Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Endurance LMB 22MM Pellet Size

Has anyone thrown the 22MM LMB pellets from Endurance? I have been able to slowly recruit some LMB to pellet feeding. I have noticed the past couple weeks that some smaller LMB are also feeding. We have plenty of large CNBG that should be able to consume this pellet size as well. Any feedback on large pellet size feeding is appreciated.

MH

I and another local pond owner are using the Endurance 22mm hand throw pellets. It is teaching us that if the food item will fit into the fishes mouth they will eat it. Large perch and medium SMB readily eat the 22 mm pellets.

Thanks Bill...A 40 pound bag will go a long way, we are targeting a very specific audience. We have large CNBG, GSF, RES, RBSF that may join in as well.

Your thoughts on utilizing these Sunfish species to help grow the forage base in a 54 acre lake for LMB?

In my long experience using fish pellets, I think for feeding the sunfishes and bass consider using the 3/8" (9mm) bass pellet from Endurance. It is a usable size for small and medium LMB and the larger sunfishes can also easily eat that size of pellet. Maybe feed various sizes of pellets targeting various sizes of fish.

IMO when a body of water is needing more sunfishes as forage this indicates to me more habitat is needed and more LMB need to be harvested per acre. A significant increase in habitat and types of habitat will do a lot to protect existing forage populations. Likely too much predation is occurring for the pond or lake's the food chain. Consider using a bass slot limit to protect the desired size class of bass.

What is the water clarity as a result of the amount of plankton present; phyto and zoo? Consider adding threadfin shad to the forage as a supplement and utilizing an under utilized component of the food chain - excess plankton. . HOWEVER just adding more forage usually just results in soon growing more pounds / numbers of bass that eat well and then become again too crowded and do not get enough food and then again more forage is needed. It is an increasing catch 22. Proper management of the existing fishery numbers / biomass is important for properly managing 52 water acres.

Does the 52 ac lake get a periodic electroshocking survey by a good knowledgeable fish squeezer? .

The last electrofishing survey & report was in 2017 by Walt Foreman. A full survey was completed in 2000 by Jim Caldwell before damming up Trussell Creek and creating Lake Louisa. We have University of the South scheduled for the fall through their natural sciences program.

Habitat improvement is slowly occurring. Watershield, American Pondweed, Cattails, various bottom surface grasses have all improved in the past 5 years.

Acidic soil in an 800-acre, forested watershed creates low PH, low to zero alkalinity, extremely clear water. Secchi disc reading yesterday was 56", surface water temp was 79 degrees.

125 home HOA. Lake is used for fishing, swimming, paddling, quiet enjoyment, etc... Our limiting factor is budget commitment to improve it as a fishery.

Thanks, MH

I feed 22MM, or fed right now, to HSB and LMB. I have larger BG grabbing the large pellets and other BG peck on that pellet until it's gone. I've never seen them swallow a 22mm pellet.

To the best of my knowledge none of the LMB in my pond are eating pellets, as fry none have been trained to eat pellets. I do hand throw the 3/16" pellets quite regularly. I have seen posts with threads that some LMB have later in life begun eating pellets.

A small BG nibbling on a pellet would be an easy target for a LMB.

What is the probability that if hand thrown 22mm are available a few LMB would learn to eat those pellets?

Endurance 22MM arrived yesterday, I threw this morning at some steady feeding locations. A single LMB loved it, CNBG were unsure about this size...It's a big pellet, 1/2 a golf ball size, definitely made for a target audience. I need to make sure our Grass Carp don't show up, they would love this size.

I will update in a few weeks regarding any additional LMB feeding activity.

MH

hendog, soak the pellets in a container of water for 5 minutes or so before you throw it out to the fish. You will recruit far more LMB to the larger feed that way.

" I need to make sure our Grass Carp don't show up, they would love this size."

I imagine turtles wll like it also!

It you try soaking the large 22mm pellets, once the LMB get used to eating them you can quit soaking the pellets.

