Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding 1/4 acre pond feeder

I'm looking for a small feeder I can mount on my dock. Since the pond is so small I'm wondering if I need to spend the $700 for a Texas Hunter. I read good reviews, but I feel like they're more than I need.

I do want a broadcast feeder as I dont want to mount this in the water.

I don't know of any other directional fish feeders being made other than Texas Hunter and Sweeney. Stren AquaPro had a directional feeder too, but they have their issues. I don't know if they still make them or not. Speaking from experience here, if you get a AquaPro you better be confortable working on things with your hands.

Diamond Feeders is another company I had found. I'll take your advice on the AquaPro.

I am happy with My Moultrie feeder

I briefly looked at them Bobby. I couldn't tell if they were a drop spreader (360 degree) or if they were directional. I also don't remember seeing how they were powered.

http://diamondfeeders.com/product/fish-feeders/

That's the one I'm currently thinking about.

Some things that I've learned over the years.

Ask them what sized pellets the feeder is capable of handling.

Also ask them how much feed is dispensed at the shortest timer interval (in pounds) of what sized pellet. Also ask them what their warranty is, and what procedure it is to clean the unit if it is clogged (like if you were to accidentally drop a string from the bag in the feeder and it gets hung up on the impeller.)

For instance, the AquaPro will "usually" dispense Aquamax carnivore 600 (now called Sportfish 600) which has an average size of 9/32. It is a little bit larger right after they clean their extruder dies, and sometimes will bridge across the bottom of the feeder and not dispense. The AquaPro feeder will dispense about 3/4 of a pound of AM600 with the timer on the shortest dispense setting of one second. It's a whole different ballgame if you try to feed AM 500 (3/16" pellet size) in the AquaPro feeder. When set on the 1 second setting, it will dispense approximately 3 pounds of food.

If you take the feeder apart and adjust it so it throws 1 pound of AM500 or less for 1 second, then you have to take it all apart and re-adjust it for the larger food. That may not seem like a big deal, but you have to empty the feeder, and almost completely disassemble it to do that, figure on about an hour job to adjust it if you are handy with tools and mechanically inclined.

With the TH feeder, it will throw both sized pellets without adjusting, and throw out even less food when set on the 1 second feed time. It's about a 10 minute job to take it apart and clean it, while the AquaPro takes an hour.

To be honest, I have no hands on experience with Sweeney or Diamond.

For me selling feeders, it's just not worth the hassle to sell a feeder that requires the owners to dive into and re-adjust, and have other issues with them. (timers going bad, etc.) The phone calls walking customers thru the "here's what you have to do to fix it" process isn't worth the profit in the feeders for us. That hasn't been an issue with TH feeders.

Diamond claims (I called) that their feeders dispense about the same amount of food regardless of what size pellet. Which is roughly 1 pound per 3 seconds.

That can be adjusted though. They claim it's not difficult to adjust, but you do have to empty the feeder to make that adjustment.

Until someone who actually has one could chime in or I buy one "not difficult" is subjective.

At $440 +shipping I'm considering them.

I've been real happy with my tripod 360 feeder from Tractor Supply (Walmart too) that was $100. Had it in service for a few years now. Replaced the controller last week (30 bucks on ebay) because it fell into the water. I made a guard to keep it from throwing on the bank.

Well I ordered their 150lb model. If you get one with dock legs it ran me about $560 shipped. That's from Texas to MD. If you don't get the dock legs, shipping goes up quite a bit.

I'll try to provide a review of my initial impressions and if I ever run into any problems I'll post them. It's not quite half the price of the Texas Hunter, but it's close. We'll see if "I get what I paid for" or if it turns out to be a nice product.

I'd go with all that. I've tried most of the inexpensive feeders, and the TH doesn't seem to be as affected as the others with fish food dust, caked up dispensers, etc.

The only issue for me with the TH's was the inability to meter down AM 400 throws. A little bit of gorilla tape in the bottom of the hopper to decrease the hole size corrected that for me.

I am looking to get one for my smaller pond too. Finally talked my wife into why this is a good idea We were looking at the diamond ones but then she was at Walmart and they had a deer feeder on sale. She picked it up yesterday and told me if it doesn't work for the pond hopefully it will work for the woods. It was only $26! So if anyone is looking for a cheap game feeder it maybe worth a shot.

The only issue for me with the TH's was the inability to meter down AM 400 throws. A little bit of gorilla tape in the bottom of the hopper to decrease the hole size corrected that for me.

FireIsHot ---
Thanks for that comment. Duh!!! Been looking for a way to meter down my TH feeder some. Totally forgot about the cure for many many things. Good old Gorilla Tape. Thanks again...