Will Baby Bass Eat Dead Fish?

[Catch and Grease]

I had a crawfish trap set out in my pond and pulled it up today and the bream meat I had in there was just bones now and there was only 5 or so bass that were maybe and inch or two long.

Will baby bass eat dead fish like a scavenger?

Im thinking they just happen to swim into the trap...

[F14A-B]

If you were trapped and hungry? I caught a 10" largemouth once on a chicken liver, so it's possible I guess

[Catch and Grease]

Well maybe they were trapped in the trap and then decided to eat it or maybe they swam into the trap with the intent to eat the meat and it wasn't an accident, hmm I've never heard of catching bass on chicken liver... I guess if it'll eat something like that then I'm sure a baby bass would too.

[F14A-B]

I was shocked when it happened myself!

[Hyrule Bass]

I was shocked when it happened myself!

i caught a 26 inch striped bass on chicken liver, also white perch and blue gill. those aside from the obvious catfish

 

ive tossed a shrimp shallow in clear water and watched bluegill tear it apart, theyre pretty voracious feeders. wouldnt surprise me if a bass would eat cut bait

[OroBass]

Stripper are different I fish for those alot similarly to cats.

[J Francho]

Yes, most any fish will eat carrion, if it's hungry.

[Catch and Grease]

Hmmm, I wonder if this is a sign that my fish don't have enough to eat...

[J Francho]

Or that the baited trap was the easiest meal…

[Bluebasser86]

My bet is your dead fish attracted bugs that those baby bass were trying to feed on and they either got stuck or decided the trap was a good place to hide. 

[bighed]

IMHO, bass will eat just about anything.  Here's a funny story from a tourney I fished on Texoma.  It was dead hot, no breeze, and the bass were not biting.  Was fishing a dock when a kid on the dock pulled a stringer of bass out of the water and headed up the hill.  Of course I commented to him on his catch since I had nothing in the box.  His reply was that he had run out of hotdogs and was headed back to the cabin to get more. 

[Deleted account]

No of course not. Everyone knows LMB prefer live plastic, rubber and wood...

Easy meal is easy meal. I've chummed LMB with crawfish bits and minnow chunks. Its a rare fish (of any species) that will turn down free food.

[Master Bait'r]

Any aggressive fish species is an opportunistic feeder.  Yes they will eat other dead fish as well as whatever else is eating that dead fish if it will fit in their mouth.  

 

 

I'm kind of blown away that people are at all surprised at this.  They'll slam any number of shiny clanking, rattling huge plastic things but a stationary source of nutrition and other foragers converging on it is off limits?  No way man.  If it's in the water it's fair game.  The second a fish dies- and often before- it's already adrift in the food chain.  Bass will eat it just like any other fish would.  

[Bluebasser86]

I used to set lines for snapping turtles when I was a kid to sell to folks who wanted to eat them. My bait of choice was chunks of frozen bluegill. I caught more than one bass on my lines that had eaten those chunks of bluegill.

[hatrix]

They will eat worms and hotdogs and that's all basically dead. When using live bait though I have never really had success after it dies and am more likely to hook a cat. You can only cast that bluegill so many times before it dies from shock. I can always tell when a fish is about to eat it though because it freaks out and try's running.

[F14A-B]

They will eat worms and hotdogs and that's all basically dead. When using live bait though I have never really had success after it dies and am more likely to hook a cat. You can only cast that bluegill so many times before it dies from shock. I can always tell when a fish is about to eat it though because it freaks out and try's running.

Yep, most especially true with Native to the lake, Golden Shiners.... Wow... It's exciting to be a part of that show!

[Slade House]

I have been raising a few baby bass (florida strain) in a large aquarium since april, i caught them using just a tiny tiny gold hook weightless (with nothing on it)  NO they will not eat dead fish period. they will eat frozen bloodworm ice cubes though (not the ones with shrimp in them , they won't eat shrimp) and they will eat feeder goldfish (15 cents each at petco) if you have 4 usually you will end up with 2 or 1 because one will dominate the others.  as for their habitat they love cylinders they can swim in and out of.