NEDOC I mix a cup or two of the #2 starter (edit:correction, it is Optimal #4 starter) in with my regular fish food (about 6-7# worth) and the small BG around the shallows love it. But I hand feed all my fish. Might not work as well mixed up in a fish feeder. Or you can just hand feed it around the pond edge.
I don't think you will have any trouble feeding it up.
Long, strong pulls; not at all like a LMB. According to fishing guides that I know, most likely it will die no matter what I do. But, I rarely eat fish, and figured to give it a chance.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
A 12 yr old little girl caught 6 of them off my pier 30 days ago. My DIL had to hand line the larger sized ones because the little girls rod and reel would not handle the fish. I found no floaters after that day of fishing. This little girl was my DIL niece. She still talks of going back fishing
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Just a little update on this project. I'm currently prepping them to be released from the cages into my grow out pond. But before doing that, I wanted to get them taking to some floating feed so that I could monitor them. So I've mixed some of the prior feed (Optimal Grower #2) which sinks rather quickly with feed that floats (Optimal grower #4). This video is taken about the 3rd feeding after them getting introduced to floating feed. It's not terribly exciting, but thought it may be of some use for someone who may attempt this in the future.
And some bonus footage of feeding the following morning. I fully expect the feeding to ramp up into a frenzy....
Hopefully mine will start feeding like that soon - I just started feeding again last night. I have only seen one of my HSB since they were stocked last fall
What size did you stock yours at and did you have any predators in the pond? I wonder if they have so many fry to eat from other species that they aren't concerned about pellets. I have a feeling when I release mine into my grow out pond I won't see them feed for a few days because the pond is loaded with zooplankton. I'm guessing they'll prefer consuming that rather than pellets.
I had 175 10-12" HSB put in late last October - I only had a couple of larger predators (2-3 LMB over 14") in the pond at that time. They have a TON to eat in my pond; tadpoles, frogs, crawfish, and stunted fish (bg, bcp, bh, etc.) are plentiful.
I've seen one HSB after ice out who was cruising near the surface over 14' of water.
Its funny, of all the fish I had stocked my LMB are the only ones feeding on surface pellets. I'm sure more will come around in the next week or so
HSB normally school in groups. Seeing one at a time is a concern. Are you catching any of the others? HSB can have fickle survival rates when transported and restocked.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 07/10/1810:54 AM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
Bill, I haven't caught any either...including fall fishing, ice fishing and fishing many times this spring/summer. I've heard its common to not catch them at high rates in ponds, is this true?
I ice fish the Mississippi backwaters quite a bit and catch a lot of HSB - I was hoping to have the same experience on the pond.
I put 300 what they call 4 to 6 inch HSB in my 60 acre lake, little over a month later and I have caught some on small jigs and had some in my minnow traps. They have grown a lot in the short time they are in the lake the ones I have caught are 7 inches already. Maybe I was just lucky to catch them, but they seem to be an awful aggressive fish IMO.
I put in (25) 4-8” HSB in my pond on April 27th, 2015. Haven’t caught one yet. I believe I saw a group cruising out near the middle last spring, but I’m not sure. Quite often I see lots of minnows (some tiny fish) jumping out of the water in bunches though, and usually followed by a big swirl or wake. I suspect these are the SMB feeding, but it could be my HSB. I’ve caught lots of the SMB, but not a single HSB. Some day I’ll get one. I see activity at the edges of the feed pattern when the feeder goes off that looks like something Big is feeding on the minnows pushing the feed around, but I’ve never seen any HSB come up to take floating feed. I just hope they are working over my GSH, and not my YP..
8 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep. RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (didn’t make it. 0 seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) I think we have survivors! I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
I put in (25) 4-8” HSB in my pond on April 27th, 2015. Haven’t caught one yet. I believe I saw a group cruising out near the middle last spring, but I’m not sure. Quite often I see lots of minnows (some tiny fish) jumping out of the water in bunches though, and usually followed by a big swirl or wake. I suspect these are the SMB feeding, but it could be my HSB. I’ve caught lots of the SMB, but not a single HSB. Some day I’ll get one. I see activity at the edges of the feed pattern when the feeder goes off that looks like something Big is feeding on the minnows pushing the feed around, but I’ve never seen any HSB come up to take floating feed. I just hope they are working over my GSH, and not my YP..
I would be VERY tempted to electro fish that pond to see if any HSB show up. Make your own with a 12V battery and a generator.
