Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Creating the food chain Time to Stock the Pond

Here are some of my thoughts and rationale why to stock expensive trout just to feed bass.
I think the rationale for using trout is to feed the bass larger than 6-8lbs to give them adequate food to push them toward and over the 10lb mark. It is supplemental forage. The trout due to overall nutrient content will produce slightly better weight gain compared to bass eating FHM & GSH. Also FHM and GSH will not put weight gain on the biggest bass. The biggest bass of 6-8lbs probably ignore the FHM and even smaller shiners and look for larger forage as a food staple.

Growing bass to the 10 lb mark usually requires a different type of forage for these big bass compared to growing bass of 4 to 6 lbs. In some waters, the big bass forage species are lacking, not abundant enough and adding the trout is one fairly low cost way to provide large size live food. Trout are readily available and cheap to produce compared to say bluegill, suckers, and perch at 6"-8" to feed those big bass. Remember small food items are barely if even sustenance food for big bass and small foods put very little if any weight on big bass.

Some don't want gizzard shad in their pond to feed big bass. A strong population of g.shad can roil the water when their primary food of plankton becomes in short supply. Turbid water from suspended silt/sediment/organics then reduces the overall plankton productivity of the pond and the whole fishery then can deteriorate.

Plus it takes deep pockets to feed trout to bass, but for some with lots of money and strong desire for big bass - No Problem! The money can be considered well spent if it allows you to have 10+lb bass! If you are not trying to grow bass bigger than 6-8 lbs then trout are maybe not 'all that' beneficial unless your pond is lacking forage.

When using trout for the benefit of the biggest bass it is probably a good idea to stock larger trout that are 8"-10" even 12" long. Larger trout would have a low vulnerability to the unintended smaller bass. No use having your small bass compete with the biggest bass for food items. When the water reaches 70F larger trout that escaped predation will struggle to survive and be easy prey items for any bass big enough to swallow the bigger trout (12"-13"). This predation vulnerability is similar to using tilapia although the main difference is trout are dying in summer and tilapia in late fall.