Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Feeders/Sweeney, Native Outdoors

I just set up my Native Outdoor feeders. They were pretty simple and seemed to scatter feed quite well. I'll provide some updates if anyone is interested on how they're functioning.

After making a post earlier about trouble with Sweeney timers I was immediately contacted by the Sweeney people. They were polite, courteous and very helpful. They offered to look at any and all Sweeney timers and I've since sent one to them to look at. Apparently they have a program that even if the timer is out of warranty they will replace at a reduced cost. I was pretty impressed and will also post results on the new timer.

By the way...in honor of our friend Cecil Baird I will announce the fact that I caught a REALLY nice bluegill in my main pond yesterday. I almost couldn't believe my eyes at the body condition. He looked like he could try out for the Texas A&M wrestling team. It was 9.25 inches but weighed 14 ounces. It fought like it was drunk, spinning around in front of me until I almost got dizzy watching it! It may not have been a state record but maybe he will be someday. Cecil, my bluegill challenges your perch to a Ultimate Fighting match.

Okay I'll bite. How do these feeders work?

Bruce first of all I enjoyed your article about monster gills in the current magazine. I am also looking at eventually purchasing a feeder for my pond to keep the BGs fat. Please keep us posted on your experiences with the feeders. Any pros and cons of each brand would be helpful when looking to make my purchase. Thanks
P.S. I think your BG could whoop Cecil's Perch LOL

Pros and Cons of each - (I don't have a Sweeney so I can't help there)

Native Feeders - PROS: cheap price, have worked well for me
Cons: sets itself for 2 feedings a day accordiing to sunlight, smaller feedings (probably enough for bluegill)

Stren AD-75 Pros: can set 8 different feeding times, large feeding amounts can be set, holds larger amounts of food, solar charger

Cons: more expensive, I had one motor go out and am in the process of fixing

I will try to add more as I think about it and hopefully Bruce will add some of his updates.

I can't believe that Cecil hasn't responded to my trash-talking!

I can't believe I didn't get to see that bluegill. BTW Bruce, I have an interesting story to tell you about the perch fungus problem our friend was having.

I really need to get my priorities straight. I am now putting fishing with Bruce above visiting family in the hospital on my priority list.

14 oz. bluegill are good trotline size on the lower Mississippi banks.

Well, I got a 15 ouncer today. TAKE THAT, Burgermeister!!

Hey Bruce, Durned shame that you don't have anything big enough to take advantage of your bluegills. We call them forage in Texas. That's why Burgerflipper called that size bait.

BTW, you might want to hang on to those bluegills for the next time you come to Lake Texoma for striper fishing. That one you posted here would be a purty good fish on the Oklahoma side of the lake. On the Texas side, you might want to bring Cecils cute little yaller purch.

Bruce, I just cant let the 'burgerflipper' name tag from Dave go. They DO call BG forage in Tx. I grew up on the pound + gills in the oxbows of Miss. 'Delta" and 3+ lb crappie from North Ms. reservoirs(Grenada, Sardis, Enid(WR crappie). I came to Tx. in 70s and when asking about bream fishing, I got these strange looks. I later found out why. I caught some the size of a quarter, then also caught some small ones.
Dave, sorry bout that!(Rockets 98 Mavs 86).
Bruce, if you have "pushing a pound" BG in a Nebraska pond and are just now starting to feed, you are doing something right. You should expect a good fish fry by this summer. How old are your bream?

Burgerman, Yep, the Mavs stunk up the joint.

Regarding BG sizes, I talked to an old friend who fishes in a pond at Corsicana who regularly catches 1.5 lb. bluegills. (I don't). I called the owner who lives at Texarkana and recently inherited the land from his brother. This guy said his late brother stocked some hybrid coppernose perch and fed them daily. He said he doesn't bother feeding. The fish are all lined up when he steps on the dock and ready to bite. Says he filets them like a crappie. He also said that the best bait seems to be Little Whiskas cat food. I went to Wally World and could only get something from Purina called Whiskas Lickin food but it wouldn't stay on a hook. I may try to get some authorization to catch some and transport them to my place in Bowie. The biggest natives I've caught out of my water hole have been 10 inches. I didn't catch anything that big until George got me to try fly fishing. He gave me some flies that look just like pellets and also the directions on how to tie them. They are deadly.

