Joey, By all means the FHM will live for weeks in the cage that you describe. To maintain the good body condition of the FHM while in the cage, take some of the fish pellets that your pond fish won't eat, and crush them and feed this pelletized meal to the fatheads every day or two. FHM should readily eat it and will then do fine in the cage. Another and easier option is to add a few hard pellets to the cage. The pellets will eventually soften and the minnows will continually peck at the pellets until pellets are gone. Maybe try both methods.
I recommend that you use a light 4lb-6lb line leader attached to the minnow with minimal or no weight. Also "maybe" try fishing the minnow suspended below a slender bobber (tiny split shot needed here). Use a smallish, aberdeen thinwire hook No. 6 and a No. 8 if your water is real clear. A no. 4 hook is okay if your bass are dumb. Try hooking minnow below dorsal fin, through the lips or from behind, underneath just nicking the body above the anal fin. If you are keeping LMB then let the bass have the minnow for a couple seconds, to be sure of a good hookset. Another trick is to hold back extra minnows in the cage and a couple minutes before you fish, release a couple dozen minnows then start fishing fishing. You may be surprised what you catch.
You and many others should subscribe to Pond Boss magazine. Dr Willis and I had an article in the Mar-Apr 2006 issue about catchability of LMB and how to reduce some of the problems you are having - here is the listing from the 2006 Magazine contents: LARGEMOUTH BASS ANGLING AND CATCHABILITY. D.Willis & B.Cody look into how angler catches can monitor your LMB, and what affects angling has on their catchability. The article discussed the problems that you are having with your LMB.
