Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Feed training bass update

In case any of you wondered I never did get to feed train some bass fingerlings out of my pond. By the time I got the freeze drilled krill 2 weeks after I ordered it, the 2 inch bass had dispersed and were diffcult to capture in a large enough quantity. Additionally I'm getting some nice tanks next year, which I am trading my taxidermy services for -- so next year which will will work out better.

I've got a 1/10 acre pond I will be transferring in some brood stock bass soon (would prefer to plant them in the spring when I can easily sex the bass), but I don't have that option. I need to drain the 3/4 acre pond they are coming out of and let the pond bottom dry for the winter. It's 12 years old and the Chara, Small pond weed, Sago pondweed, and God know's what else has really gotten out of hand. I'll bet I have Chara on the bottom in places 3 to 4 feet thick! I also want an excavator to come in and dip the edges once the soil dries out enough. It can be done when their is water in the pond, but I've been there done that and it's a mess! The soil has to lay on top of the groud and allowed to drain and dry up before moving. Of course that kills the grass and after it's moved it needs to be reseeded. I don't want to do that.

I'm hoping if I plant broodfish from the same year class the significanly smaller ones are males and of course the significantly larger ones are females. 1 successful pair would be enough for my needs, but I will probably plant about up to a dozen fish to be sure I have both sexes.

Wish me luck and I will report back next year! Thanks for listening to my rambling, but I'm excited to start producing my own fish. I am also going to hatch my own trout in one to two years. Bluegill will be a cinch to produce and the perch will probably require another pond.

Good Luck, Cecil.

At least those 2 keys of krill should keep easily until you can use them. Freeze-dried krill is IMHO a marvelous feed training aid. What doesn't get eaten on the surface sinks so the shy fish get to eat it. Then they can figure out that if they want to eat it sooner, they've got to get it while it's floating.

CB1 a newly renovated pond should be a great place to start off a new group of LMB. The water quality and productivity should help them grow fast and well. What is the plan once they are trained on the krill then pellets and get to 2 inches + ? Good luck and keep us up to date on the project.

The plan is to put them back into the same pond and continue to feed them. Then the following spring they will be moved to floating cages which I usually do when I purchase them. And feed until the following fall. I believe even though I may not have any bigger bass in the pond that will eat them, the longer they are kept on pellets in the cages the more likely they will stay on them.

I assume you will take the brood fish out of the pond prior to putting the yoy back in?

What about all the other yoy LMB in the pond?

I don't know about the need for cages if the pond is otherwise empty. Take a look at these non caged feed trained adult LMB in action.

Wow, Eric! I've never seen my LMB come out of the water for pellets. 99% of the time they do a very fast roll right at the surface to snag pellets. Once in a great while one comes up mouth first and takes a pellet only medium fast.

Maybe in larger numbers there is more competition, hence more aggressive feeding?

I think it may be related to the size of the bass Theo? Smaller bass are scrapier. The 5 to 7's I put I cages feed like that.

For sure! It should be easy to take them out by hook and line too. The pellets wrapped in a piece of hose with a small foam ice fishing float as a strike indicator is sure fire.

Initially when I planted feed trained bass in this pond without cages a small percentage went off the pellets to natural feed. I don't want that. I think the larger a pond is the more likely that will happen. And of course it depends on how much natural feed there is.

I may be able to sell the excess bass.

ewest, are these your tiger bass?

Cecil, sounds like a great natural progression for your business to raise your own fish. I hope it works out.

What's the future of the 3/4 acre pond over the next few years? Will there always be LMB in it after the initial introduction?

edit: I think I've misunderstood which pond you're going to put the LMB.

A natural progression and a necessity. With diseases cropping up in the Great Lakes region along with knee jerk reactions by state officials making it harder and harder to import fish, I need to do this in order to survive as a business.

There is a move right now to potentially have fish farmers and bait dealers test fathead minnows for VHS, which due to the expense would put them out of business. I'm all for doing things like that if science backs it up, but many times it doesn't.

Yes, the bigger 3/4 acre pond will always be the one for grow out of larger bass along with yellow perch and my source for bluegill, which will reproduce naturally in the pond. The pond where the broodstock bass will go into to spawn is a small 1/10th acre pond. This pond is easy to seine vs. the 3/4 acre pond. A smaller pond is easier to monitor and control also.

The pic is not of my Tiger LMB. These are in a hatchery pond and were feed trained and put in there. Much like CB1 is doing. I have pics of them at several stages/sizes but that will have to wait on the PB convention slide show. If you have ideas or very good pics let me know. I have the ones posted here already + mine + Bob's + some from Dave Willis , with some from the moderators on the way.

How/when do you guys feed train your LMB?
We bring them indoors into circular tanks at about 1 /4" to 1 1/2"(whenever the natural food starts to disappear,but prefer them to be as large as possible)

We've been using small Ziegler feed,mixed with powdered krill,then moistened with some veg oil and H2O.Moist enough that it'll clump slightly if compressed in your fist.We also top dress this with freeze dried whole krill,that we sort of roll between our hand to break it up as fine as possible.Then let it sit in the fridge overnight to prevent it from cheesing up.They really go for this.We back off it,once they are feed trained.
The moistened pellet realy has been the key for us.They don't seem to like the hard ones.They try it a few times,spit it out,then usually won't take it again.Once they're on the artificial a while,we can usually get away with a little harder pellet.

We use belt feeders spread around the perimeter of the tanks once they get going good,but try to start them out by hand feeding a little,a couple time an hour the first few days.

We also grade every other week or so,because once some get big enough to eat others,they will,even with feed in front of them.

Once they get on the artificial,they grow fast.
We've also put some back in ponds,with belt feeders,and had pretty good success,but less uniform fish,and obviously,more predation and cannabilism.

JHM welcome again and good info.

Excellent post JHM. Very interesting.

Great post JHM, your insight will be helpful and welcome.

JHM,

I'm curious (and always looking for a better LMB or better anything fish related. )...do you sell your fish or only raise for private use....and if for sale, how can I contact you?

ML I ask the same location question and edited it out. One of JHM's prior posts put him in the Mid-Atlantic states.

Thanks JHM! Pretty much what I plan on doing. You got a five from me!

Neither.
Gov/research

You know,"I'm from the government,and I'm here to help"

So these LMB are the next line of defense against terrorism? nuclear threats? illegal immigration??

Dangerously violent Redears?

And CIA Bluegills !!!

covert copperheaded rattlemoccasins??

Well I planted my broodstock bass into the 1/10th acre pond today from the 3/4 acre grow out pond. Since it's hard to sex them this time of year, and all my bass look like pregant females year around, I went a little overboard and put 25 bass from 2 to 4 pounds in this little 1/10th acre pond! I also couldn't stop catching them! It was too easy! I guess I can always thin them a little in the spring when I can easily sex them. I'm going to add some fatheads to winter them over, and hope for the best.



A typical tubby out of the grow out pond. This one was over 4 lbs. Not one of those caught today though. I put those caught today immediately into a cooler of water and salt added at a ratio of 2 lbs. per 100 gallons of water. Took most of them one by one to the broodstock pond via a trailer and the riding mower.

Been doing some more research on this. Looks like I will have to cull out some of the bass before spawning so the subsequent fry don't over graze the zooplankton. I am starting out small scale on this and think after I gain experience small scale on producing several species, may seek out a partnership to form a fish farm operation for stocking fish. We have none around me whatsoever.