Feed Trained LMB

[Aquaman]

Feed trained largemouth are all the rage these days. This fish came from North Carolina. Amazing body condition! This photo was sent to me from Pond Boss magazine editor Bob Lusk.



Under 16 inches, but 3.5 pounds.

[Chad]

Wow!!!

How much work is it to feed train them?

[Aquaman]

It's done at a facility for you. You purchase them as already feed trained. You can do it yourself, but it takes a lot of time, a lot of patience, and quite a little bit of luck. The best way to do it is start with a virgin fishery, and stock only feed trained LMB, or even better yet you could stock only female feed trained LMB. They are very, very agressive and fight extremely hard, probably because of all the good muscle mass that they have. On top of all that you can buy a pellet that is huge and specifically formulated for LMB, and it is the exact composition of a small rainbow trout. The potential is almost limitless.

[Aquaman]

I wonder a little bit if this thread would have generated a little more interest on the fishing forum. I thought the photos were so interesting that people who aren't checking out the pond management forum would be drawn over here to look at it. Does anybody think I should relocate it just to see if anyone else wants to look at these pictures?

[Chad]

Originally Posted by Aquaman

I wonder a little bit if this thread would have generated a little more interest on the fishing forum. I thought the photos were so interesting that people who aren't checking out the pond management forum would be drawn over here to look at it. Does anybody think I should relocate it just to see if anyone else wants to look at these pictures?

Sure.

[Black Lab 1]

Feed Trained?

[Aquaman]

Yep, there's a hatchery that puts LMB on pelleted feed from the fry stage, and sorts them throughout their development to isolate the fish that are eating pellets. If I remember correctly, they are trying to keep the 50th to 90th percentile in growth in the program. The small ones aren't eating pellets, and the largest ones are eating their siblings.

[laughingwatr]

We had a pond on my parents place that the fish got very well trained. When I started feeding them in the summer the bluegill would start in on the feed and the bass would follow the action. I never really saw an increase in size of the fish and they would only eat so much but it was entertaining. If a fish was raised this way they may gorge themselves and grow better but what do you do with them in the winter?

[Black Lab 1]

Originally Posted by Aquaman

Yep, there's a hatchery that puts LMB on pelleted feed from the fry stage, and sorts them throughout their development to isolate the fish that are eating pellets. If I remember correctly, they are trying to keep the 50th to 90th percentile in growth in the program. The small ones aren't eating pellets, and the largest ones are eating their siblings.

That's pretty cool. Thanks for the info

[Willie Boy]

Aquaman, thought I'd already responded to this but see the post didn't make the thread. (note to self: have to cut back on the mind altering substances )...

Great photos. Those bass look positively 'california-trout-fed-esque'...uh, wow!

Any chance those fish are also hybrids (Gorilla or Tiger)? Or just run of the mill floridensis?

[Willie Boy]

Chad,
Most of the guys on this site probably saw 'LMB' and passed...not a lot of us bass afficianados around...most want to toss cut bait, drag worms or shoot fish...

[Aquaman]

Oops. I guess you didn't know that I posted these phots on both the open fishing forum and the pond forum. At first I put them on the pond forum but nobody was interested, so I doubled up. So I think you did pose the question, but just on the other forum.

That fish is probably a F-1, Florida/Northern cross. Most of them are anyway. There are some pure strain of each present in this lake.

[Willie Boy]

your comment about them being super easy to catch...got me thinking about an article I read a year or so ago about 'superbass'...some folks were calling them 'gorilla bass' or 'tiger bass'...and yep, F1 hybrids...

Didn't know if this has any 'parallels' to that situation or not...

At any rate, would be a fun day with a fly rod and a dog food pattern...

[Frosch]

Aquaman do you think it would be possible for someone to grow one of these to world record size. IMO if someone broke the record in that way it would be pretty lame.

[Willie Boy]

Originally Posted by Frosch

Aquaman do you think it would be possible for someone to grow one of these to world record size. IMO if someone broke the record in that way it would be pretty lame.

but not that much different than than they way they do it in California...with those 'trout pellet' fed bass...

actually, if you read Sowbelly (that's a book by Monte Burch) there appear to be several folks who have 'private ponds' that they are trying to do something very similar...but they feed live shiners or such...

If a world record channel came out of a fee pond, would it still be a record? Probably as long as it were caught in a 'sporting' manner.

There are no 'high fence' rules in fishing...probably because every body of water has it's very own set of 'high fences'...

Still, if a 25lb bass were easy to grow, suspect it would already have been done...

Now, you didn't hear this here...but (whispering)...I hear that Daryl has a few florida bass in a warmwater raceway somewhere in Nebraska...these fish are huge...he feeds them baby raccoons and full grown ducks...and occasionally transplants them via black helicopter when they get too big for the stock tanks...shhhh

Watch the skies...and follow the black helicopters...

[Aquaman]

Good question, Frosch.

I think it's possible, but highly improbable. It would take the perfect storm of genetics, super high water quality, and nutrition to raise the world record bass. What I strongly suspect is that these sorts of bass fisheries are going to grow lots of ten pound bass, but very, very few fifteens, and no twenties. I liken pellet feeding to bacon double cheeseburgers. They taste great when you're hungry, provide lots of cheap easy calories, but are probably not conducive to long life span. There a certain inherent contradiction to growing a world record bass under these circumstances. You want to have optimal water quality, but you are creating high fecal waste situations. You are also trying to create a great fishery, as far as catching fish, but you would also need a low density of fish to assure great water quality situation.

In other words, how do you simultaneously keep densities low, but have a chance at having a fish with just the right genetics? Does that make any sense? Maybe I'm just babbling. But basically I'd say NO, you won't ever see these fish in the low twenties for weight.

[Aquaman]

Originally Posted by Willie Boy

but not that much different than than they way they do it in California...with those 'trout pellet' fed bass...

That's a pretty interesting viewpoint. You could probably start an all out war debating these things, but what really is the difference between a stocker rainbow, that has an IQ of about 2, vs. a pellet, that's made out of the same components as a rainbow trout? Heck, the pellet's probably got an IQ of 3.

I really love debating these things, and I'm not an egomaniac or anything, so I love to listen to what every body has to say in these matters. Maybe I'll even start another thread to talk about this. Maybe it would jump start the pond forum a little.

Here's another picture for your viewing pleasure. By the way, these fish are from North Carolina.

[Willie Boy]

beautiful fish Aquaman...thanks very much for the posts.

Not only size, condition...but color as well. But then, you're always good for stuff like that. Nicely done.

[vrentropy]

Originally Posted by Aquaman

Here's another picture for your viewing pleasure. By the way, these fish are from North Carolina.

Okay, now THAT fish looks like a nice healthy fish. That first couple of pictures the fish looks more like it swallowed a drug balloon and is trying to get across the border or something. I doubt that there was any fight once it was hooked.

Might just be me though.

[Aquaman]

I can see why you might think there wouldn't be much fight--I thought the same thing too, until I tangled with about thirty of them one weekend.

I can assuredly tell you that a feed trained fish, even though it looks obese, fights considerably harder than an equal length fish in average body condition. They have so much muscle mass comparitively, that it's really a great tussle.