I am still flip flopping on how to stock my little pond this spring. I'm not trying to win any trophies, but rather maintain a fun place to fish without excessive amount of work. I know, I want my cake and eat it too.

One of the questions I need answered to help with my decisions is...

What are the differences in fishing/catching pellet trained fish versus naturally fed fish?

I love to fish with spinners of all sorts, top water poppers, lures in general. I certainly do not want to spend all the money and effort feeding hybrids if I have to fish with fish food and panty hose (not that there is anything wrong with that). The advantage would be the size of fish in the pond and reduced overpopulation problems.

Do pellet fed fish hit artificial lures the same as naturally fed fish? If it's a minor difference, I'll consider feeding hybrids, but I'm not giving up my tackle box for treble hooks and creative ways of keeping damp fish food on the hook.

OK, I'm rambling...I'm so excited about my pond I could type for ever and imagine every one just hanging on every word.

Thanks in advance,

Me too Noel, This is new and exciting. I keep looking for someone to tell me shut up already . Most of my questions are newbie type questions and each time I ask one, I think of another one to ask.

There are no wrong or dumb questions. Keep them coming.

How feeding effects fishing depends on several factors. It is called supplemental feeding because it only supplements natural forage. So the effect often depends on the degree to which you feed. If only a small % of their food comes from feed then I have not seen feeding effect fishing. If your program feeds a high % of the fish's daily needs then it will effect fishing.

My pellet trained bluegill will readily hit a small spinner like a rooster tail. Put a tiny piece of black rubber worm on a hook about the size of your feed pellets. It never comes off and you can catch fish after fish after fish with it!! My lmb were pellet trained but I catch them on small spinnerbaits and crankbaits regular.

I've done the same thing, and one plastic worm will last a long time when cut into smaller pieces. Plastic worms like Yamamoto senkos have a very high salt content, and will sink faster than a non-salted plastic worm. That gives you options when cutting them up, and using them as pellets.

1/4 ac. I learned this by trial and error. Started fishing for my cnbg with whole kernel yellow corn. They bit great but one little nibble and the bait was gone. After a 1/2 hour of rebaiting soggy corn and only "hooking" a handful I decided to try a tiny piece of yellow worm the size of a kernel of corn. Worked great!! It was all visual and had nothing to do with the smell or flavor of the corn. Curiosity got me trying different colors. Pink,green,white,brown,and black all worked but... BLACK was and still is the very best color of any. Probably 10x as good as even brown. Just my observation. Hope this helps.

Good question 1/4 acre...

I been supplement feeding since 2010 and I have caught some of my biggest BG on top water fly's, baby meps, and beetle spins. So like Eric says above it just depends on how much you feed them.

During spring and summer I feed twice a day for about 2 seconds each time. That's not a whole lot of food but they eat it up and will still be catchable when I go fishing. And of course worms work pretty well too. Don't get me wrong some BG will flat get spoiled and may not take your bait if they know that yummy food is coming sooner or later. lol but a lot of them will.

Good Luck
RC

In my personal pond, if I have people over to fish (usually they come and bring their kids so panfish are the focus) and fishing is slow I will turn on the feeder for 1-2 seconds, then once the fish find the food have the kids start fishing in that area.

Catch rates go up. I typically don't feed as much food as they can eat, I only feed for 5-10 seconds per feeding event, and feed twice per day. Depending on how the fish are reacting to the food, 40-80 pounds a month in a 1 ac pond.

I added HSB this Fall, so that amount may increase next year having more pellet trained fish at the buffet.

This is all good to hear. You all have taken away some of my newbie fears about pellet spoiling the fish. I truly appreciate your participation in this thread. Now if I can just get my pond to fill up I'll have to make some stocking decisions...anybody got an extra million gallons of water???