I was told by the company that stocked my pond that if I wanted to catch fish on a regular basis that I shouldn't feed them fish food. I do stock fathead minnows and golden shiners once in the spring and once in the fall. I want big fish and minnows are quite exspensive. I would like to ask to those that feed with pellets how they feel about the fishing.

doddbldr2 - Think about this. Do you think the pond stocking company might not want you to feed pellets because they can sell you more minnows instead of you feeding your fish pellets?? Fish sales are much more profitable than pellets. I'm not sure what feeding pellets has to do with fish wanting or not wanting to bite. Do "they" really think if a fish is eating pellets they won't eat anything else?. I DON"T THINK SO.! If they really think this, I would be very cautious in believing anything they said because they are not the wisest or reputable 'fish in the tank'.

You will have a problem recatching fish that have been caught & released. These fish LEARN and each hookup get wiser to your fishing tactics. How fast they learn is dependant on the ability of each individual fish. Some fish in the pond are slowlearners like your "stocking company" whereas a few at the other end of the smart box, LEARN by watching their cohorts, and will never get caught. Nature provides for this to insure stock to repopulate.

Stocking minnows and shiners into an older existing bass pond is not wise unless you have deep pockets. For a bass to gain one pound it needs to eat 10 pounds of minnows or fish/bugs. Thats because minnows/fish are 90-95% or more by weight, water, and very little nutrition in water. With energy loss for chasing; the remaining 'food' results in very little weight gain. Based on that fact, how much total weight gain do your bass get from how many pounds of minnows that are added each year???
BUT 1.5 to 1.8 pounds of high protein fish pellets produces or grows 1 pound of fish. Which is more efficient and cheaper and wiser? You decide.

If minnows or shiners do NOT survive in your pond to provide brood stock and continually repopulate the supply you should look for another forage species to do the job or an alternative food source or provide more cover/ refuge areas so minnows survive to breed again next year. OR have deep pockets to buy LOTS of minnows if you want your bass to grow properly.
Also as a bass grows (12-16" and above") it takes LOTS of 2-3" minnows to equal the weight of a 4 to 6" bgill. So the bass has to expend lots more energy chasing lot of little fish instead of efficiently eating one fish and "being done for the day". Minnows are for jump starting the first stocking of predators and growing BABY bass into subadults not growing big'uns.

Think about it.

I have two feeders going 4-5 times per day on my 8 acre lake for the past 3 years - we catch fish on a regular basis with no problem - feeders are the way to go -

the feeders are there to allow the bluegill to eat and grow big. Mother nature tells them that it is ok to spawn allot. If there is less food then Mother nature tells them to stop spawning. So in feeding pellets you are able to produce more small bluegill to feed the bass.

Bill makes some excellent points. I'll add just a little to what he said.

Virtually all of my clients agree with me that feeders make catfish easier to catch, rather than more difficult. For bass, unless they are trained to pellets, I don't think that it makes a difference either way.

I know that feed makes a huge difference in growth compared to an unfed, unfertilized pond.

Six months of feed for your lake should cost you about $250, plus the cost of a feeder. Perhaps you should weigh that cost against the cost of purchasing forage twice a year to help with your decision.

Thanks everyone for responding to my post. It does make more sense to feed the pellets. For what I have spent on minnow/shiners, I bet I could have bought a feeder and a bunch of pellets. What is a good brand for an auto feeder? What kind of electrical requirements do they have?

Thanks again for your input. I am so happy that I found this web site!!!!! Congrats to the creator..

As Wayne said I thought that the feeders fed the blue gill just as fert feeds the bottom of the food chain (phytoplankton) all contributing to the best environment for bass of all sizes to feed.

doddbldr2 - go to the forum heading : Feeding. I'm starting a new topic: Fish Feeders. Hopefully we will get numerous responses about fish feeders.