Tips for getting LMB on pellets

[civicsurfer]

I have a 200 g tank with a recently caught largemouth bass and bluegill. Currently the LMB will only take nightcrawlers, raw market shrimp and of course live fish such as goldfish or rosy red minnows. I’ve been trying to get him on massivore pellets but he spits it out. The bluegill was easy and will eat anything including pellets. I’m hoping he will take note of the bluegill readily taking pellets and will follow suit. Is there anything else I can do to make the LMB accept pellets? I also have a pond in my backyard stocked with bass that currently will only take nightcrawler and live fish. Even getting them to take the nightcrawlers required some training. Here’s me dropshotting a nightcrawler on a modified hook.

 

[civicsurfer]

Refer to original post

 

[phreeflow]

Hilarious picture man! Try stuffing those market shrimp with pellets and let him know what the smell, texture, and flavor is like. I like your idea of keeping him with other fish that are already on pellets..that’ll help him learn. Good luck

 

[white specter crayfish]

Hilarious picture man! Try stuffing those market shrimp with pellets and let him know what the smell, texture, and flavor is like. I like your idea of keeping him with other fish that are already on pellets..that’ll help him learn. Good luck

agreed, heating the tank and starving them will also help on occasion, but that's more of a last resort

 

[Bonytang]

i've added garlic additive to pellets when they are super picky eaters. sometimes it helps.

 

[Chicxulub]

I've found that with a little hunger, LMB will hit basically anything that hits the top of the water. They're vigorous little garbage cans lol

 

[TheWolfman]

If he’s taking raw shrimp that’s the first step to getting him to take pellets so that’s a great thing. Try soaking the shrimp with the pellets for a hour and then remove just the shrimp and feed it to your fish. Your fish will start to get familiar with the taste of the pellets. Stuffing the shrimp with pellets is a Excellent way to sneak the pellets in there. Start dropping regular pellets in with the cut up shrimp and the bass will be so excited he will eat everything up. Eventually wean out the shrimp to pellet ratio so it’s all pellets. Then shrimp can be a treat rather then a staple. This will take some trial and error and some time, but it does work. Best of luck.

 

[Deadliestviper7]

Keep in mind however that you shouldn't feed goldfish to your fish.

If you want you can get some liveminnows
And some thawed out silversides, first handfeed them a few minnows, then switch in a few silversides