Rich, good luck with the family pond, it sounds like a great place.
Maybe the best thing to do is just try minor changes to see what works for that pond depending on the time and money your family wants to put into it.
One last point, even hatchery trout are not totally stupid when it comes to eating to survive, as has been stated before, "it all depends". Each time I have stocked hatchery trout they will feed heavily on pellets for a few days then taper off to lighter feeding, even dumb hatchery trout seem to prefer natural food but still take pellets, and my trout average growth between 1" to 1 1/2" per month. The pellets are providing an additional back-up to natural forage.
If your family wants to go with a natural only pond then you have lots of options mentioned on this topic.
