Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Extra sinking feed

i have several bags of sinking high protein feed left. my water just reached 60 degrees in my 7.5 acre lake. i have been feeding with floating feed for about a month now. i have about 500 small, and a few large channel cats in the lake with my existing bluegill and lmb population. is there a way to still use the sinking feed so it does not go to waste? will i be able to know if it is being eaten and not just rotting on the bottom? thanks in advance for the help, jb

I never recommend sinking food, you may know that already. I simply do not feed bluegill, catfish, etc. over the winter. I would think it would be ok to use, though. I would use it instead of keeping it until next year. The food that goes to waste on the bottom would actually aid in fertilizing if you were going to do that anyway, if not then yes it may be harmful since you can not monitor if fish are eating it or not. If you used only the sinking we a while instead of floating, then caught a bluegill arouund the feeder you could cut him open to tell if he has been eating the food.

JB, Another thought. Feeds food value starts deteriorating with time. A Purina Rep told me that after about three months, the stuff is of questionable value. They might eat it but still starve.