Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Largemouth Bass Digestion

I culled 49 bass from my 6 acre pond and cleaned all of them yesterday. Attached you can see some of the things that I found in their stomachs. I didnt find a lot of blue gills as expected, but found things like bugs, crawfish, a snake, and an old plastic worm. I have stocked CBG in the past and have always had a strong population. Does anyone know how long it takes for a bass to digest a baitfish?

It depends on the water temp as that controls LMB metabolic rate.

How big was the bass that ate that snake?

Interesting SDB, a variety of stuff including the dreaded plastic worm.

Oh and you might want to contact the Bronx Zoo, apparently they had a snake go missing.

the bass that ate the snake was about 1.5 lbs and the same length as the snake. Tilapia have already been ordered and will be stocked asap so my bass dont have to chase down reptiles. I am concerned about my bluegill population. I feel that I should have found more of them in the stomaches.

Bass are opportunistic predators, they will eat anything that will fit inside their mouths. While we stock bluegill and rely on them to be the backbone of our food chain that isn't the only thing bass eat. I have seen plenty of interesting creatures in belly of the bass in my career.

Any idea what your size class structure of bluegill are? Is it possible that your size class structure is out of balance?

Bluegill aren't necessarily the easiest fish for bass to eat. Snakes, for instance, have no spines to contend with.

I think I have more of the mature, around 1lb, bluegill than normal. I have caught 2 of them on soft plastic bass baits and noticed more of them tugging on my line away from the bank in open water, where smaller forage fish wouldn't feel so comfortable. Do you think its a good idea to take these super mature blue gills out?

Nope, they are your breeding stock.

Here's SDB's picture: