Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations PELLET EATING BASS

Gave me a pleasant surprise for dinner. They tasted awesome. Nothing like wild caught. I knew I needed to cull some yearlings due to all the pellet gobbling and not seeing so many 3-4 inch sized bg. I fished near the feeder area. Caught 9 in a few minutes., 3 each on beetle spin black w/ yellow stripe and yellow with red spot. 1 ea. on lead head tipped with grasshopper, tiny bg, and tiny toad. Just too easy. 75 stocked last Aug. Now they have spawned, want to get down to about 25.
Will wait for the grandkids to do the rest. Just wanted a meal.
Tried for BG with grasshoper, but bass came into the nests and got it.

I am enjoying the taste of my pellet fed LMB this year, also.

Question on the pellet trained LMB. Do they remember from year to year in Northern, ice covered lakes to eat pellets like BG do?
Is there a source for larger pellet trained LMB in the upper Midwest? I have at least one 19" LMB in the pond that is in the 4# range and want to make sure any pellet trained LMB that I put in don't become forage for it.

I asked Jones about pellet trained LMB and they said they had them, but it took a while to get an answer. I stockec 4 of them @ right around 1# each, but haven't seen them nosing around the AquaMax 600. I'm picking up some AquaMax LMB pellets today with the other food and I'll see if that changes things.

we get the 1 lb northern bass from southern, IL. In many cases though they go off feed once they are introducded to forage. If it works out for you to meet us lets us knwo probably heading up there in a month or so.

I got 1000 fingerling F1 now and feed training them on krill then pellets, it has went well. It is fun to watch them. We have picked out the top 250 that are far superior to others and going to Foxworthy lake but not idea if they will remember later on to feed or not either.

My pellet trained LMB are all self-taught. IME the number of bass taking pellets has gone up each year since they started. I believe last year's pellet eaters return to taking pellets and juvenile bass learn from example.

Note that this behavior has all been contingent on having a pond crowded with hungry bass.

This year I am feeding Aquamax Largemouth as well as 500/600, and I am pretty sure only part of the bass large enough to easily swallow a Largemouth pellet have taken to eating them, instead of just the smaller feed. I believe it is becoming apparent that I have 3 classes of bass in the larger sizes: Footballs in training eating the big pellets (and perhaps 500/600 as well), middlin' bass with Wr on the order of 100 that only eat smaller 500/600 pellets, and some truly scrawny bass which don't seem to eat any pellets at all.

My LMB are also self-taught. They much prefer 500 and 600 over largemouth pellets. The only way I can get them to eat the largemouth pellets is to throw them out first. Once there is an 500 or 600 in the water the largemouth pellets will just sit there until they sink. Even though my HBS are bigger than my LMB they won't eat largemouth pellets at all. When they do take one in a short time they spit it out and it come floating to the top

I have said it before but jealous of these bass that take to pellets. We can't keep them on pellets.

I'm feeding the Aquamax Largemouth and Grower 400. I have 3 size classes taking the LM pellets. I cull all low weight bass no matter the length so I'm probably selecting for feed trained.

I think it's a classic Catch-22 situation, Greg.

You want great big bass, so you limit their numbers and supply beau coup forage. Your bass can eat tons of natural feed, and see no reason to eat those funky pellets.

I want loads of extra, hungry bass. They notice, while trying to eat all-to-scarce forage fish which are distracted by eating pellets, that those little round floating things show up in large numbers regularly and will fill their bellies up. They don't taste as natural as fish, but it beats being hungry. So they go on and stay on pellets.

"Si vis pacem, para bellum" - "If you wish for peace, prepare for war."

I'm in a similar situation as Theo, but only have yearling bass. Overstocked at 75 in 3/4 acre. Want larger BG. I complained about too many middling sized BG this spring. Now bass are eating everything in sight, including pellets. My feeder throws 3/16 and I throw 1/4 and 3/8 when at the pond. I have seen schools of bass hammering them. I have seen 1 bass eat 1 after the other rapidly. They are all in average condition. 12-14 inches stocked in Aug. I believe that high protein feed is the only way they will self train. I have been using 46 in the small stuff, and 42 or 46 in the larger. I am afraid to feed too heavily now, due to water getting low. Also afraid to fertilize more; same reason. This fall I'm gonna have to raise some more fatheads behind a blocking net.

My LMB actually started eating back when all I was feeding was Game Fish Chow - but many, many more have been eating the Aquamax products.

I got a pic of one of my AM Largemeouth pellet pigs this afternoon - can't wait to post it.

17 1/2", weighed 3 lbs 14 oz.

P.S. I caught it on a Stubby Steve's pellet!

Hmmmmmmm. Sounding like a crapshoot in getting them to regularly eat pellets if there is a plentiful live food source in the pond.

I have LMB from 19" to fry, I've seen and caught (this year) 4", 8", 12/13", 17" and the 19"er LMB. The biggest BG in the pond are 10"-11" (that I've caught) down to fry of this year, although the 2" - 6" BG aren't that common. I've put FHM and GSH in the pond, along with a total of 100 6"-9" CC over the past 3 years, some of those are now in the high 20" range (28" is the largest caught). I'm trying to get GSH established in the pond as well, I've been able to relocate almost 50 GSH that are between 7" and 9"+, although by the looks of that 19" LMB, some of them became dinner - it was stuffed with something!

In addition to getting the LMB to eat the larger pellets, I'm hoping some of the CC will do so as well, which will allow me to slip them one with a hook attached to it. Those CC are a bear to trick!

You're doing the right thing with the GSH. A bunch will get eaten but you're catching them from the wild, so they know what a bass is and won't make an easy meal for them. A few will survive to spawn and you'll have piles of baby GSH...

I read where JS Malone hatcheries was getting quite a few complaints that the pellet trained adults were actually losing weight when introduced into ponds. Presumably because they were too fat and lacked knowlrdge on how to catch live forage.

The cast net arrived a week ago, but I've been having too much fun catching them on 2# test to break it out yet! I'm headed out the door now to try and add some to the holding pen.

They do put up a heck of a fight one #2 test on an microlight don't they?

Theo yes on soem , but in many cases we are stocking the fed trained in ponds already bass heavy. I buy the northerns of course not for cleitns wanting big bass but wanting agressive bass. In many cases the bass are in ponds with less forage than you got. We will figure it out.

Yes rainman Malone is going to raise bass not on pellets on purpose. I do not really care because they seem to go off pellets and find forage just fine. If losing weight in a pond that might just be because they are northerns... require more forage to meet energy requirements not such much b/c they were trained on pellets. So really I do not get Malone's philosphy but good they try to meet client neeeds.