Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Saw a LMB take a pellet!

Been feeding for about 3 years now.
TSC Catfish & multi species mixed together.

For the first time ever, I saw a 12" LMB take a pellet.
I have heard others tell of LMB being "feed trained" but wrote it off as something that is not done around here.

Not a big deal to many of you but I got excited! Hopefully that LMB continues to eat and puts on some weight.

FWIW, I stocked 2"-3" LMB about 3 years ago. It is probably from that batch.

How can you tell they are LMB? My fish eat so fast I can't tell what's what. Carp I could tell obviously, but not perch or bass.

A 12" LMB will make a considerably larger splash than a BG,for one. But I can watch my fish and easily distinguish BG from GSF and see LMB lurking as they feed. BH are real easy as they just vacuum pellet after pellet.

My perch, LMB and HSB are all about the same size. Which one would make the biggest splash?

Likely the LMB.

LMB raised in a pond and seeing fish feeding could easily start eating pellets. I have seen this and it is not unusual. As a % of all the LMB in the pond it would be a small % but not uncommon.

Agree with ewest as I have had a few feed trained in my pond

At 'dinner-bell' time, the first 30 seconds are nothing but the Big Mouth Bass slamming the surface and gobbling up the hydrated Optimal. They come out of the water and you can see the whole side and lateral line.

Perch are rocket fast and almost impossible to see. BG/HBG/RES are much slower and easy to see hit the food. Of course the darn Channel Cats open wide - like Hoover sweepers - and inhale large quantities on the surface as well.

I originally stocked with pellet-fed fish and after 6 years the 'kids of the kids of the kids' have all along the way have fed very strong on pellets.

I was amazed a couple weeks back when I saw a big Florida bass take a aquamax lmb pellet from the surface. He swam under it, studied it for a few seconds and then sucked it under with no splash at all. And I did not think the florida strain lmb that had never been feed trained would take a pellet.

That must be why I saw a few schools of minnows still thriving. The LMB must be eating the pellets.

My Buddy has actually seen pellets being pushed around by several minnows trying to get nutrients from them.

Tadpoles like them too

I get that reaction from both GAMs and Mud Minnows when I feed. They will gang up on a pellet and push it, spin it around and peck like there's no tomorrow.

On another note, I was on my dock a bit ago when one of my three LMB ran itself and a panfish of some kind completely out on the bank. Thought I was going to have to go rescue them both but they finally flipped their way back into the water. Cool stuff!!

Everything eats pellets in my pond, a 3� White Amur can put down a ton of aqua max.

Saw that same 12" LMB taking pellets again yesterday. Its apparently only one fish.
It's odd to me that individual fish behave so differently.
My largest LMB (4+lbs) is super aggressive to culled BG, while this 12" LMB eats pellets like a panfish.

I had heard that typically 4-5% on Northern LMB will feed train on their own. I stocked my pond with 300 LMB and I would guess that there are between 12-18 who will eat Aquamax LMB food. I also have a 2 or 3 that will eat Aquamax MVP but don't seem to like the larger sized LMB pellets.

Curious when people say GAMS what fish is that.

Gambusia, a minnow

AKA Fatheads