Howard,
A most interesting, important, and thought provoking post. As you might expect, I have some opinions on the topic....a few of which I'll provide for your consideration.
One key factor in this somewhat complex topic is "are artificial feeders and fishing with pellet food part of the topic?" If it is, then without any hesitation, I would say that CNBG at a fish feeder just before it goes off using the pellets that the fish is accoustomed to eating, is by far the easiest way to catch any pond fish. It is automatic, can't miss fishing in my ponds. The next easiest in my experience would be HSB under the same conditions. I don't know, but suspect cats would exhibit the same behavior.
An interesting aspect of this complex topic is the behavior of LMB in the presence of artificial feeders as related to catchability and conditioning. In the presence of feeders, without any question, the pure strain Florida LMB is the most difficult of any pond fish to catch, again in my experience. They feed almost exclusively on live unsuspecting CNBG at the feeders and will ignore everything else. Thus, one can raise a trophy LMB and never know it...it will die of natural old age causes, be eaten by a turtle, and the pond owner will likely never even know it was there. I have anecdotal proof of this happening in my ponds.
In an artificial feeding free pond, the behavior of the fish is very different, very different indeed. LMB are far more aggressive, especially the F1 variety and northern variety without the presence of artificial feeding. HSB become just another easily conditioned difficult to catch fish. They become conditioed just like any other fish, maybe even more so. What about CNBG? Well, at large sizes, which are above 10 inches in my ponds, large CNBG not associated with feeders are difficult to catch and can be conditioned just like LMB and HSB.
A couple of words about HBG....I have GG's in one small pond. Without question, the GG's are easier to catch, more aggressive, less "conditionable" than any other pond fish I am familiar with. I have performed controlled catch rate studies comparing CNBG, GG's, and native BG in separate but closely located ponds over a 16 month period to back up my claim(data available on my web site). In my mind, there is no doubt as to the significantly higher catch rate for GG's vs other BG, absolutely no doubt.
I think it is important to have an understanding of fish behavior because it directly relates to meeting your pond objectives....if you want the easiest to catch fish, set up an artificial feeder, use pellets, and stock HSB along with your BG. Recognize, however, that by using pelllets for bait, you can also condition the fish to avoid or be cautious around feeders. If you are artificially feeding for fish growth, you might want to reconsider consistently using pellets at the fish feeder...conditioning happens.
I could ramble on for pages, but most wouldn't read it nor be interested in it...but the topic is important because it directly affects one's ability to meet their pond objectives.
If you've read this far, my thanks for your time and thanks to Howard for bringing up a topic worthy of serious discussion.
