Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose how to pellet train bluegill?

I have gotten some excellent info here on the need to add bluegill to my pond for forage for my LMB. That being said, i want to supplement the blue gill with pellets. Heres my question(s): I want to do it away from the beach and dock where we swim all day. what is the best way to start? what depth should it be and should I put some specific habitat there? I have 2 different pallet stacks in the shallow end (opposite the beach) For anyone that started feeding their BG and have a good following now, what did you do and where did you do it. Thanks in advance.

I would first build a feeding ring. Anchor or tether the ring about as far as you and put pellets into it from shore. This will contain the initial offerings of pellets so they don't float to shore and cause string algae (FA) growth. Maybe let the ring sit in the water for a few days so the fish get accustomed to the ring. Fish will eventually realize pellets are in the ring. IF minnows are in the pond they will find the pellets first then attract the BG. If no minnows then a good way is to get a few pellet trained BG - buy them or get a few from another pond that has pellet feeding. These fish will act as 'teacher fish' and fairly quickly stimulate other BG to eat the pellets.

Hydrate the feed and you will reduce the likelihood of your fish rejecting the pellets. You can gradually switch them over to dry feed once they become accustomed to feeding.

(I was posting while Cody and Sparkplug were also posting. As you read my response, please think about what they said. I fully agree with both of them.
Ken)


I think this is an easy one to answer. It is a lot like asking kids if they want some chocolate or ice cream.

It doesn't take much to get bluegill to start eating medium- to high-grade floating pellets. If you are old enough to remember the Maxwellhouse coffee commercials, you might remember percolating coffee. That is what my ponds look like when the fish get fed. It defines "feeding frenzy."

I think you've done the rest. The pallet area sounds perfect. If your pond has large mouth bass (LMB), or channel catfish (CC), I would expect to will seem them at feeding time. The CC will be eating pellets. The LMB might be eating pellets, but more than likely, they will be eating the smaller bluegill feeding on the pellets.

Please don't be afraid to ask questions. There are a lot of us who have been through similar issues.

Ken[

excellent guys, im gonna get started on the food ring. So heres what im thinking, 3 weighted buckets with pvc out of them (artificial habitat) and in the middle floating on the surface a pvc ring to contain the food. A little bit of cover with the food right above.

I tried the feed ring, making one out of PVC. It sounds like a good idea, but it doesn't take much for the feeding fish to have the water worked up so much that the feed swirls or moves under the ring and goes wherever it wants to.

The other reason I don't particularly like the feed ring is because it concentrates the feed too much. I feed about 25 pounds a day, over several areas. I use automatic feeders which make feed rings irrelevant. And I love to hand feed every day that I can. When I hand feed I have feed slung in an area at least 30 feet wide and from where I stand on the dock out as far as I can sling it, at least 20 feet. I have thousands of bluegills that "froth" the water like piranaha. If I made a feed ring big enough to handle all the fish I feed, the area would be so big that I wouldn't even need the ring.

My advice. No matter how dedicated you are you simply won't be able to hand feed your fish twice a day, EVERY day. Get some "Spincast Feeders" fill em up, and check them often till you are sure you undersand them and that they are working reliably AND the fish are flocking in. When a vehicle gets withing 100 feet of my "new" lake I can see waves and ripples of fish scurrying in.

I've been meaning to make a video of this to post here and maybe this thread will prompt me to do that this week-end.

Good luck, and feed them all they will eat.

"Bill"

bill,

wow, 25lbs a day is a lot of food. Just curious how big your pond is?

I don't believe that feeding rings are meant to be a permanent addition to the BOW, rather they assist in feed training the fish in the beginning. Once my fish began to feed reliably, I removed my feeding ring.

I feed my ponds once a day, by hand. According to my records, my fish missed feed a total of three days last season. So far this year, no days missed. I feel that those few days without feed are more than offset by my ability to compensate daily for my fish's needs/wants. If they are aggressive and want more, I feed more. If they are sluggish, I cut back. A mechanical feeder just can't do that.

Naturally, the size of the BOW as well as individual preferences and needs will impact the decision of whether or not to purchase a feeder.

