Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Do BG eat small snails?

As a 1 year old pond owner I keep seeing new thing every week, I love it! But last week I had hundreds of small (1/4") snails in my beach area? There are a few weeds nearby, and we must have stirred them up. I have about 150 RES in my 1 acre pond that I see occasionally at what appear to be a decent growth rate. Another thing I have noticed is the BG in that area appear to be bigger, and do not swim to the feeder on the other side of the pond when it goes off.

Could those puppies be feeding on the little snails? That may explain there bigger size.

Mike:

If they are feeding on the snails, I doubt that they can crush the shells because they lack pharyngeal teeth.

I'll bet your pond is full now.

My neighbor just came back from Leech Lake and said the fishing was a month behind normal. How was your trip up nort?

In my pond, I have fish on one side of the pond away from the feeder that aren't as fat as the ones that hang out by the feeder.

Bluegills do feed on snails but of course nothing like redears (sheelcrackers). I have also found quite a few in trout which don't do any crushing of snails. It may be more of an opportunistic thing or they are not their first choice if there is something easier to eat?

Additonally Bill Cody told me once there is one species of snail that is more preferred over the ramshorn snails due to being easier to digest and crush.

Did I get that right Bill?

Mike are these ramshorn snails?

Scott- The fishing was ok. We were a day behind a mayfly hatch. The water was covered with them. But, we ate our belly
full x 6 people, bye the time we were ready to leave, we dialed in on the best color for all species-green. The worst part for us was a dam broke and we had an extra portage due to a flooded area. Another small group had a middle age lady brake an arm after slipping on some rocks during a portage

Cecil- I do not think they are ramshorn, they have a "point" on the end. They were all consistently 1/4". I may catch a few BG and see what is in there bellies. The better growth has me perplexed?

Common pond snails have thin shells and even BG can feed on them. I have seen this in my aquariums.

Quick follow up: I fished the dock where I have seen the fatties, and caught the biggest-fatest BG I have in 20 years. Nothing like the the BIG hammerheads I see posted on here though! Ya I know, NO PICS! I am going back out with my scale and ruler to figure out my RW!

Thanks Pond Boss and friends!

Can you tell I am excited! Yippy!!!

Get used to it, it only gets better with patience, its kinda sad for mr if I catch a BG that aint pushin 2lbs it don't excite me anymore, where as I use to be doin cartwheels over hand sizers.. Keep up the good work and let's see some pics any HEalthy fat BG is nice too look at if you ask me

Hey new to the site thanks to my panfish fanatic father-in-law. We both love the format and all things bream.

Several questions going into a restocking of a 2 acre Mississippi pond that is five years removed from 1250 bronze nose and 750 F-10 LMB stocking. The pond is very deep (most 8-12 ft. with lots of 18 ft along dam side). We intend on implementing aggressive feeding program (protein and more protein) and putting more bronzenose (4000) and a good many shellcrackers (750-1000). I have read other blog strings on this site about the difficulty with redear stocking (forage problems, small stocking size, not cooperative with feeding programs, etc.) and have some questions on redear. We think redear are the most fun for entire family and certainly biggest we have dealt with to date, hence the abnormal OCD on all things shellcracker:

1. snails and other redear forage. Does anyone have ideas on preferred varieties of snails or other mollusks for redear in the South Eastern U.S.? FIL lives on historic redear fishery and the lake has lots of mussels and snails. Could we simply figure out a way to transplant forage or should we consider commercial stocking. If so, anyone out there doing mollusk stockings or is that just crazy thought. Seems easy way to make ideal habitat for redear but nothing is easy.

2. More snails and redear forage. Does anyone know what food those hypothetical preferred varieties enjoy consuming. I understand generally that snails like to eat submerged woody material along with aquatic plants. Aside from liming and regular fertilizer would I be planning on putting anything else in system to promote snail/mussel propogation?

3. FIL's historic redear fishery. Any negatives on pulling big redear from lake and transporting into pond along with the fingerlings? I get parasites but the genes are great for 2-3 lb. bruisers.

4. LMB- those F-10's are huge and lurking all over pond. Do we need to rid the lake of these bass as they appear to be mowing down 6-8 inch BG in present condition. Have ability to transplant LMB to nearby lakes so it makes sense to us.

5. structure- What is best bang for buck, whole trees pulled into deep end of lake, or handmade structures, deep water in particular.

6. sand/pea gravel- yea or nea? Fished over both entire life but not sure if redear would prefer deep or shallow placement.


Thanks in advance. Anybody have opinions on maximizing 2 acre pond for quality redear and BG output including adding structure, harvest makeup, etc. etc. its greatly appreciated.

Hooked.