Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations CC or Bullhead?

The feeder sits in 5' feet of water at the shallow end where all the BG action is. It has been active for probably 2 weeks. This pond is pretty deep and has steep sides for the most part. That with a 3' average drawdown probably contributes to a lot of predation of the BG. The tradeoff is I dont have alot of unwanted plants, i.e. cattails.

I might take you up on the traps CJ. After this weekend I will be able to mess with the pond a bit more. The bullheads have become another mission. Maybe I should not worry so much about them. I think of them as a violation since I tried to make the perfect pond with some CC to harvest for the table.

Hey Walt,

I am using Purina Fish Chow with 32% protein and fish oil as the 4th ingredient. Not offbrand bs. This is what a local place stocks-1 bag at a time. The previous feed I was hand feeding was a catfish food from the midwest with 32% protein and fish oil as the 4th ingredient also.

The feeder goes off at 7 a.m. and 6 p.m and distributes 1.4 lbs at a time-these are the factory pre-sets. Should I change them? I always thought that whatever fell to the bottom the catfish, crayfish, turtles, snails or whatever would eat.

You definitely don't need to feed a pound and a half of food each feeding if they're not eating it. Some of it might get eaten by turtles or crayfish, but if the catfish knew about it they would be eating it right off the top. That's another thing that makes me think you just have it in the wrong spot. I have a feeder right now on a four-acre pond that I'm working with that has catfish and hybrid bluegill; I didn't stock the pond, but did install the feeder. The first place I put the feeder, the HBG took about a week to warm up to the food but then were eating it pretty well; I saw no catfish eating at that location. But this pond has three different owners, and one of the owners decided to move the feeder to where he could see it better. In the new spot the catfish were hammering the food, and the bluegill weren't getting much; so I explained to the guy who moved it that if I was going to provide the feeder and food that I wanted to feed HBG, not catfish, and moved it back.

All that's just a long way of saying, location makes a big difference in how the fish respond. If you have the feeder in a spot where the fish aren't, they may be unwilling to use it; maybe the DO is low in that part of the pond, maybe they prefer the bottom content somewhere else, maybe the pH is off. Have you caught bluegill in the spot where you have it, or did you catch them somewhere else?

Okay, I'm an idiot, just saw the post above in which you state the location of the feeder, and that it's where you've caught bluegill. In that case, I'm stumped. I've never seen feed thrown at bluegill, where I knew there were bluegill, for two weeks without them taking to it at some point in that time period.

Maybe just keep feeding them for another week or ten days and see if they figure it out?

My BG didn't take feed worth a hoot for 2 1/2 years.

But trying a different spot might work. Even if they are caught at the current feeder location, they might not like surface feeding there.

Wow, 2 1/2 years...That is some serious zen patience, Theo. (No, I'm not a Buddhist.) I think I would have given the bluegill the finger and told them to find their own #$%* food.

Okay, I just had a brilliant idea, Mark (I get one every twenty years or so). Try a different spot for the feeder; if that doesn't work, I know a surefire way you can get some bluegill eating pellet food in that pond...

Buy a few from Bruce Condello. He's been breeding bluegill for ten years now, and has grown them - in NE - to two pounds. He selects them for the fastest growers as well as the ones that feed most aggressively on pellet food, as well as I'm sure many other favorable characteristics I'm not aware of (I know he also selects for the hardiest). Cecil Baird, who's also a regular on here, raises some Condello-strain bluegills, and he's noted that they feed really aggressively on pellet food.

Hopefully moving the feeder works. But if you have a bunch of bonehead bluegill like Theo obviously had, maybe they just need some that are with the program to show them what the deal is. I'd be willing to bet that if you got a few of Bruce's 'gills in there chowing down each day, that the others would quickly figure it out. It's not like a fish to see other fish having a feeding spree and say, "Nah, I don't want in on that easy food."
Also, a few CSBG would improve the genetics of all your other bluegill, and four or five years from now you might be posting a photo on here of a two-pounder.

Theo, aren't you growing CSBG now in your ponds?

Not yet. Just brand X.

How did you get them to finally eat the pellet food? Tony Robbins tapes? Talking really nicely to them?

Trust me-the spot where the feeder is is the best spot on the pond. It has the best mix of structure, rocks, shallows and sits where the old streambed is. It is the best place in the whole pond to fish. It is in 5' of water and the feed usually disperses downwind towards the rest of the pond.

