I have about 65 CC in my (1/4 acre if it stays near full) pond. After putting them in last fall I hand fed them for a few weeks until the water cooled too much. I could resume hand feeding this spring or install an inexpensive feeder. I don't want to invest too much in a still iffy pond with only 65 catfish. I would like to catch some of them out about October for table fare if they get big enough. Any recommendations on feeders? There is no electricity at the pond, and it is about 750 feet from the house.

I don't know about feeders but hand feeding is one of my favorite times.

John, "inexpensive" feeders usually get replaced several times so they wind up becoming anything but "inexpensive"! With only 65 CC, I'd stick with hand feeding them and when you decide to start harvesting, you can use Stubby Steve's Pellet Lures to catch several. quickly, when feeding.

Guess it depends on what you mean by inexpensive? I have a 89 dollar deer feeder I use in my pond been using it now for 5 years works great. I can set 4 feed times and how many seconds on each one. Runs off a 6 volt battery. Mine is on legs as my area is level and not over 5 feet where I have it. If your pond is not level you could always cut the feet down to about 18 inches and then make a 4x4 platform out of 4 inch PVC pipe. Put plastic bottles in the pipe to help it float put a couple of 2x4 across the top where your 18 inch legs would come down at and screw the 2x4's into the top of the pvc pipe then screw your legs into the 2x4's you now have a cheap floating feeder. Attach a rope in the middle of it with an anchor and set it where you want it. Then if you have a boat all you have to do is go out there and fill it once in a while. Just a thought.

You would have 100 bucks in the feeder and about 20 bucks in other materials. For a fish feeder that's cheap and it holds up to 3 bags of AM 600.

RC

P.S. You could also use them floating noodles and stick them into the pipe! That would for sure make it float good!

Personally I would hand feed.

+1 for hand feeding CC just cause I enjoy doing it. Some of those guys have real personalities. Have one we named Bump cause he wanders around and the pellets just keep bumping off his nose. When he finally catches a couple he flops a big splash like he really accomplished something!

Long range the plan is to catch out the gray ones at 2-3 pounds and let 8 or 10 albinos get to 10 pounds or so. Most days I will be able to hand feed. If we are gone for a while they will get hungry or I will get someone to feed them.

I hand feed our 3 acre pond and three other smaller ponds. I talked about getting a feeder and my wife said not to. It would take away my enjoyment I get from feeding them every day.

It would be nice though to have something for when we leave for a week or two at a time. Grandson feeds some for us, but he is so busy a lot of times it only gets done every two or three days.

A person is supposed to feed the same time each day. And I suppose it would be better to do so. I just don't always get it done.

But what I have observed is that the fish will get conditioned to about any sound or activity they can associate with. Most of the time I feed by driving around the pond perimeter in a Ranger 900 UTV. That thumping sound or vibration of its two cylinder engine is their dinner bell. Any time of day I drive around the pond, there will be a flotilla of wakes made by the BG coming toward the 4-wheeler.

When I was feeding regularly from the dock, the sound of my footsteps on the dock would do it.

I think if a person put a pipe in the water and banged on it with a hammer right before feeding, the fish would come to a banging pipe.

The point is, once the fish get conditioned to whatever feeding pattern you establish, even if it is a somewhat erratic one, as long as there is some signal for them to condition to, they will adapt to your feeding schedule.

In my opinion there is no substitute for having eyes on your pond/fish. Feeders certainly have their place, but if you're able to hand feed that's the way to go. Plus, it's good exercise and may allow you to spot a problem in its infancy, before it becomes of greater magnitude.

Hand feeding as Sprkplug testifies is truly the best overall way to feed the fish pellets. Automatic feeders are also good when hand feeding is not practical.

snrub makes a very good point. Fish do become conditioned to specific sounds associated with pellet feeding. I rap a wooden pole on the dock at feeding time and the perch are conditioned to that noise even after a few months of not feeding them during winter. The first feeding in spring brings lots of perch to the dock by rapping on the dock with the wooden pole. Some other pond owners in my area tell me they stomp on the dock prior to pellet feeding and their fish are conditioned to that sound.

As mentioned, hand feeding from a dock where you can easily and closely observe your fish is a very good way to visually sample and monitor your fish.

Even with an automatic feeder on the pond, you can still hand feed when time allows. Every time I got to the pond I open the top of the Texas Hunter Feeder and throw out a handful.

I have fish follow me to the feeder when I walk to or around the pond. I don't have a schedule that allows me to hand feed the fish consistently, but they have learned what footsteps at the pond mean.

I do as esshup mentioned, when my fish feed hard and clean the pellets up quick, I always have the option of throwing another handful or two out to them. I would love to be able to hand feed daily (as I find great satisfaction in doing so), but because we do not live out on the property (where the pond is) yet, the automatic feeder is the consistent and volume regulated way to go. I originally had a deer feeder in the shallow end of the pond, but had moisture issues during temperature changes that turned the feed to a pasty mass when damp, to a brick when dried. It would then bridge over when dried and would not drop feed down into the cone. In some instances, it would not completely dry and get moldy in areas of the feeder. A TH dock feeder was the solution for me.