My 14 and 15 ounce BG are age-4 and my 1-7 and 1-11 that I caught this weekend are age-5. I'm going to try to post a picture at some point of the ones I'm catching this year. Unfortunately I've been trying to take pictures of myself and they're all coming out blurry. You'd think someone who can grow big BG could run a camera, but evidently not.

Now, gentlemen, you are talking some serious bluegill. 1.5 and 1-11. If you filet them, please fry up the carcass including the tail. My older sis and I used to fight over them.
Dave, I buy Whisker lickin for my cat for treats. They make hard and moist concoctions. Try the moist salmon or tuna flavor. Also there is a cheap cat snack in a 1 pt. milk carton in chicken and fish flavor(catty shack). 1/4 in. cubes. Good for small channels.
Bruce, you have obviously been feeding before. That is what I want to have when I retire to my old pond in Ms. in 4 or 5 yrs. Cleaning it up/aerating all the fun stuff now. Travel 6hr. each way every chance I get to work on it. I work 4 on 4 off. I just got a natve feeder. Havent filled it up yet, but have a 12volt gel cell and solar panel for it. Let us know how yours work.

Bruce, what is the length of the large BG's? Are they all coppernoses? I see the age but am wondering about the life span in your part of the world as compared to warmer climes. How are your redears coming along?

The four bluegill were 9.25, 9.75, 10, and 10.375 inches. Surprisingly short for their weights, but that's a good thing. These fish are all males and are not coppornose variety. The coppornose supposedly don't do that well this far north. Life span probably somewhere from 8-10 years maximum. I've wondered a little bit if their tremendous growth rate might shorten the lifespan somewhat.

The lined pond with the redears was also occupied by 75 male bluegills. When I first sampled the fish this spring I made an amazing discovery, which I hope someone like Cody or Lusk will comment on. Virtually all of the bluegill were infested with an external parasite. The parasites looked like little flukes or leeches. Very tiny and light gray in color. Some of the parasites were associated with reddish, raised sores on the fish. The body condition of the bluegills was very good as they had been being fed nightcrawlers all winter. Now here's the interesting part. All of the redears were in great shape and completely parasite free!
Why would this be? The redears had put on weight over the winter so they had certainly been eating. My mortality by percentage was higher for the redears than the bluegill, presumably because of their lack of tolerance for cold water.

Any comments on the parasites anybody?

9.5 inches and only 14 oz.? Sorry but I have ya beat on that one Bruce. I caught and released a 9.0 inch male a couple of years ago that weighed 14 ounces. Yuk Yuk Yuk Yuk Yuk!

If you don't believe me it's somewhere in the archives.

(Just having some fun with you although I did get a bluegill of those proportions!)

The parasite thing is interesting. Effect the bluegill and not the redears? Strange.

Have to tried a catching the bluegills and dipping them in a salt solution? You should be able kill the parasites but not hurt the bluegills if you use the right concentrate. If you need to know how much salt to add etc. I can get the info for you.

Bruce - The external parasites could be fish leeches. Can you collect any and kill relax them by freezing in a little water?. Then preserve them in alcohol (isopropyl or ethanol). Or you might try killing- relaxing them by heating them in hot water then preserve them when they are dead. I think temps between 120 & 180 should kill them. However heat may cause them to "ball up". Putting them directly in alcohol will cause severe contraction and I willnot be able to identify them very well when contracted into a "ball".

Here's what happens when you don't learn how to use your camera properly.

That's what happens when you use one of those cheapie panaramic cameras from Wallmart. Sorry couldn't resist! :p

I bet Cecil's 14 oz. BG was in focus.

...and it probably fought harder, too.