I am afraid to move it shallower because of bears. When I was there 2 days ago there was fresh bear **** on the bank closest to my boat and the feeder. I now have the boat tied up out in the water too since I spilled fish chow in it. A bear already ripped the seats up and the boat is a 2 man polyethelene deal and I dont want it ripped apart for a kernel of chow.

Gotta love bears and their desire to destroy anything for food!

Fish are like kids. When they get hungry enough, they will eat something besides dinosaur chicken nuggets.

Those first two years, BG were low in numbers compared to the GSH which (along with the CC) ate all the feed. Once BG numbers were up after a couple of years' worth of spawning (and, coincidentally, GSH numbers down from bass predation), some fingerling BG were hungry enough to start eating feed. They kept it up as they grew and a whole bunch of other BG joined them.

I switched to feeding at the near side of the pond instead of the far side, mostly for my own convenience, as well. The new location may have been more conducive to BG feeding.

FWIW that idea of adding a few well feed trained BG (whether Dr. Frankenbruce's creations or not) to the pond could help a lot. I have noticed non-pellet eaters picking up pellet eating in 1-2 days from trained BG in a 100 gallon tank.

I don't think you should go shallower, Mark; if I'm putting a feeder in the water, I seldom put it in less than 5' of water. And if that spot is where you've caught bluegill the most, that's the spot to have it.

What do you think about the idea of putting some feed-trained bluegill in there? I think that might be your answer.

Is there a hunting season on bears in VA? Sounds like that bear needs an appointment with Mr. Hornady.

Any trap updates are greatly appreciated! (You have to ask your self why we care so much.)

I renovated the pond last year. The feeder was in place for 3 years and the BG were hitting the food pretty well about a month after install. Last year when they were crowded into a small area due to the renovation, they hit the food as well. This year, since they have little more than 3x the space, they aren't as aggressive towards the food.

Yes, we have a bear season in most parts of VA and where Mark lives, there is an archery, muzzleloader and rifle season and I believe you can even run the bears with dogs. Just lots of private ground and National Forestland that isn't open to hunt which makes the bear population difficult to hunt... Throw in the idiots who feed the bears and it makes for serious bear/human conflicts!

Makes me glad bears aren't common in middle TN.

I will put the trap back next week and let it soak for 24 hours this time. We do have a 2 week muzzleloader bear season in my county this year. It runs concurrent with the early deer muzzleloader season. I imagine we will get a few of them.

Are the bluegill still ignoring the feed?

When I was there Thursday and the feeder went off nobody came to eat. I have 1 feeder in a 2.14 acre pond. I am not sure what the water temp is exactly but the feed instructions say do not feed when the water temp is over 90 degrees. Do you agree with this? It's not 90 yet but it is getting pretty warm. My guess is 80-84 degrees.

I would have thought that some fish would be eating the pellets by now. This is all pretty new to me still.

I haven't checked the water temp lately in the ponds I have feeders running in but I have them feeding three times a day (of course the bluegill are eating the food well or I wouldn't be feeding multiple times). Fish are cold-blooded so their metabolisms are directly connected to the water temperature: the warmer the temp, the more they're going to eat. Here's a thread I found on here in which Cecil kept feeding with no problem at 90 degrees, and his fish were going crazy on the food:

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthread...true#Post171581

So my opinion would be keep feeding. I don't know if a fish's digestive ability is negatively affected with very high water temps, so if the water does go above 90 you might simply not feed more than twice a day, but right now you shouldn't be feeding more than once a day until they begin eating the food.

You may be feeding where you want the BG to be but not where they are. Try walking around hand feeding. You may be surprised.

Dave,

I am definitely feeding where the BG live. This pond is characterized by a large shallow end(5 feet or less) and a lot of deeper water to 17 feet. I will post some pics tomorrow of the pond as it filled and where I placed the feeder to help explain the location.

Thanks for all the great replies. Bullheads are the enemy!

Dave,

This a winter shot of the shallow end before I had the dam worked on. Have decent structure. Look at the weed line. It dropped 54" due to leak. I still don't think it is fixed but that is a whole 'nother thread that I am sure will be posted in a month or so. To date we have had a wetter than normal year but it has been really dry this mont.