Whats your current fishery shaping up like? Obviously there are LMB - what are they using for forage? You have HBG stocked already but no BG? How are they doing?

So you are looking to improve the condition of your LMB and want to introduce forage. Your HBG aren't doing the job as they don't reproduce much so their YOY can't feed the LMB. I would suggest stocking the following to help feed your bass and diversify your fishery:

Redear Sunfish [RES] Spawn 1x annually and won't overpopulate but provide an opportunity to catch a monster in a few years. I love RES - absolutely no downside and their YOY will help feed your HBG and LMB.

Golden Shiners [GS] They will compete with your panfish but the HBG gape will allow them to tackle forage too large for the GS so I think their impact will be minimal. Also GS will feed heavily on pellets if you are going to supplement with feeders - which I also recommend. I would recommend initial stocking of 20+ lbs of adults - you will likely have to continue stocking these every few years as the LMB hammer them hard. They are cheap and easy to source, however.

Crayfish - I would stock as many as you can - just be careful you are not stocking an exotic species...lot's of horror stories regarding this. Not sure what native species you have in your geography but I'd go with that. You LMB will grow.

If you want to be certain your LMB are healthy you need to not only pump up the forage base, but also start culling the common sized skinny fish. It's hard to harvest LMB or other precious apex predators we consider our target when angling...but it will lead to reduced competition for that species and their size/health will respond in a positive way.

Hope these suggestions help - if not, keep asking!


Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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