I know a guy that has a 4" pvc pipe about 5' long that is capped on one end and has a screw in plug on the other. The pipe has numerous holes drilled in it and it suspended in the water by a rope. He fills this pipe up with fish pellets in order to supplement his forage. He thinks it works well because it looks like an aquarium around his pier. Does anyone have any input on this type of supplemental feeder. I'm going to build one for my pond unless someone can give me some negative feed back. ???????

David, I use a similar rig to feed the turkey and deer. Seems like it should work well.

David. I use a homemade demand feeder like that for deer. However, I can't figure out what keeps the pellets from dissolving into the water. Does he see the fish actually feeding at the holes in the PVC? It may be that the fish are congregating around the structure created by the pier.

Dave, my same thoughts. I don't know if he see's them actually suck at the holes or not. He is not
a pondmister, he just traps bait for his trotlines. He is located on a major reservior.
I was just curious if anyone else had a manuel type feeder. I would love to have an automatic feeder but just haven't wanted to bite the bullet and spend the big bucks. My pond is just outside my front door so I've been feeding by hand. So far I haven't had a lot of takers from the Bream families. Grass carp were starting to come in real good but I think the bow and arrow changed their minds. The first grass carp that I shot weighed 24lbs 1oz. Thanks for your reply.

There are quite a few demand-type feeders available on the market that are more economical than an automatic feeder. As I understand it, most use a rigid dangling rod that the fish bump into that releases the feed. I don't know why you couldn't manufacture one yourself if you felt so inclined. Simply drilling a hole in the bottom of a suspended 5-gallon bucket and suspending a rod from the lid through that hole might work. This is very similar in concept to the Kenco wind feeder for deer that retails for about $20.

I can say for a fact that this type of feeder works well. My father has a house on Lake St. John in Louisana with a good size pier, about 80ft out and with a covered boat lift and sitting area (the deck section and lift are 20x30ft).

He decided to feed the catfish so he could catch a lot of fish. So, he cut a 6in dia PVC pipe long (approx 12ft) enough to stick straight down into the mud under the covered section of pier. Before placing under pier, He used a 1/4in bit and drilled large numbers of holes in the pipe, looked like swiss cheese. These holes are all below the water line. He cut a hole in a pier plank and pushed the pipe vertically into the mud until the top of the pipe was flush with top of plank.

We use sinking catfish food. The catfish will suck it out through the holes. It works really well. Every catfish is so full of feed the look like they are going to pop. The fish will congreate like no tomorrow under your pier. We also keep lots of xmas trees and cypress limbs under the pier. Also, we dump the shiners out when the week-end is over. Grew some nice ones on the feed. The bass like them a lot.

One May (water still clear) some years back I got my dive mask and got in under the pier, grabbed hold of one of the 4x4 posts and dropped to the bottom and held my breath for as long as I could. It was a fish hotel, lots of suspending bass, crappie, big bream.

People figured out we had a good fishing pier so we cut a 3ftx3ft hole into the floor next to the feeder. Around the exterior edge of the deck, we hammered up a heavy rubber mat from deck down to a couple of feet below water line. The dark under the pier really attracted the crappie. The bigger bass often hang up, but great for crappie, bream and cats.

Thanks Flatlander....I'm going to try it.
I already have the cedar trees in place and they hold a lot of fish. Hopefully, this will give the forage fish something to snack on all day. I will let you and everyone else know when I have evaluated the results. Again...thanks !

David,

That was more info than you wanted but my father's system is a good one. Note that what I decribed was Daddy-o's desire to target feeding catfish in a very large public lake. I am assuming this is a private pond your planning to work with, so a floating feed broadcaster might be better for supplementing bream and other forage fish.

Do you have a dock to attach your pipe too?

For those of you wondering how to stick a 12 to 13ft long pvc pipe through a six inch hole under a roof, you have to cut a square hole in your decking between the josts and angle the pipe in and bring back up flush into 6in hole from the underside.

You'll need to add 2x6s to each side of the bigger hole and 2x4s behind the deck boards you removed and are now replacing. Works kind of like a man-hole. We later enlarged to 3ftx3ft. Had drop new 4x4 posts and case in with 2x6s. Some in the water bracing. Worked out nice.

Keep in mind demand feeders put the fish in charge. Automatic feeders keep the pond manager in charge. Demand feeders are activated by fish, and the critters eat until full. A bag of feed may only last a week in a demand feeder, but can be rationed for a month with an automatic one.
The difference? Producing a population of fish requires a regimen of food sources, be they feed, fertilization, or managing numbers of fish. Demand feeders are excellent for attracting fish, or growing catfish as fast as possible. But, for a general management protocol, demand feeders aren't as good as automatic ones.
By the way, the neatest demand feeder I ever saw was built by a creative sort, a river guide. He took a 30 gallon plast barrel, with removable lid. He bought a rubber ball from the dime store, then cut a hole in the bottom of his barrel an eighth inch larger than the diameter of the rubber ball. Then, he ran a piece of all-thread through the barrel, six inches from the top. Then, he took another piece of all-thread, bent a loop on one end, the pushed the all-thread through the middle of the rubber ball. The loop hung over the first piece of all-thread, allowing the second piece to dangle down the middle of the barrel. He positioned the rubber ball right into the hole. At least 24 inches of all-thread dangles into the water when the feeder is positioned. Fish hit the all-thread, the ball bangs the side of the hole, feed falls out, fish eat. Pretty easy, pretty cool.

Flatlander, I launched the PVC feeder at high noon on Monday. It is tied off the end of my pier in 9' deep water. I will let you know when I evaluate it. I agree with Bob's comments, but I have been trying to feed by hand and only carp have been responding. I'm hoping this feeder will get the fish feeding around the pier, then I will try and get them feeding on floating feed and then I will spend the big buck for the automatic feeder. And the feeder will pay for itself once I have bream, catfish and crappie all eating at the table. I do have cedars and willows weighted down around the pier. Anyway, that's my hopes and game plan. And yes, this is a private lake. But my brother n laws is on a public lake (Richland Chambers) and it really works well.