Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Where have my hsb gone????

Been nearly three months since I stocked my 50 6-8" hsb. Use to see them feeding and also chasing small spinners up to the bank. Never have caught one but did see them on a regular basis until about two weeks ago. Have not seen them feeding (i put them in on the side I still feed on) and have not caught one. They have become more elusive than the res (cannot believe how much they have grown in a years time) I have not seen any floaters so I assume they are still in there some where but we fish the pond nearly everynight and I would have thought we would have hooked into one by now. Any thoughts? Is this just normal for hsb. The only thing I can think of is that they are gorging themselves on the thousands of yoy sunfishes that are everywhere.

It is possibly they have large amounts forage and are not chasing artificial baits.

i put 8+ inch hsb in my pond over 3 years ago and saw them last year at the feeder for about 4 days and haven't caught one yet, but i have a 5 acre 33 feet deep pond. everybody i ask tells me a different reason why i haven't seen or caught any.

I would say they are as deep as they can be.

I would say your prob right cjb. Everything else in the pond has become increasinly difficult to catch on artificial bait. We are trapping minnows and yoy bg/hbg to use as bait. This is working on all the other fish except for the hsb. And I do imagine with the increase in water temps in the past few weeks they have move into deeper water.