Nope, I was so intent on putting him back AQAP I never took a picture. So I guess the one that counts is the one with a picture.

morning i have sweeny feeders on my ponds in the atoka area of south oklahoma they have never given me any problems and are very easy to set and maintain i feed yr round in winter i feed 3 seconds once a day about 3 pm and am now 2 times a day for 4 seconds at 8.30 am and at 5pm 3.5 acre pond with 3 feeders. pond is stocked with coppernose an redears some bghybrds an blk bass plus florida cross bass and channel cats. have caught bg up to 1.7# and severllmbup to13.7#. i put in 30# of fatheads this yr. and 15# of shiners my fish are nice and chunky water is clear to about 24 inches. i am waiting for threadfin shad from the texoma fish farm to increase the food chain. i am not seeing any shiners again but still have fair amount of fat heads and bass are eating bg in the 6 to 7 inch size with no problems. am feeding fish pellets from tractor supply, i buy a ton at a time and use 2.7 tons a yr on 3 ponds. 3.5 acre 1 acre and a 1/2 acre pond. will do another 3/4 acre pond this yr with backhoe an small dozer. i realize i am very lucky the way my fish an ponds are doing and am learning or trying to from this site an magizine. if you need sweeny feeders in n. texas i also sell them , not the cheapest but you get what you pay for it seems. i also have 5 sweeny feeders for deer on my place,thanks for letting me comment.

sorry guys i missed a e in sweeney, i dont do computers very often.

An hours fishing last night yielded one more bluegill. It was 17 ounces.

I kid you not...I think it snorted at me!

That's a lot of work for one fish but this cold front has dropped the water temp in my pond down to 48 F. We broke our record low by 4 degrees last night. It got down to 28.

I thought you weren't fishing your pond for 2 wks. Has it been 2 weeks already. :p

Here's one that's in focus.

Bruce, nice looking BG. What was the length on it? It's hard to believe anyone is catching fish after we have had the weather we have had.

That bluegill was 9 1/8 inch long. I tried hand feeding my fish but the water is still way too cold.

Bruce,

That's the one that's 17 ounces? Is that a female or a male that has not taken on secondary sexual characteristics yet?

THIS is the kind of fish that I'm really excited about.

This is a 15 ounce male that has yet to show the classic signs of sexual maturity. This fish has almost limitless potential for top-end size. This fish is also from the first year of the breeding program. It was spawned in 2002 so it is only age-3. Who knows how big it could get? I'm just fired up that he doesn't look like he wants to waste a bunch of energy building a nest just yet.

Leave it to you to notice that it wasn't a sexually mature male, but rest assured, it IS a male.

Damn nice 'Gill, Bruce! I thought that looked like a male (from the opercule shape) per your PB article. I intend to use the descriptions in it to sex BG.

You Cornhuskers are tough - 28 degrees, and you're going sleeveless.

You got that right! A Sooner would have been wearing a parka.

Bruce, this is the least aggressive my fish have fed in at least two weeks. They went from hitting it fairly aggressively 2 wks ago to slurping it like a carp around Thurs. and tonight I only saw 1 fish feed. Mine fed better right at ice out than they have for the last week. This weather has been brutal. It will probably be really diffucult to get them feeding in your pond where they don't have much competition and have a full belly already from midges.

Sooner? I had on a parka today and it hit 50 degrees.

Actually I've always been better at noticing sexually mature specimens of the female gender Homo sapien species, but with bluegills I'm still learning. Wish me well as I am going to start culling males out of a floating cage soon to put into a male only pond. If I have any doubts about any of them being males they are not going into the pond. It's been cold here too and I won't move them until water temps go back into the 60's. Turns out my supplier wants to wait until pond waters warm up too as the gills I'm getting from him are in 65 degree water in an RAS.

Bruce:

What is the smallest size at which you think BG can be correctly sexed (using the "I'm not putting them in unless I'm 100% sure" approach Cecil has)?

While working "Bob-Warr" fence this weekend I finally figured out how to put in a second pond without screwing up any good pastures (I can actually improve a hayfield in the process!) and have had visons of stocking/restocking strategies dancing in my head ever since. Using a small second pond to feed Male-Only Bluegill (selected from the main pond) to a large (table) size would be one cheap application. (You know how important it is to save a couple hundred $ in fish stocking costs after blowing a few thousand on the pond!)

Theo,

You copy citter! :p

I would say that after LOTS of experience with sex ID on bluegill I've achieved the following levels of absolute certainty:

<6 in. 20%
6-7 in. 60%
7-8 in. 80%
8+ in. 95%

If I'm uncertain of a fish, I just don't put it in the pond.

Theo, I'm going bluegill fishing tomorrow. What do you think of me taking some pictures and posting them to discuss some of the variations of male vs. female and some of the possible screwups? It wouldn't be that difficult to show males, females, immature males and "cuckholder" males which are males masquerading as females.

