Originally posted by george: Ml said: “HSB are primarily an open water fish.”
Do you believe this to be factual based on your experience, or because it is a “tried and true” assumption?
George,
You should know me better than that.
Nothing I ever post is influenced by any so called "tried and true". I only post from my own personal eyes and hands on observations....never what someone else may have written or said or called tried and true.
In my HSB pond, which also has Florida LMB, the HSB take the open areas and the LMB take the shallows and shorelines. Yes, on occasion, I have observed HSB in shallows but very rarely and only briefly. They are extremely nervous when in shallow water. Also, I've never caught a HSB in anything but the deeper open areas of the pond. That is what I based my comments on and why I think threadfin shad and/or gizzard shad would be a wise choice if no artificial feeding. I'm not saying the HSB won't do just fine with a Tilapia/ BG forage, cause I think they will. I just think they will grow better, in the presence of LMB, with an open water forage.
I don't know about a "pure" HSB pond, i.e. one that does not have any other predator other than HSB. I would venture a guess that they might indeed follow the food in that case, including into more shallow areas. I've observed that in the presence of some large Florida LMB, the HSB do not "follow the food" into shallow structured areas. They avoid those situations.
I recall a couple or more occasions where I've sat on my shallow water pier and thrown a steady small amount of pellet food out. The HSB will come in and check it out, but at the first sign of a big LMB, they don't come back.
That's my experience...tried and true notwithstanding.
