Bass with squishy Stomachs- Minnows or bluegill?

Your squishing their stomachs?

I'd imagine no matter what they eat it will be "squishy".

Squeeze your stomach, unless your eating gravel it will generally be squishy.

Mike Iaconelli Does it

To figure out what there feeding on.

Ike also breaks rods and kicks sonar units, but im not going to.

^{Mike Iaconelli Does it}

^{To figure out what there feeding on.}

I suppose you have to catch one in order to squueze its belly. So if you catch one on a worm then I guess they're eating worms. If you catch one on a crank bait then I guess they're eating crank baits.

You might be able to tell what that particular bass ate by squeezing the belly and judging by the size of the object in its gut. You can also probably make it puke up whatever it had recently eaten, but I suggest you stop sqeezing the belly. Besides, you're using artificial and I doubt you're going to squeeze out a Lucky Craft.

In fact, the first bass we caught today had a tail fin sticking out of its gullet. We pulled the carcas out and it was a catfish about 7 inches long. Guess what? We didn't have any catfish artificial baits but we still caught plenty on crank baits.

i read the same thing but it doesnt mean im going to potentially hurt a bass or even kill it just to know if they are eating minnows, bgills or craws. dont hurt the bass you catch. Ive been seeing into theit mouths, if i see a tail fin that I can easily pull out i will but I will never squish them.

I guess I used the wrong word, I'm not trying to hurt the bass my any means, and im not literally squeezing it, i'm just touching to see if I can feel bluegill, crawfish, etc

I guess I used the wrong word, I'm not trying to hurt the bass my any means, and im not literally squeezing it, i'm just touching to see if I can feel bluegill, crawfish, etc

While this may sound terrible, the only true way to find out what's in that stomach is to cut it open after you've reduced it to a couple of fillets.

You'll most likely find the same thing that others have. Most of what's in there is a digested mass of goo that doesn't look like any specific type of fish. You may spot a partial crawdad, or you might be able to determine from what's left as to the type of fish it ate, but rarely.

My suggestion would be to observe the type of baitfish present in the area of your catch, or look in the bottom of your livewell at the end of the day to see what they've recently eaten and puked up. IMHO, any other effort is a waste of time that should be spent with a rod in your hand.

I mean Iaconelli says that if it's belly is squishy, its eating "soft grade fish", but he calls shad a soft grade fish and there are no shad, whats another example of a soft grade fish? What type of soft grade fish live in ponds?

basslover,

I think you are over complicating the whole process. Cut the bass open, see what is inside.

but really, if you want to know what the predators are eating in an given body of water, you need to catch some of the prey fish.

the bass are probably eating any type of smaller fish, bluegill, minnows, baby bass, catfish, anything else that it can catch and eat.

Honestly, I know the proccess will be really sickening, but I think its a small price to pay to find out what these fish have been eating, and mimicking the forage is key for me. I'm trying to be more scientific and analytical as a angler, There are catfish, carp, bluegill, and I believe golden shiners

It's not that sickening. When I was younger, before I could clean a fish on my own, I would watch my dad clean whatever we had caught that day and I always wanted to see the stomach contents. Not because I like seeing all the innards but I was always fascinated by nature at work and it gives you the best idea of what the fish are eating on a regular basis. Just get in there and do it, but don't let the fish go to waste after your science experiment.

Here's what I'm talking about

You just caught a bass it fed on what ever bait you were using. Keep using it until it is not successful then change! Fish have a brain the size of a pea tied to a reasonable sense of self protection. Don't over complicate fishing.

And here is one type of bait fish that lives in the pond

You just caught a bass it fed on what ever bait you were using. Keep using it until it is not successful then change! Fish have a brain the size of a pea tied to a reasonable sense of self protection. Don't over complicate fishing.

Since its such a small pond, these fish get so used to baits, I threw a senko a lot last year, now they won't touch senkos

Since its such a small pond, these fish get so used to baits, I threw a senko a lot last year, now they won't touch senkos

I seriously wouldn't waist alot of time and energy on finding out what they are feeding on. It really can only be a few things.

I'd spend all the extra time you have on finding out what they are doing, where they are hiding etc.