at noon due to scattered t-storms in the area during the morning. Here are some pictures of me dropping the net.







After dropping the net I waited 24 hours before pulling the stakes and the net out of the water. Suprisingly there was still one SMB in the pen area Sunday morning. Last night while fishing I did see two SMB hanging out with slightly smaller LMB in two different areas of the pond, one was 220 yards away from the pen, the other was 70-80 yards away. Both LMB were showing the SMB flash cards for the up and coming Penn state match up, the SMB did get a little private tutoring over the holiday weekend.

I am glad I let the SMB go Saturday, the Navigate we put down for the milfoil 3 weeks ago started turning the water to brown tea Saturday, by Sunday morning the milfoil was starting to sink all over the pond.

Just an update for you, I caught my first SMB out of the pond last Friday night while on a LMB culling mission, the little guy was 9", a new record for our pond. Then last night while fishing with my nephews I caught an 8-1/4" and an 8-3/8" SMB. In the last several weeks myself and others have culled 40 LMB in the 12-16" size range.

Are you thinking of doing this again maybe next year, Steve?

Next year I am thinking of adding some red ears to the pond for snail control, yellow perch might also be a fun option. I am also kicking around ideas on adding something to the forage base other than BG such as golden shiners or blueback herring. Right now I really haven't made up my mind yet on anything.

Great news SHORTY!! It is always good to get Smallmouth reports, especially from someone so close.

How many did you release and how many acres is your pond?

How did you catch them?

If you get down this way we will have to fish for some of my 13-17". I plan on hauling a few to the Conderosa sometime, to let him put them in solitary confinement with his perch/RES. We may have to have a small regional meeting.


PS - Sunil should be invited as well.

We released 50 SMB in our 9.9 acre pond. I caught them all on 5" "trick stick" (a senko knock off) while fishing for LMB. Trick Stick All were caught during low light level periods near or on the dam, last night it was very overcast.

Nedoc, I have caught over 150 LMB at the pond since the SMB were released.

This is a smallie I caught in late June '06. This guy is not the "leader of the pack" so to speak, and the only reason I post this is because I am shocked.




This smallie was talking so much smack on your Nebraska smallies that I almost didn't let him back in the water.

Decorum does not allow me to repeat some of the things he said, but rest assured that he did mention your smallies' mothers.

Yes, yes, I know....I too was saddened.

While I pondered about this vile-mouthed smallies' fate, I decided to ask him a few questions.

When I asked him to recite the US State Capitals in reverse alphabetical order......he did it.

When I asked him to summarize the gross export capabilities of Ghana......he did it.

But when he disproved Einstein's Theory of Relativity in a verbal theorem proof......

Well, I threw him back in. He's earned a spot on the showdown team.

I will however be enrolling him in a Sensitivity Training Seminar.