Pond - Bass & Bream Feed

[Bigga Trust]

Not sure where to post this. Does anyone supplemental feed the fish on their ponds? If so, what what brand and or experience have you had feeding?

 

[2busy2work]

I used to feed my 2.5 acre pond about 10 years ago. The bass got to about 8.5 lbs. because the bream stayed very fat and healthy. But I had quit feeding and the bass caught looked skinny and the bream were getting pretty small.

I recently started feeding again. Now the bream are getting healthy again and the bass are looking much better.

I bought a Texas Hunter Pro Series fish feeder and am using Sportsmans Choice floating food from Tractor Supply. The feeder goes off for 20 seconds about 6 pm every day. For the past month, I had the feeder going off morning and evening but I think I was overfeeding. I plan to keep feeding once a day everyday.

 

[Buck70]

I use FRM All Stock 12 pellets and Sportsman's choice floating pond pellets.

 

[Bigga Trust]

My bass are pretty thin. Someone told me I need to catch and remove the small ones approx 25 per per acre every year to allow some to grow. That sounds like a lot to me but I understand the thinking

 

[Dbender]

You can't hardly take enough small bass out of a pond. Feeding the bream won't necessarily help your situation. Id move this to the freshwater fishing section or check out pond boss forum. There are a lot more variables to consider other than feed.

 

[across the river]

My bass are pretty thin. Someone told me I need to catch and remove the small ones approx 25 per per acre every year to allow some to grow. That sounds like a lot to me but I understand the thinking

It depends on how long the bass are. If you catch a bunch of deterrent length bass and some 14, 16, 18 inches that are just skinny, then feeding the bream would likely be helpful if there are a bunch of bream swimming around.

A bass crowded pond will have a bunch of thin short bass that are all usually about the same length. All the bass will typically be 11 or 12 inches (or shorter in some cases) and typically what few bluegill you catch are big. You can catch a pile of bass, but few with any size, and catch a few bluegill but the jokers will typically be huge. In that situation you have too many bass mouths to feed and not enough eating size bluegill to feed them. Feeding doesn't do a lot in that situation, because the bass typically eat all the bream when they are small before the bream can really take to food. If that is you case, the recommendation is correct. You should take out a pile of bass, and I have even been told up to 35 lbs per acre. You want to keep bass until you see the bass size begin to increase and start catching bream of all different sizes.

If you have a bunch of different sized bass, and a bunch of 3-5" sized bream the bass can eat, then feeding would likely help.

 

[ryanh487]

From what I read, if you want trophy bass there shouldn't be any more than 20-30 per acre in the pond with lots of bream and shad. If you have thin fish, you're not pulling enough out and there's not enough forage.

 

[catchdogs]

Pond boss great forum if your serious about your fish .

 

[mudracing101]

I've never seen our bass eat the fish food i feed them. Just catfish and Bream.

 

[ucfireman]

The few times I have fished my pond (not easy access) the bass are thin late spring and early summer. Then get fatter over the summer. I do have them in all lengths but a lot of 10-14 inch. The bream are big, I hate to take the big bream but don't they compete with the bass for food and are too big for the bass to eat? Or leave them as the breeders? I do know I need to remove some bass, I just hate cleaning fish.

 

[catchdogs]

Do a relative weight chart on all your Fish you catch and remove any that are not in 90 percentile

 

[Long Cut]

Need a diverse forage base for bass at ALL growth stages.
Threadfin shad, Golden shiners, fathead minnows, brim & crawfish all stocked proportionally to your pond, plus a healthy bass population will yield a trophy fishery.

 

[ucfireman]

It is an old pond, built in the 50 or 60s. I dont know what other stuff is in there but I do see a good number of "minnows" in the shallows and weeds. Too far back in the woods for me to carry a bucket of minnows to stock feeders. Im too lazy.