Hydrating the large 22MM pellet for 5 minutes in lake water has helped a lot. I have LMB feeding on the pellet in multiple locations, but overall, most LMB simply observe. Hoping that consistent feeding with this pellet in the feed rotation will create LMB FOMO.

Great news, and yes, the vast majority of the non-feeding LMB should gradually convert to taking the feed.

Another way to amp up the conversion is to only throw a single pellet at a time, thus creating an urgency to 'attack' the pellet.

Used the single pellet tease this morning which produced interesting viewing. Channell Cat showed up strong today, I guess perfect water temp has kicked in for their summer feeding. A couple more LMB also joined in. They all enjoyed the 22MM buffet.

We stocked 400 Grass Carp in 2011 and have only harvested about 50 since then. In our quality water they can live 20 years. 2 years ago we sold our 7 Sweeney feeders and converted to hand feeding. I have hardly seen a GC since. Not sure where they are at, but that's a thread for another day.

MH

When my neighborhood pond was in existence, I'd throw a single large pellet, and the LMB would collide both at the surface and sometimes in the air above the surface.

Of course, I also had some huge HSB in there, and they were visibly much faster than the LMB.

For those who hand feed consistently, I encourage you to buy a bag of Endurance 22MM and target some of your bigger fish. It's a fun size to throw and observe the action.

Happy Birthday America!

Hello everyone!

I'm glad you're liking the new 22mm pellets! I think the extra protein and fat over the old Optimal diets will yield even better results in lmb. The tricky part was getting them to float and not fall apart in the bags.

Thanks to everyone for the patience while I got back up and running.

Those pellets are ginormous, and you all might be a little crazy.

Fish Fish,
-Dustin

Bigger fish do like a bigger meal, don't they?

I have 1 LMB that has self trained itself to eat Endurance Pro Blend alongside the GSF, YP, and single BCP. The bass is about 12" long or so. It's presence during feeding doesn't bother the sunfish in any way; small and large BG and GSF eat right alongside that particular bass. Of course when a large bass shows up the sunfish go on red alert.

As an experiment last evening, I added several 1/2" diameter cat treats to the feeding session. The feed trained bass did not hesitate to scarf many of them down, then go back to eating Endurance. Some of the toad sized GSF also tried out the kitty treats. It's time for me to get some larger fish food pellets, so it seems.

Of course, the prissy picky BG, who will not even try a moistened Endurance pellet even if it's the first thing I throw to them, shunned the scary cat treats. They continue to only gulp dried, broken up meal worms. Right now the only BG that I know will eat fish food pellets lives in my aquarium

4Corners - For your picky BG to learn to eat moistened Endurance, have you tried squeezing the moist pellets so they sink? Or try this. With properly moistened high 40%+ protein fish food try rolling the pellets into long worm shaped pieces, maybe the diameter of a pencil and 1"-1.5" - 2" long. This should help encourage picky fish to eat moist pellets. If the fish accept the worm shapes gradually reshape them into rounder pieces. When the fish are eating these rounder pieces it is an easy conversion to drier and drier pellets that float.

FYI - my 11"-12" yellow perch will eat 22mm dry pellets.

Quick update: Endurance 22MM " milk duds ", hydrated version, have worked great. LMB feed participants continue to increase. LMB fry & fingerling are eating smaller pellets in the same feed spots.

I purchased a bag of the Endurance 8MM, it arrived this week, had a born on date of late June, how's that for fresh?

MH

I assume happy fish = happy hendog?

Good job on the successful experimentation!

Dang, a 22mm pellet is just under an inch, right?

Thats damn near the size of range cubes for cattle, I would think that would leave a lot of the little fish searching for something they could eat.

My theory is to feed the bait fish and let the LMB eat them, everybody is happy.

jake, if you hydrate the 1" diameter pellets, the smaller fish can pick at them and get their meals.

If you feed to satiation, there'll be plenty of pellets left for the little fish to eat.

gehajake said,

"My theory is to feed the bait fish and let the LMB eat them, everybody is happy."

Except the Bait Fish!

Good point!

At least they were happy.