As a youngster we had a purple martin house on a pole and at the base of the pole was a sparrow trap. The house sparrows always were invading the martin house and the trap helped thin their numbers. Typically I would trim the feathers from one wing of the sparrow and chuck it to the dogs. However the fish in the pond were hand fed lots of insects/worms so they were quick to sample anything I would throw them. I started throwing them the sparrows and much to the dogs disgust the sparrows almost never made it to shore. The larger bass would hammer them. I bet over a few summers in my youth some of the bass probably lived on a all sparrow diet. (Dwight if you are reading this you might want to try it to get a edge in your bet with Cecil.) The trap now sits in storage at Moms and since I don't have a pond at my house this practice is on hiatus. When I do have a pond again I will definitely be using sparrows as a forage boost to the adult bass.
