Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Chunky Pellet Bass

In the northeast in my area the water temps are around 58. The bluegill and some of the bass are gorging themselves with pellets. Depending on the day there can be 3 or 4 3-4lb bass blowing up on the Aquamax Largemouth along with dozens of bluegill eating smaller pieces that I give them. I have noticed the bass are hard to catch since they have been used to the pellets. Today while feeding I noticed some topwater disturbance and threw a crankbait that way and one of the pellet feins snatched it up. Few days ago caught a chunky gill on a worm. I'm going to try to get a better inventory of what is in there this spring. It's just under an acre in size.

Looks nice.

You should also try and get some 500 for those bluegill, and the LMB will also eat that too.

I was told by a knowing friend to soak the Largemouth pellets in water for about 5-6 minutes before feeding as it helped the LMB digest the feed.

Same guy told me that after getting the LMB to the 3-4 lb range on Largemouth, the LMB would need to start eating more bluegill to continue the growth rate.

Thanks for the info. There are gills in the pond ranging from 4'' up to I'd guess 10'' or more I need to measure more often. Very suprised how the smaller gills survive in there with nowhere to hide.

With feed-trained largemouth bass, their aggressiveness isn't dictated by the amount of food they eat. They've been bred to be aggressive...it's their nature. I've seen them hit a lure even when their stomachs are packed with food and other prey, such as crawfish. By the way, that sunfish in your post is a green sunfish, not a bluegill. Green sunfish are native to much of the nation, not to be confused with bluegills.

Thanks again for the info. Should the green sunfish be in there if my goal is growing bigger bass?

Green sunfish are relatively prolific and forage items. Try go get us some more pictures of your sunfish - large & medium sizes. Get good side view pictures.

I met up with my buddy who fly fishes at the pond today.Action was really slow compared to most times when he catches alot of gills/sunfish in a short period. He caught one small bluegill and I was randomly throwing pellets in and bass and gills/sunfish came to life and started eating. He tried throwing his fly near the floating pellets but the fish didn't want his lure. Eventually he put a pellet chunk on his fly hook and caught a decent size gill/sunfish? not sure which one.

I'd say bg, let's see what the experts say! Looks like a nice fish. Cmm

Northern BG alright. Pretty good one!

I'll go BG as well. Is your pond really muddy/turbid right now?

Yes, its always muddy but recently more than usual. Surface water temp today was 60-62. I dont think it will go up much in the next week with the temps they are calling for.

Thanks for the reply. That makes sense to me. IME a GSF and a BG that color come out of muddy water.

I'm going to try to catch more gills/sunfish in the next few days and get measurements on them also. The winds here have been whipping here lately with 40mph gusts.