I have a couple issues. My pond is at my rec land so i'm not there often. I have it feed 4 times a day during summer, young pond, 1 acre. The bigger gills are not taking to the feed really but the up and comers are and they're fat. My feeder worked fine yesterday but this morning it would not feed, TX mid size. I'm hoping its because low battery, it said fair though. I cleaned off the panel and will check again this week.

Main reason for post, fish LMB and BG hang out around feeder. I hand fed around and nothing really hit at other spots. Should i move the feeder now and then or just leave it? Will fish from other side travel to take advantage?

Thanks

I would change the battery. It's a $20 expense that won't hurt a bit.

Ponds are like roulette wheels. The marble just keeps rolling until it slows down and falls into a slot. Fish are the same. They'll keep roaming until they hit a food source, your feeder, or brush piles or cover. Having cover and a feeder at the same spot should help. I've also found having a feeder close to deeper water will hold fish better. That gives the fish a place to retreat when the shallower water gets too hot, or too cold.

Agree with FireIsHot. Fish will travel a long way to get food.

I caught a CC on the opposite end of my 15 A lake, 20 minutes after the feeder went off, with fresh pellets in his stomach, I was a little surprised by that.

My point being, I think they will travel across an acre pond in a heartbeat.

Didnt know there was a BG that wouldnt take feed, I can travel to all quadrants of my lake and toss out feed out of a boat and have takers, even tho I seldom do.

Although on one side of the pond that I hand feed several times a week, they will come swimming toward me in a swarm to get food.

Heck, if I send you a magic flute, do you think you can play like the Pied Piper and lead the CC straight into the hot oil?

If I had that kind of gab qualities it would almost qualify me to be a politician, which I will never will be.

There are radio tag studies showing LMB moving over a mile in a few hours. Moving all around a 20-acre lake is no problem.

I had no idea they travelled that far that quickly.

It sounds like a Field of Dreams situation: "If you build it, (they) will come."



I assume that philosophy would hold true for structure that holds forage fish almost as well as it holds for installing a feeder.

From The Cutting Edge (Pond Boss Mag) -- Using Radiotelemetry to Compare the Initial Behavior and Mortality of Hatchery-Reared and Wild Juvenile Florida Bass, by Brandon C. Thompson, Wesley F. Porak, Erin H. Leone & Micheal S. Allen in Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 145:2, 374-385, DOI: 10.1080/00028487.2015.1131739 (2016).

The maximum distance traveled by a hatchery fish was 3.03 kilometers in a 24 hour period, which included swimming the distance of the lake into an adjoining lake. It was confirmed that this was a live hatchery bass (and not a tag being carried off by a predator) by capturing it with an electrofishing boat.

That is just an awesome study!

Eric, I am reminded of when I would run an additional 6 miles after track practice. Sometimes I would do it on the track which means I was never much more than 200 yards from any place or any time while on the track. But sometimes I hit the road and could be several miles separated at different times. The point is ... I was pretty much running at the same pace whether I was running the oval track or on the road. My speed and total movement were comparable. I think LMB make more distance than we give them credit for when they are not on the road. To move 1 mile in 5 hours requires constant movement of only 3.5 inches per second (17 feet per minute). When I fish, I see LMB moving in and out a lot but more infrequently see them resting. I think its possible that most LMB 12" to 18" could move more than a mile a day.

Is this a possible argument for MORE COVER in a LMB pond?

If the predators move more than we expect, then perhaps the forage fish also move more than we expect?

If a LMB can loaf in a good ambush spot, and the forage swims past that spot, then the bass gets a meal for very little energy expended. If the LMB has to roam the pond AND find unaware forage fish, then wouldn't the bass have to expend more energy roaming for food, plus more energy for an expected lower success rate for capturing forage during an "attack"?

Rod,

Honestly, I don't think the movement consumes excessive amounts of energy. I think it is hardwired in smaller fish where territorial behavior develops for larger fish which necessarily must conserve more energy due to being less streamlined. The energetics I am modeling is for smaller fish that move alot (small fish were the subjects of study in the source references). It is possible that larger fish might be more efficient than that by exhibiting territorial behavior. I think larger fish benefit more from ambush territory than smaller fish do (thinking > 20 inches when females become rotund). IME, smaller LMB tend to flush prey or pay particularly close attention to prey that are distracted by their own predatory behavior (like BG investigating my fly).

Large fish tend to seek cooler water also. Metabolism slows in cooler water and it pays to spend time there between meals because they will convert better there and because it will reduce daily energy demand.

In larger waters it is common to have 2 types of LMB in this respect. Some that are ambush predators (stay in an area) and tend to be solitary. And second roaming schools of LMB that hunt and follow prey in packs. You can find packs of LMB with most all members of one size. Example you may find a pack with mostly 2 lb LMB or one with 5 lb LMB. Usually hunting schooling forage like shads.

Very interesting, ewest!

I have had packs of 1.5# spotted bass follow the hooked bass right to the edge of the boat when fishing with a crank bait. I think the biggest pack I have observed was 6, plus one hooked. I have even seen the pack hit the crankbait when the first fish was caught on the tail treble hook.



I am still waiting for my pack of 5# LMB!