Postscript for wanting to grow trophy bass in a pond. Do you really want to do this and live with the results??? Be aware a TRUE trophy bass ponds almost always have low to very low bass catch rates for several reasons. Low catch bass rates is because this is a unique special balance fishery.
1. Not very many big bass can be raised per acre so they keep actively growing to maintain weight or become bigger trophies. The bigger the resident bass become the fewer of them that can be grown per acre due to CARRYING CAPACITY standards. So there are not very many of them per acre the bigger size they become.
Read about and understand Carrying Capacity.
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92440#Post92440


2. As the pond ages to when trophies are present the oldest bass have been exposed to lots of fishing pressure. The most aggressive, lure vulnerable bass have been caught by anglers and removed or released. This leaves behind a higher percent a lure shy bass or lure caught bass. THE BIGGER THE BASS GET THE HARDER IT IS TO CATCH THEM. The biggest bass have been caught 1 -2 OR 3 three times and very often have learned MORE to avoid anglers lures especially often used same types of lures- hook smart bass. Every time an old bass has been caught, it learns more to avoid being caught which the "Jaw Jerking" was NOT pleasant nor fun for the bass. The more you catch the big older bass the harder they will be to catch the next time. Big bass are not dumb fish. Dumb small - medium bass fish were usually either eaten as food or removed from the system. This trend leaves behind "smarter" bass. THE SMALLER THE POND THE WORSE THIS PROBLEM BECOMES.
Read about lure shy and hook smart bass:
This is from or Common Pond Q&A archives
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=255372#Post255372

Largemouth Catchability - Hook Smart - Hook Shy
Fish behavior patterns do exist and IMO their behaviorj is fairly complex. They respond to external stimuli. But can they learn from past experience or from watching other bass/fish? Many think this is true.

Bass and other fish IMO and experience do have the ability to learn from their experiences and a percentage of every year class are what I will call dumb and smart. Some people will call this conditioning not learning. Some can be caught numerous times. Some can only be caught one time or a few times during their life span. Some people have claimed that a few bass from every spawn will never bite a hook. It was speculated in the study that these elusive bass "leared" or were conditioned by watching other fish get caught.

The "dumb" ones could be classed or called overly aggressive, fast growers and willing to bite most any lure put in front of them. Studies have shown that willingness of bass to bite lures is an inherited trait. Some may not be fast growers but they are still vulnerable to recapture and they are just slow to learn about lures and the negative experience of "jaw jerking" from anglers. Some bass/fish in heavily fish water are very hard to catch no matter what lure is used. When one repetedly uses the same lure in the same small pond it becomes hard and harder catch fish. Put on a new lure and something the fish have not seen the catch rate often increases. What does this say about those fish in the pond?

Hook Shy Topics:
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=89680&page=1

Overfishing And Hook Shy Bass with Angling Hints from Basslover
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=465502#Post465502

Over fishing vs over harvest
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=21209#Post21209

Too Much Fishing Pressure?
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=21676#Post21676

Improving LMB catachability
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=22189#Post22189

Catchability of F1 bass and other bass
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=58233&page=2

Northern Bass Inferior? Maybe not and Catchability of Both Strains.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=487836&#Post487836

LMB Catchability article in PBoss Mag - Willis & Cody
http://www.sdstate.edu/nrm/outreach/pond...ar-Apr-2006.pdf

Several scientific studies have examined this topic. Below are links for more reading about this topic.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=306520#Post306520

Hook Shy Fish in Fee Fishing Operations
https://srac.tamu.edu/index.cfm/event/getFactSheet/whichfactsheet/129/

Prey Selection - Learning vs Conditioning by LMB
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=279559&page=1

Are Bass Smart? PBoss article by Ralph Manns
http://www.pondboss.com/free_articles.asp?id=28&p=2

Feeding Pellets, Angling & Catchability
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=291973&page=1

Pellet Fed and Hook Shy
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=150311

Reducing hook shy bass - Options
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=395378#Post395378

Basslover tells how he catches hook shy bass:
PBoss Member - Basslover says: In very clear water I'm landing bass on night crawlers and shiners the overwhelming majority of the time. I have some success with artificial lures, including; worms, spinnerbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits, and poppers/plugs/jitterbugs. Hard to beat the real thing though.

I really look to see what is in the water and then use it, or find something that resembles it. I vary the speed and technique of my retrieval as well. I'm not the type that repeats the same cast to the same spot with same retrieval and technique. Slow, super slow, medium, fast. Steady, stop-n-go, jerk, pull. Etc. Aside from live bait topwater lures are my go to and that usually produces.

I haven't a problem yet with hook shy. My bass in my pond that is very clear water are hesitant at times. They can see the hook, sometimes they nudge the worm around and if they identify the hook no dice. If they see you it becomes much more difficult to induce a strike. So you become excellent at long casts, hiding, and patience. I also sometimes chum the water - I toss in worms or shiners and since they eat without consequence I then can entice a strike by tossing one in with a hook. I also chum the water at times for the bluegills. I find the feeding frenzy of the bluegills gets the bass active and they want in. So in the middle of this I will then target a bass and usually land one.
I'll throw in mealworms and small red wigglers to stir up the panfish. All that feeding gets my bass aggressive. Then I'll toss in a large nightcrawler on a hook and often land a bass. But I also throw in many non-hooked nightcrawlers (or shiners when fishing with them) so the bass eat without being hooked. And I also spend time in and around the pond without doing any fishing. END OF QUOTE.

3. There are some bass in EVERY population that will never bite lures as proven by several scientific studies. Plus some bass can learn to avoid lures by watching siblings get caught. In a trophy bass pond these are often your largest bass.

4. Scientific studies have shown that hook smart bass produce offspring that trend toward being a higher percentage of hook smart ability.

Most angers want to regularly catch fish which is why they are fishing. Smaller kids get bored with fishing quickly if not catching fish every few minutes. Fishing and rarely catching something is not the best fun. A general fishing pond with lots of medium small and medium bass, an occasional large 4-5 lb bass is a lot more fun and exciting for most ALL anglers. So creating a TRUE trophy bass pond and not being able to catch very many bass per hour or none that day and rarely if ever catching the biggest bass may not really be a good goal for most pond owners!