CJ provides a good alternate plan. GSH have their pros and cons. GSH bait stealing is one of the main negative features of GSH as I see it. One way to combat this problem is to use minnows as the primary live bait for YP. Live and dead minnows work as very good bait for YP in my perch pond.

Another option to not have the bait stealing problem is avoid GSH. Not using GSH requires 'trade offs' if you desire some large sized smallies (14"-20") and a good population of adult YP (8"-14"). Trade offs are: going through the hastle of getting satinfin, spotfin &/or redfin shiners, plus maybe bluntnose minnnows. The other trade off is establishing pellet feeding SMB and YP which is not a simple endeavor. The shiners and bluntnose occur in VA. These fish are not readily available commerically and it really takes a concerted effort to obtain them from the very few isolated private growers or going through the effort to collect them yourself as native fish. This path is not easy and requires homework, time, and probably assistance or good advice.

Using these alternative forage species requires establishing some submerged vegetation for them to perpetuate or thrive in the presence of SMB and YP because these shiners as 4-5" adults without underwater vegetative habitat can still be eaten by 12"-14" SMB. Artificial structure is rarely expansive enough. I advise establishing the vegetation asap after the pond has water in it. Especially for a SMB fishery, you want substancial cover to be established when the predators are added.

Maintaining a pellet feeding predator community and proper thinning of the predators helps a lot to reduce the predatory pressure on the forage fish communnity.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/28/12 10:17 AM.
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