Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Stop Feeding- Will Bass Return to Foraging ?

ewest also has good advice. After assessing the small young of year BG density, maybe do a blended program of cut back on amount of daily pellets added. Adding a lower number of pellets keeps making the focused, distracted, surface, feeding BG easier for the bass to attack and eat the smaller fish. Then watch or sample to see if this technique is working. Then in Spring,,,,, if you still think there are still too many small BG, then decide how to proceed.

However --- temporarily stopping pellet adding or reducing it, the LMB will grow slower but they will quickly figure out that BG are good food, if the LMB do not already know that behavior. Reducing pellet feeding will make the LMB hungrier and I think they will then eat more BG to satisfy their big hunger need.

Another option would be to add a few more largemouth in Spring based on what you think is the needed number. Remember each well fed LMB can easily eat 300-350 BG per year. That is a lot of fish to be eliminated for each bass present. Many pond owners here on the PB Forum have the problem of too many bass and not enough forage fish to feed them for the LMB to grow the best they can grow. Sometimes it is better to have too many small edible fish rather than too few small fishes to keep the predators growing well. Thus this type of pond owner is often or regularly adding more forage fish. Be careful to not create this problem for yourself. Note --- IMO and experience the new upcoming crops of young bass will not eat pellets because most bass are very predatory by instinct and bass at small 1"-2" sizes need to be diligently trained to eat pellets.