Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Please dont harm the bass!

Bill I have to disagree with you,I clipped these fish solely to learn the patterns and locations of the largest fish in order to focus on a larger class of fish.If I tagged my fish I'd have a better leg to stand on but anyways I'll try to better explain.Please bare with though as I'm better at doing then explaining

Those numbers are numbers and won't argue that but I feel the opinions stated to be way off base.

If I tagged 1000 or so bass with the average size of 10" I'd be very surprised to see more then 25% survival rate let alone re catching 27% in my bow past 2 years.I also would expect the survival to be the highest % amongst the larger bass from the survey.A 10"and under bass in a lake with quite a few 6+lbers is lunch.Between that and the birds the odds are stacked against them.In my bow a 20"+ fish is by no means a "dumb"fish IMO,they are the fittest and luckiest and have earned the right to prowl deeper waters without becoming a meal.

Now my lake is pretty much not managed,has been for years other then keeping people out etc.There are some farm workers who do sneak in to bucket fish when in town and a group of a few select but good anglers that have permission etc etc.

As far as the fish CB1 noted,there is IMO many reasons other then being hook shy as to why these fish didn't bite.First and foremost is they probably saw a predator in the form of a angler looking at them and not his hook.Another is they could already have been full.

As for the threads sprkplug linked,they where a great read,and pretty much support my reasoning on bass and feeding.

Lets think like men for a min here as it will help me explain how I feel about bass and feeding...........After dinner you stop by a friends and plop on the couch to bs for a bit and he just happens to have your favorite pizza on the table.Chances are you're full so you pass on it.......but hang around long enough and chances are the urge will strike you to grab a slice because it is there.A reaction strike from a bass is essentially the same thing,the difference is we know that greasy pizza is bad for us a bass doesnt.

big lmb bass are essentially the same,if they are full from a big meal they are spending their energy digesting that meal.Anything presented at this time just doesnt trigger the instinctive response to feed because they are full.Give them some time after a meal and they'll give you a reaction strike. IMO this is why there was a longer recovery time in between catching the bigger fish,along with reduced odds in catching them.


Smaller bass tend to be more aggressive because they have to compete for food and survival,this equals more energy spent and therefore more feeding etc.Although the instinct is still there to put the largest meal it can into its mouth with the least energy spent.


In short what you call a "dumb fish" I consider a hungry fish.They might be a little slower,weaker unluckier etc who knows.All I know is a hungry fish equals a hooked fish if throwing the optimal sized bait at the right time and place


Just to derail this thread a little further,I will say i have no experience with florida strain bass other then catching a few.But I feel their reputation for being hook shy is has more to do with feeding habits then anything.Think the tortoise and the hare,northerns being the hare.They have to have aggressive feeding traits in order to store a supply for the slow n cold times.Where as the florida strain has adopted to having optimal feeding for a longer period of time....hence why they tend to win at being the largest of the 2 IMO

Dave I just caught your post after mine.I feel that catchability so to speak is directly related to being hungry.A slower less accurate bass (basic survival of the fittest)is going to be hungry more often then the strongest and fastest.

Most of us with smaller ponds, maybe 2 acres or less, find that the fish become conditioned to angling pressure. Hunger evidently has, IMO, very little to do with it. We can surmise that a large bass has seen a lot of lures come by and should have fed.

Genetic? I don't know. Smart? I don't know.

Conditioned? I believe so. In a new body of water, whether pond or public lake, fishing for all sizes is pretty easy. Then, things change and fishing gets tougher. The fish still have to be hungry. I consider that a learned behavior. But it could also be that the genetically wired, easy to catch fish, have had their gene pool shrunken.

I've often seen bass feeding on BG in the shallows at my place and others. So I know they are hungry. But they don't always go for my lure. Whether genetic or learned behavior they still don't bite my offerings. This is repeated in a lot of ponds that I visit.

When I feed pellets, the BG and CC's come readily and feed with abandon. However, when I toss a small BG bug, it gets ignored. If I use a red and white float and live bait, it is ignored. When I toss more feed, they hammer it.

I caught a CC from my pond last weekend. It was 8 pounds, 7 ounces and one of the last 6 in my pond. The remaining 5, and most of the BG, stopped feeding on pellets that I threw. That is learned behavior from hungry fish.

Let's agree to disagree.

All brains are not the same within the same species which is very obvious in humans. That is a feature of natural or genetic variability within species. All is not known about fish brains and behavior. We still have much more to learn.

In fact we know very little about how a fish's brain works or its eyes or many other functions. A lot to learn.

For example the effects of natural selection. One study following yoy LMB found often that the fastest most aggressive LMB yoy were weeded out by predation. Took to much risk and were eaten by bigger BG , GSF , LMB etc. The slow weak ones starved to death and the ones that were born early and seemed to be adept at hiding had the highest survival to year 1.