Feeding trials with Bullfrog tadpoles have found that Largemouth Bass find them unpalatable. The won't
eat them unless they are starving and, when forced to eat them to avoid starvation, they don't gain
weight. The tadpoles are pretty noxious, apparently.

Bill Radke, who was a biologist on the Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge for awhile, tells the story of
a number of ponds that were drying up in late summer of an unusually dry year. These ponds were well-
stocked with various warmwater fish (pumpkinseeds, bluegill, bass, perhaps bullhead and crappie) as
well as Bullfrog tadpoles. Many birds, including herons and egrets, flocked to the ponds and crowded
them for several days. Then one day, the birds were gone. The ponds still appeared to be alive with
swimming animals. What the birds had left behind were the Bullfrog tadpoles. There appeared to be no
fish left at all but thousands of Bullfrog tadpoles.

So, what about newly metamorphosed Bullfrogs? Are they any good?

Kelly McAllister
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Olympia, Washington
Reply to: mcallkrm at dfw.wa.gov