Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Dumb questions for you "fishy bass guys and/or bassy fish guys"

P-bettle - You have lots of questions here. And probably there are no specific "cast in stone" answers to them - only generalizations.

Bass do not eat continuously, as bass tournament fishermen and avid anglers will testify. Most fish, but not all, will if possible, binge feed if ample food is present. Binge feeders tyically have stomachs (storage units) vs those with basically long coiled intestines. Binge feeders typically go off feeding for a day to several days. It has not been proven conclusively why they do this yet and lots of theories try to explain this behavior.

LMB tend to be territorial but some are roamers. Spawning has an impact on travel distances. A one acre pond is not far for a bass to travel. Several hundred acres is another story.

LMB are opportunisic feeders and will often "test" eating anything that "looks" alive based on their past experiences. When bass are binge feeding on common food items they can, but not always, ignore other types of vulnerable foods.

Introducing new forage items will ultimately enter the food web. It usually will not take long for this to happen. I think some fish can learn about things to eat from watching other fish eat. the current issue of Pond Boss magazine (March-April) has a very good article about fish learning vs conditioning.

Bass are very cannibalistic and the tendency begins at about 1" long. Smallest ones and slowest growers in every hatch are food for those faster growing and more aggressive individuals.