Sunil,
Very good questions. The "lockjaw" pond
has a substantial number of growing HSB which I feed to encourage growth. In that "lockjaw" pond I am moving away from LMB and toward HSB and supersized CNBG. It was stocked originally with pure strain Florida bass. Yes, the Florida strain "conditioned" bass will readily take small live BG offered as bait. In fact, if I so desired, I believe I could catch just about every one of them by fishing with BG at or near the feeders. It is very easy to catch them on the bait that they readily take at the feeders all the time.
I know you like to fish with live bait, and I have no problem at all with that, except it isn't my preferred method of fishing. I can not say if the LMB in "Lockjaw" would ever become conditioned to using live bait, but I kind of doubt it as long as feeders are present. We just do not use live bait enough to know.
The experimental pond has every indication of being a complete success. No fishing yet, but I have observed F1 LMB behavior unlike any seen in "lockjaw" pond. Any given visit to this pond provides a dramatic show of ongoing violence. The LMB chase small Tilapia to the bank, to the dirt, and on occasion baby BG, Tilapia, and fatheads actually flee the water to try to escape predation. I have not dropped a fly in there yet, but have no doubt what will happen when I do...violence will be repeated. From a distance, the F1's are showing remarkable growth.
The temptation to fish this pond grows with each visit. The experiment is in great jeopardy.
