I put in (25) 4-8� HSB in my pond on April 27th, 2015. Haven�t caught one yet. I believe I saw a group cruising out near the middle last spring, but I�m not sure. Quite often I see lots of minnows (some tiny fish) jumping out of the water in bunches though, and usually followed by a big swirl or wake. I suspect these are the SMB feeding, but it could be my HSB. I�ve caught lots of the SMB, but not a single HSB. Some day I�ll get one. I see activity at the edges of the feed pattern when the feeder goes off that looks like something Big is feeding on the minnows pushing the feed around, but I�ve never seen any HSB come up to take floating feed. I just hope they are working over my GSH, and not my YP..
I would be VERY tempted to electro fish that pond to see if any HSB show up. Make your own with a 12V battery and a generator.
4/2015 until 7/2018 would be too much for me to wait.
Half acre 30 year old farm pond, Mebane NC. Aeration & feeder. LMB, CC, SC, BG, HBC, two no account welfare carp and nine seasonal Tilapia that all the other fish are terrified of.
