Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Do I give up feeding

2acre pond. Have feeder set for 3 times a day for 1 second. Unfortunately only thing I see eat are carp. Been feeding for 2 months. Do the carp scare rest away? F n carp. Have many gills in this pond but only see carp feeding. Using optimal gill feed. Waste of money thus far. Have tried shooting carp with .22 mag. Can't confirm a kill yet. Advice

Are you talking grass carp, or common carp?
If the fish are right at the surface, try using a shotgun with coarse shot, such as #4.
Shoot slightly low to compensate for the refraction of light. For example, if the fish are 6" or less under the surface, hold at the bottom of their body line at the back of the head. Make sense?
Get a bow hunter to come out and shoot some with specialized bow fishing arrows and other equipment.
My grass carp swim right among the feeding trout, bluegills, green sunfish,etc. without disturbing anyone. And, they are big-36" long.
I have no idea if your bluegills would be leery of common carp.

No idea why bg don’t feed. Never heard of that.

Have you tried hand feeding instead of using the feeder? I am dealing with 400 Grass Carp on a 54 acre lake with 7 Sweeney feeders. GC are a smart,disruptive herd. I would shut the feeder down for a month and switch to low key hand feeding, see how the BG behave under new feeding conditions.

Using the same food here and had a hard time getting Bluegill to go for it too at first. When they did, they'd spit it out.

Try moistening it a bit then walk around tossing out by hand till they get the idea these stick-like things are food.

To moisten it, put food in a container with very little water for 20 min, toss it around every 5 min. Should get a little spongy.

shoot the carp with a bow fishing rig

Are the bg feeding below surface when you can't easily see? mine do that a lot

I would try to feed the carp until they are satisfied enough to wonder off. Then, see if any other fish types come to the feed. I realize this is not a long term plan, but it would tell you if the gills are there in the waiting.


Another option would be to feed the carp in their usual area, then hand feed in a different spot to try to attract the gills while the carp are busy elsewhere.

If your carp are dense enough at feed time...try a throw net to cull them out.

Thanks guys. Large, large majority are common carp. I have only stocked 12 grass carp last fall. There are plenty of common carp unfortunately and they are the only fish i see feeding. I have tried hand feeding many times even during bluegill spawn and rarely some of the greenies would eat but not as often as I hoped. This pond is old and I'm just trying to deal with what i have as I don't own it but have sole permission to take care of the pond. The feeder is setup in a great spot in my opinion and i hate to move it now that its been in same spot for 2 months. Kinda hate feeding common carp such good food. ha. Damn carp........

Doughball and fish around the feeder. We also used to moisten soybeans and float them out on ultralight rods. Lots of fun. Make garden fertilizer out of the carp.

Carp are fun to catch on a rod and reel. You can bait a spot by putting field corn in a burlap bag and sinking in a convenient location. Carp will suck on the bag to get the rotten corn. Cast to the bag with a doughball bait or Wheaties molded to a smaller treble hook. Takes a gentle cast and I never used any weight, just treble hook and a lighter line say 4 to 6-pound test. Leave the bail open or in cast mode on a closed reel, when the line starts to go out pick up and wait to set the hook until a few feet of the line has gone out. I had better luck with lighter tackle, and they do fight. Usually took a net to land the bigger ones. The bagged bait will last for a couple of months. Hooks points should be level or just below the surface of bait.