Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Feed Trained LM Bass - question

I just picked up some Feed Trained bass today. I've got some in a blocking net and let the rest go in the pond. How long does it take for them to get over the stress of transport before they will start eating pellets?

Thanks!

I'm assuming that you have multiple feeders since they are in different areas, and I can only base my answer on how HSB have reacted after being moved.

If you have a timed schedule, the ones inside the net may react within a day or two, they will be bored and hungry...in a small confinement, they will know their food is there and react.

The fish outside the net are a different story. Some will not return to feed at all, but the majority will come back to the taste they smell & remember...be patient for a week, they will find the food.

No more than 3 to 4 days.

On the subject of feed trained LMB. Has onyone had any trouble with some changing over to live forage? Apparently in my pond, some haven't made the switch in the past year. Their RW is lower than those that have switched over.

My LMB eat both. Sometimes when I feed the LMB crash pellets and BG with gusto! I have noticed that if I feed the LMB in the same spot each time they will school and feed. That allows me to feed the BG in the shallows with out being attacked. I try to get the LMB feeding first by feeding in the deep near structure then go to the other end of the pond and Feed BG,but if the BG splash alot and stir up the water the bass show up like sharks!

Just put in a 2 feed trained native LMB about 2 months ago. They weren't taking feed for about a week or two but I wasn't feeding consistently - but there was plenty of forage for them.

Once I started feeding consistently they went back to feed quick.. I think that was the trick - just same time each day. Now they're on feed, and they swim through little bluegill to get to it. One of the two follows me around the pond waiting for food. Even if I use 1/8" pellets they swim around and eat the feed between 2-3" bluegills. Frankly makes me think my bass are kinda wimpy when they're eating dinky pellets instead of the forage. I also have 2 female Florida's that are larger and not on feed, and they appear to be real LMB who like to snack on the BG's.

Welfare is a terrible thing! It makes animals dependent!

My experience with feed-trained bass is that it takes them a few days to get over the shock and stress of transport before they will come to feed.
And, like Bill Cody says, "It depends."
It depends on how many you stock into what size pond. It depends on the size of bass you stock. It also depends on the availability of living forage fish, too.
Just because these fish are conditioned to fish food doesn't automatically disqualify their instincts to eat living creatures.
I'll always remember Mark McDonald, founding editor of Pond Boss. Mark bought a 50 acre club lake near San Marcos, Texas as an investment and to create cash flow. The members began complaining about low catch rates. McDonald borrowed a fish hauling truck, drove about 7 hours north and bought 300 pounds of feed-trained bass to stock into that 50 acre lake. He wasn't really sure what would happen, if anything. He stocked those fish into that 50 acre lake and they never came to the feeders. Too few fish for such a large lake. But, an intriguing thing happened. Catch rates of existing fish soared. The best we could figure out is adding 6 pounds of bass per acre (about 4 fish) changed the behavior patterns of all fish.
At Richmond Mill Lake in North Carolina, we stocked 6,000 pounds into that 125 acre lake initially. It took another month for the feeders to be set up. But, those fish came right to the feed. But, they roared into the feed when we stocked another 4,000 pounds.
My experience has been that density of stocking plays a big role in how quickly feed-trained bass come to your offerings. More numbers of bass stocked increases competition for food.
Under "normal" circumstances, if you add a few feed-trained bass into an existing fish population and you feed Aquamax Largemouth because of the giant size of the pellets, your bass should start appearing within a week. If not, you may want to stock more of them. Stocked in the right density, they will eat within 3 or 4 days, as Ewest reports.
If the bass are small (less than 10"), they may be wary of feed because they are also instinctively wary of being eaten.

We usually bring our LMB inside for tank culture/feed training somewhere between 300-800/lb (whenever the ponds run out of food), then grow them to 180-225/lb.

A few years ago, we had extras, so we put 4,300 into a fresh 1/4 acre pond, and set up 4 belt feeders around the edge. They were piled up back under the feeders the next day.

BUT, within a few weeks, some were noticeably bigger, and the smaller ones were getting nervous! We grade them A LOT when tank culturing them, because as soon as one gets big enough, it'll start eating the others. In the pond, we let them be. When we drained it a few months later, we had 2,700 bass, in a wide range of sizes, some had REALLY put it on!

Update on the bass - The feeder has been going for 6 days and the bass have been coming up pretty well. They are small (6-8 inches)but I'm really encouraged that they are coming up hitting the food. The pond is over 4 acres so some of them dispersed and will likely never come back to the feed but at least 20 can be seen at any one time once that feeder goes off.

I'm feeding the small Aquamax 500 pellets for now but plan up upgrading the size as they grow. I have some AQ Largemouth but the bass can't seem to get it in their mouths yet.