Pond Boss Forums FISH & FISHING Sunfish-Including Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass Dang fish are like pets!

I went legal stocking fishery fish years ago when the new pond was completed. Since then I've added other species of fish from local waters. Many spawns later, I see many small bass and sunfish and have caught and released bass, sunfish and crappie. Perch are a bass favorite and few stay around long enough to grow to an old age.

I like throwing bits of bread daily to 20 or more sunnies that swim to me from different parts of the pond once they see me standing on the dock. A few 2 lb bass will swim near to see what all the commotion is about as sunfish go berserk on the surface for bits of starch.

When I walk along the shoreline, a school of sunfish follows me waiting for bread. I also see large schools of sunfish near the surface almost as if they are sunning themselves.

The lures I use would most definitely catch fish but do I want to? As is, after fishing on another lake, I bring home a cooler of yellow perch that bass are just waiting to annihilate once they hit the water. These fish are like pets that I don't want to hurt, though occasionally I will cast a new lure shapes to see what bites. The barb is depressed so fish come off the hook easier.

Never thought of fish as pets, but in my eyes, fish are beautiful in coloration and very quick swimmers when it comes to attacking bits bread (or lures) and swimming away at the same moment. I even recognize some of the old timers due to scars from having been attacked.