Bruce:

That sounds great!

I have found that how rapidly or at what size bgills develop external sexual characters is dependent on the environmental conditions (growth rates) and population structure of the resident bgills. Thus the size/length at which you can accurately recognize the males is often variable from pond to pond. I can usually but not always recognize male and females at 6", occasionally at 5" and almost always at 7".

BRUCE - If you create this sex recognition of bgill factoid / essay please put it under a different and an appropritate topic heading. Although I prefer you save it for a magazine article in PBoss where you can do it more justice. Maybe you, Cecil and I can all be co-authors.

BILL--Could we co-author an article that includes a little bit about recognition factors for sex ID of yellow perch, largemouth bass as well?

The PB article sounds like a great way to do it justice. Maybe a new forum topic showing some basics, then a PB article getting into much more detail?

Bruce - let's check it out with the third author.

Also very true about pond's population dynamic having an influence on BG ID. Ponds with stunted populations can have older, very mature male bluegill that are only 7 inches that are pretty easy to tell.

Another point--It's generally easier to look at a bluegill and say "That's definitely a male", than it is to say "That's definitely a female".

In reference to my earlier comments about Sweeney timers. When Sweeney found out about the timer problem they were extremely helpful about servicing their product. I was really happy with the follow up calls they made and the short turnaround time. The timer was fixed under their warranty plan. I am under the impression that they are making a push to promote their product with all of the competition out there.

So far my Native Outdoor feeders are functioning well. The original charge on the battery is still holding after one month. I anticipate that some time soon I will have to recharge.

My Stren feeder is powerful and working without a hitch. It too has been in service for one month. I'll be interested to see if I will experience problems with the motor as a couple of others have stated.

Now that I have three brands running maybe I can make an intelligent comment at the end of the season about relative quality and value.

Bruce, I installed a Native Feeder a few weeks ago for portable use at our “grow-out” pond and it worked well until the raccoons destroyed the rubber impeller – I believe ML experienced this problem as well.

The manufacturer/rep delivered replacement impellers since we are in the same area, and after much consternation figured out how to make the repair.

The feeder originally was attached to a T-post – I found a 7ft “shepherd hook” commonly used for hanging plants and bird feeders, tied it to the T-post and raised the feeder a couple of feet higher off the ground. So far the critters haven’t found a way to reach it, but as smart as they are- probably will.

It has served its purpose well, and now transferring “grown-out” HSB to main pond where I have two very dependable Stren feeders.

I consider the low cost Native Feeders expendable unless they use a higher quality material for their impellers.

George Glazener
N.E. Texas ¼ acre and 2 acre ponds

George,

Yep, been there and done that...and included that warning to Bruce and others about this particular feeder.

You may not want to do this, but a solution I have found that works 100% is to set a couple of traps in the water attached to the steel post. You will catch one or maybe two coons and after that, you will be home free. Just make sure that the trapped coons can not reach the feeder from where they are trapped or they will compeletely destroy it...been there and done that too.

oh, and rememember that the traps are there when you go to refill the feeder...ouch!

ML, I am occasionally called upon to trap raccoons and other varmints in the horse barn for my wife (that, killing spiders, and opening pickle jars are all she really needs me for). I use a live-catch trap because new barn cats have to learn not to get trapped by being caught once.

The first time I targetted raccoon, I neglected to clear the area around the trap and was rewarded by finding not just a raccoon but also my wife's new cooler (light horse blanket, kind of a heavy felt) in the trap the next morning. The trapped raccoon had occupied his time and frustration by shredding about half of it and pulling the rest inside the trap with him (through the 1/2" wire mesh!). I got the varmint but suffered an overall points loss with the Mrs. That was maybe 12 years ago, and we still find pieces of that cooler when we move large items around in the barn.

So definitely, do not leave anything within reach of a trapped raccon that you don't want trashed.

Theo,

You can imagine what they would do to a plastic feeder...I called Mark(the Native Feeder person and a great guy) one day a couple of years ago to tell him about how his feeder had been ripped to shreads by a raccoon. He was somewhat incredulous and shocked to hear of the total destruction wrought upon his prized product.

A trapped coon is something to be respected. No doubt.