Bobby I seen BCP feeding on gams year round in my pond (I have very little shallow cover for gams). However when the fry of other fish hatch out they will also pounce on them and concentrate less on the gams. I have also watched them eat small BG.
As far as feed training some of my BCP do feed on pellets. I guess they learned from the other pellet killers. I would say it is only a very small percentage (in the single digits) that acquired a taste for pellet feeding at the surface. It is very hard to notice when they do as they do not feed like other top feeders for me. They just ease up really easy and grab the pellet and slip down with out making much of a disturbance in the water (compared to a BG or CC feeding).
