Bass Hit Me!

[Grandmotherbear]

My three bass who lived under the dock, Grumpy, Whiteside and Junior, were run off by a wolfpack of bass who learned our schedule and patrol alongside the dock while we are feeding the brim, fry and small bass/shiners? longstanding debate what they really are. The feeding frenzy of the little fish triggers the bass frenzy - and while I understand the balance of nature and all these guys don't have much personality and they thinned the smaller guys out a little too much. I started handfeeding the little guys. The hurricanes have brought the water level up right under the dock and it was simple to stretch out, hold a wad of compacted bread down in the water - enjoy the tickling of the feeding fish and see the bass hanging around in frustration because they didn't dare charge while my hand was in the water. Well, we even taught the pond sliders to take the bread- and three baby softshells showed up today! it was a little bit of a job to keep the bread in front of them, they seemed to want to investigate the fingers. I noticed the little fish were nervous and jumping into the weeds a lot whenever the bass cruised by- I really should've PAID ATTENTION to this..I was real excited about the baby softshells and had just put down another handful of bread when the d@mn bass hit my hand! My index finger was bleeding and middle finger so numb I was afraid of a contusion! That hurt!!!

Next time I see one of the wolfpack getting ready to charge I swear I am going to jump right in on top of him, whether I'm fully dressed or not! (Yeah I did it to Grumpy once as a joke and he vanished from my dock area- probably traumatized him forever- and left the opening for this gang of hooligan bass to move in!)

[moopups]

Be sure to wear gator costume B14 or B16 when you do this, anything smaller askes for trouble. The mesh shark suit helps also, make sure it has L 17 or 18 rateing also plus misquito rateing 6 to 9. Pussom repelant number 4 is recommended in dry areas. Snakes have free range until the 17th. Florida, the rules are differant here.

[Cyngbaeld]

OW!!! Sorry the naughty thing bit you! I've had brim nip me tush when swimming and that hurt bad enough. Maybe it is time for a fish fry?

[shadowwalker]

Fence the area off that you feed in with chicken wire. Then the little guy's can swim in and out and the bigboys just watch!! shadowwalker

[breezynosacek]

Originally Posted by shadowwalker

Fence the area off that you feed in with chicken wire. Then the little guy's can swim in and out and the bigboys just watch!! shadowwalker

I was thinking the same thing! I also thought...hmm, fence in fish, feed fish, fish get too big to leave, fatten up fish, big fish, eat fish! :haha:

[mightybooboo]

Originally Posted by moopups

Be sure to wear gator costume B14 or B16 when you do this, anything smaller askes for trouble.

I use a Binford 9100.
BooBoo

[Jan Doling]

It's a good thing you don't live on salt water....we'd be calling you "Stubby".

In Islamorada, they (Ricky's Dock?) charge $2 for tourists to feed bait to tarpon. One girl had a bloody scrape around her wrist because the tarpon opened wide and tried to swallow her fist! My kids were wide eyed after that and threw the bait rather than have the tarpon feed from their fingers. (An adorable blond pelican snatched a piece from my 8 yr old. Shawnee marched it backwards off the dock while shaking her finger in its face and giving it a lecture!)

Let us know how the turtle training goes.