25 lbs a day? That's $500/month if your feeding quality food HOLY $mokes.

sprkplug is correct - the feeding ring is just another tool to help train the fish to learn to eat pellets in a specific area of the pond. To minimize feed from splashing or washing out of the ring a wind baffle should be installed around the inside of the ring. The width of the baffle can be 3"-8" depending on ones needs. I used vinyl siding for my rings and Farm Pond Harvest magazine used thin aluminum sheeting. Farm Pond Harvest popularized the feeding ring concept for feeding fish back in the 1960's.

When the fish feeding activity gets active enough to splash pellets out of the ring, then it is time to stop using the ring. Feed training - mission accomplished.

Got it. Unfortunately for me I can't feed as frequently as some others. My pond is at my vacation property and although I get there as often as possible, daily is just not happening. I'm just trying to do as much as I can with what I've got.

Bill I haven't heard the Farm Pond Harvest magazine mentioned in years, it was a great bi-monthly mag., I use to get it back in the seventies when I lived in Virginia.

Here's a site showing the feeder ring you mentioned.
http://www.fishingwithrolandmartin.com/tips/fish_feeders.htm

P.S. I still have some of their magazines from over 30 years ago.

I don't hand feed every day. That is just in addition to what the feeders do. I doubt I feed more than 20 sacks a month total, and at $17.50 (estimate) per sack that is around $350 a month. I don't feed when it's raining, when it's really hot, and I'm out of town a lot and obviously I don't hand feed then.

In my opinion if anyone is serious about maximixing their fish production they need to have auto feeders and also do hand feeding. I never got one to work great on their own. If you don't check the feeders they can clog and also run out, or the battery and solar panel might go out.

Unless you live on the lake and never leave home, I can't imagine how hand feeding alone for 95% of the people would really maximize fish production.

With good fish production the rule is "you must be present to win." I run two feeders per lake and hand feed at least 50% of the days in the main growing season. I start cutting back some in late October when we usually get our first frost.

Right now I'm out of town and am paying someone to check the fish, hand feed them, check feeders and battery power and solar charges, make sure they aren't clogged, make sure they have feed, check water levels, give rain reports, and report to me via text every day an update.

But I have to have both the feeders and hand feeding to do my best. I set my feeders to go off in the morning and late afternoon. I'm just not going to be able to go out there twice a day all during the growing season.

In my opinion neither one by itself if better than having both. Somedays the feeders don't work and some days I can't be there, but together everything usually gets fed twice a day, all year. They don't miss many meals.

"Bill"

Hi Bill, that's interesting. If it's not intruding, could you tell us a little more about your ponds/lakes. Sounds like you're pretty serious, and have a good set-up.
Thanks, Randy

Bill, $17.50 per bag is a little over half what I'm paying. What type of food are you feeding? I'm sold on AQ500....41% protein, fish meal based.

Savannah412, it sounds like you are a good candidate for a feeder since you cannot visit the pond every day. While I don't have any personal experience with mechanical feeders, from what I've read on here it pays to spend a little more and get a quality unit.

I've never really thought about how serious I was about fish production, it may well be that I'm not that serious at all. I do consider this a hobby, rather than a production environment.

However, I do feel good about what I've been able to accomplish in three years. I'm not even close to the level of most folks on this site, but I'm learning as I go, and I think I'm making progress. Maybe I'll get there one day.

That might be the next thing. I'm the type that always has to be busy, just finished building 4 more PVC fish houses. Last week we brush hogged another area for another pond... It's just a hobby, but my family loves our pond. It's multi purpose. Fishing, swimming, and most importantly, beauty on our land.

The feed I use is usually just feed I get at the Co-Op. I do travel about an hour to get some feed with smaller pellets that work in my feeder better. And then I drive to another town aout 45 mintues away to get a 25 pound sack of feed that has different size pellets, including ones small enough for fingerlings.

I'm out of town now but when I get home I'll see what the feed sack says. One is Nutrina, I remember that. The other just has a picture of a catfish on it. There is a feed mill about an hour from me and I met one of the reps who said they would sell to me in bulk for a big discount, but I never drove over there. Probably should for next year. I don't guess I've ever seen catfish feed (what I use) more than around $17 a bag.

I'll post more when I check the names on the feedsacks.

"Bill"

PS, I wrote a long reply yesterday and just about the time I was ready to post I lost power and lost the whole post, which had a lot of info. I'll try to re-do that when I get home.

Catfish feed will bulk up a Bluegill, around here it's usually only 32-36% protein. That would help explain the price difference.

The 41% has worked well for me....