4/2015 until 7/2018 would be too much for me to wait.
Half acre 30 year old farm pond, Mebane NC. Aeration & feeder. LMB, CC, SC, BG, HBC, two no account welfare carp and nine seasonal Tilapia that all the other fish are terrified of.
I’m tempted, but I’d end up hurting a SMB or two, and I’d really be ticked..
I’ll eventually catch one, or two. Hopefully someone will have the can’t miss solution that will work. I’ll try a GSH under a bobber again. I just need more time on the pond. Maybe the chicken livers.. Something has to work.
8 yr old pond, 1 ac, 15' deep. RES, YP, GS, FHM (no longer), HBG (going away), SMB, and HSB (didn’t make it. 0 seen in 5 yrs) Restocked HSB (2020) I think we have survivors! I think that's about all I should put in my little pond.
We put 300 8-10 in. HSB in our 10 A. pond 2 yrs. ago this spring. The first year they did not take to the pellets much and they were suppose to be pellet trained. Last year and since they are very aggressive at feeding time. We added another 100 last fall because we have been taking out quite a few. We have caught them on plastic worms while fishing for LMB, on crank baits but mostly on minnows while fishing for BCP. Two days ago we caught another that was 19 in. and over 5 lbs (that is all the higher my scale goes). My wife is almost afraid (not really) to catch one because they will wake you up.
Two days ago we caught another that was 19 in. and over 5 lbs (that is all the higher my scale goes). My wife is almost afraid (not really) to catch one because they will wake you up.
We put 300 8-10 in. HSB in our 10 A. pond 2 yrs. ago this spring. The first year they did not take to the pellets much and they were suppose to be pellet trained. Last year and since they are very aggressive at feeding time. We added another 100 last fall because we have been taking out quite a few. We have caught them on plastic worms while fishing for LMB, on crank baits but mostly on minnows while fishing for BLP. Two days ago we caught another that was 19 in. and over 5 lbs (that is all the higher my scale goes). My wife is almost afraid (not really) to catch one because they will wake you up.
I can't wait for a pond full of these dudes. It's gonna be so much fun.
Today is the 4 week mark since receiving my HSB from Keo. I've had exceptional luck to this point. I've kept the vast majority of them in a 4'x3' cage. The only reason I did this was so that I could observe them. But as it turns out, I believe that mine feed trained much better than they would have otherwise due to being confined and having minimal access to zooplankton. I believe I found a total of 4 or 5 dead that appeared to have starved. But maybe they died for other reasons. Either way, I couldn't be happier. So last night I released them into my 1100 sq ft pond. I didn't observe any feeding action this morning, but will edit this post when I do observe my first feeding post release into my grow out pond /I observed light feeding 24 hrs post release and heavy feeding 36 hrs post release/. Here's a picture of one of the larger ones and video of them feeding just prior to releasing them.
That is a nice healthy looking hsb fingerling. I believe your are going to really enjoy catching them in a couple more years. makes me want to follow along your footsteps but, were full up with fish and have no more room for more fish at my place I'll just have to follow along with your Chronicles.
Last edited by TGW1; 07/20/1807:16 AM.
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
Found this info from a 2003 thread in which Bill Cody did some interesting research that I wanted to add to this thread... (Thank you BC for all the work you do)
1. Bob, in talking about the 35 acre lake near Lubbock, led me to think that since the lake had thousands of 4" -6" crappie, these sizes would fit into an 8" HSB's mouth. He said, "We calculated the average crappie in this lake would fit into an 8" HSB's mouth..... I assumed he was referring to the thousands of crappie sampled that were 4" - 6" long. Maybe not.
2. Anyway, FYI, I did some fishery science this week and came up with the following info. 8.25" HSB has a mouth opening of 23mm (0.9"). 9" HSB has a mouth opening of 25mm (1.0"). 13" HSB has a mouth opening of abt 29mm (1.14") 22 " HSB has a mouth opening of 43-46mm (1.7-1.8").
The vertical height(body depth or maximum body depth)of blk crappie in OH is: 4" long crappie is 31mm (1.2")high/wide 6" long crappie is 49mm (1.9")high wide
Week 6 of hybrid striped bass. They are now going through about 2-3 cups of Optimal Grower #4 per day. I generally feed them early morning and late evening when schedule allows. Although I can't see them terribly well, they do seem to be growing well. They certainly feed better in low light conditions, although they will feed with bright skies if hungry. Something to keep in mind for those that try to raise them.
