Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Texas Hunter Feeders

I have been a fan of Stren/AquaPro feeders, and continue to be – I own three of them.
Only complaints are infrequent “jams” and dumping feed on bank unless feeder on a raised platform or has a “feeder apron”.

I recently decided to add a 3rd feeder to 2-acre pond, not to increase feed but to avoid concentrating fish in localized area.

I decided to try out a Texas Hunter feeder and could not be more pleased with performance. Shoots feed out like a cannon with none on bank or near shore, with further distance and a wider feeding pattern.

IMO no platform or “aprons” (2x4ft galvanized roofing) needed.

George,

Which model are you using? Did you buy directly from Texas Hunter, or is there a local distributer in the DFW area?

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on a fish feeder... any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks, GaryTexas

Gary, I bought my 70# capacity model from Todd Overton of Overton Fisheries, who now handles Texas Hunter feeders exclsively.

I do business whenever possible with PondBoss forum members and advertisers.

Thanks.

How much do you feed per day? This will be my first attempt at fish feeding, and sometimes it is 2 or 3 weeks between visits to my land. Would 70lbs of feed last 3 weeks at a "normal" rate of feed, or should I go with the 200 lb feeder?

Thanks again.

GaryTexas

Gary I carry TX Hunter, Sweeney and Aquapro. If I were to buy one my money would be spent on TX Hunter. ~$300 more than aquapro but better quality and about $100 less than Sweeney and as good I believe. I probably should not be writing this sorta thing in public but it is the way I feel right now.

Also for my clients that do not visit pond but every 2-3 weeks I suggest larger capacity. Even if fish demands are not that great right now and 70 lbs makes it a month that may not be the case later on.

Geroge I appreciate and value your opinion. I'm hopefully aqaupro will right the ship and go back to the quality they used to have.

Thanks for the feedback, Greg. It really helps me make my decision.

GaryTexas

We started with Texas Hunters this spring and are about ready to use them exclusively!! We also carry aquapro, sweeney, and ontime.
The texas hunters in my opinion are the best by far. They are the easiest to assemble, the solar panels keep the batteries charged, and we havent had a jam or problem yet with any of them!!!

We deal with aquapro jams almost weekly and sweeney jams about monthly.

I'm a fan of the TX Hunters! They throw small pellets and larger pellets well, have dependable timers and high quality solar panels, and are built stronger than the competition.

One thing to think about when shopping around is that a product warranty means very little when you consider having to box one of these things up to return to the manufacturer. So if there are water leaks or internal problems then it will cost you to ship.

Also if there are inherent faults in the product components like timers, solar panels, etc, then it does you no good to replace these faulty components. Might just buy you a bit of time.

We are better off with a product that is assembled with high quality, dependable components, so we don't have to worry when we walk away from our ponds.

After 20 years of working with 10+ different feeder types and brands - Sweeney auger driven (not the one with the solenoid and hopper flap) and Texas Hunter directionals for fish are at the top. Both require the least amount of maintenance, but they are a little more expensive than most brands. We try and steer our clients to those two brands and models, but a few clients have their favorite brands or have a restricted budget and opt for something else - we just hate working on those!

Good luck!

First, I want to thank everyone who gave me the advice earlier in this thread. My father's day present to myself (from my wife, but I had to order it) was the Texas Hunter DF425. Very easy to assemble... the hardest part was getting it level on the face of the dam. I'm very pleased with it.... it fires the pellets way out into the water. I have it set so that it is about 1.5 feet higher than full pool, and no pellets were hitting the ground, even though the pond is down a little over a foot right now.










I was amazed at how fast the bluegill adapted... I set this up on Saturday afternoon... on the first test throw, the bluegill came up and began eating the pellets.... lots of them.

There was a school hanging out in that area of the pond on Saturday night, and again on Sunday morning. I guess I won't have any problem training them on pellets.... they are naturals already. It's not like they are skinny and hurting for food, either. Do all bluegill take to pellets this easily?

Again, thanks for the advice.

GaryTexas

Hey your just across town from me. I live in Southlake. One of the things I would highly reccomend for your feeder is to build some type of dock that you can either strap or bolt the feeder down on. I had a feeder end up in the pond because it was sitting on the bank like yours is and either the wind or an animal pushed it into the pond. The other thing you might consider is flooding. I had another feeder get water in it when I put it too close to the pond and we had a flood. I think I could have avoided both problems if I had put the feeder on a platform out over the pond and bolted it down. You and George have convinced me to order one from Todd Overton.

Hey, James.

A dock is one of my projects in the future, but I have to finish my cabin first. Once the dock gets built, I'll move the feeder to it. I'm also considering something like the "pond barge" that is documented in another thread. I like the idea of driving the dock around the pond.

In the meantime, the feeder is staked down with 24" stakes, so I don't think it will go anywhere. Hopefully being 1.5 feet above full pool will keep it dry, even when water is going over the spillway.

Thanks, GaryTexas

Gary...

Have you thought about doing something so that the feeder doesn't grow legs and walk off? I would hate to see an investment like that get stolen. You could make a simple platform with 4x4's cemented in the ground on a platform and then bolt it down with carriage bolts or some other contraption so that people actually have to disassemble to steal it. If they have to work at it, they are more likely to leave it be.

Ezylman,

I sure hope I don't have that issue. The feeder is staked down with 24" stakes, driven in with a sledge hammer. Unfortunately, it's really easy to simply unscrew the leg attachement bolts, so it doesn't really matter how the legs are attached to the ground. With the right size wrench, the feeder could be freed from the legs in less than 5 minutes.

Gary...

I understand what you mean. I have a little thief who lives around me. I was sawing logs with my chain saw and went to the house for a beer. I return 5 minutes later and my saw is gone. Next day he is using it with the stickers taken off. I let him know that he can either give my saw back the easy way or the hard way. He chose the easy way. If he has to work at stealing something, he leaves it alone.