Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait LMB pate for CNBG

My grandmother would bury all the fish scraps in the garden. In the Spring I'd be tasked with catching/shooting (archery) a bunch of carp for the garden. She'd also be burying fish scraps every week when I brought fish home for her. Her garden flourished.

If there's a FA problem in the pond, I'd be burying the fish before putting them back into the pond as pâté to help reduce the nutrient load.

I remember when my grandparents sold the farm and moved to a local lake to retire. The put out a couple of china berry trees, one on each side of the entrance. In the hole of one, they tossed a big carp that had been caught on a trotline. That tree, after 3 years, was about twice as large as the other one.

I have heard of people floating dead animals on a chicken wire raft about 1' off the water. The idea is that once the flies get it the maggots will start soon after. Eventually they will fall through the screen and feed your fish. I imagine this would work for fish as well. As long as you could stand the smell I think it would work slick.

Quite a few years ago Mother Earth News had a fish feeder story using road kill. Take a dead animal and hang it out over the pond. The flies would come and their maggots would drop into the water for the fish. I never got around to trying it.

I'm still gonna try it in my brood pond, but I just haven't had the time. I figured the best way to do it was sinking a pipe at a 45 degree angle into the bank, and then hanging a basket full of bits off another pole slid into that one. I just want to make sure it hangs far enough out to be critter proof.

My lake only has FHM and small GSH in it right now. I don't know if they would even eat maggots. Any thoughts?