Gator,
Yes same acreage with fish...but the difference, at least as it appears to me, is that in the 12 acre pond I can condition just about every fish with repeated sessions whereas the other case, the fish don't even see a lure or fisherman a high % of the time. I believe bass do not have to be caught to be conditioned. Fish a school of them, after a time the ones that haven't been caught get conditioned. Now that's probably going to raise some eyebrows in disagreement.
Salt water flats are a good example of this behavior. Every lodge that is worth anything or wants to stay in business knows that they have to "rest" flats and rotate fishermen onto flats that have not seen a fisherman in a few days. Have all those fish been caught? Hardly, they become conditioned to seeing the results of a fisherman on the flats.
Have all fish that flee a heron been attacked by a heron before? Or have they observed their buddies disappear on the end of a heron's beak?
One day last winter after arriving to the ponds after a week away, I walked out on one pier and was astounded to see hundreds of fish hiding under the pier. The pond had been attacked by water turkeys and the fish that hadn't been eaten figured out that they better find a place to hide. Had those fish been directly attacked by water turkeys? Probably not, or they would not have survived.
I certainly don't claim to know the answers, but just go on what I have observed and read. I thank you for the questions and for the discussion.
Regarding Bob's 90/10 ratio, no we didn't discuss why that is the case...at least I don't recall any discussion of that. Maybe someone else who was there will chime in on your question.
Again, thanks for the discussion...and if I sound like I think I know the answers, then my bad. I don't. I;m just trying to sort out the questions, let alone know the answers to this activity we call pond management.
