Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Fish not feeding

Stocked my 1.5 acre new pond in 11/15 with 2000 1-3 inch coppernose bluegill, 6000 FHM, 150 3-4 inch LMB. I bought a feeder from Lochow Ranch and began feeding 4x/day, 1 second at a time per their recommendations but cut it back to just once a day for the winter. I used to see fish eating the feed but I haven't seen any fish eating for a month and have seen feed floating all the way to the other end of the pond. I am pretty sure the fish had been feed trained at the fishery. I called Lochow and they recommended again to go to 4x/day to train them and I thought that might work, especially with water warming up but I have been out several times during pellet disbursement and still NO feeding activity after 4x/day schedule for 10 days. I am using a generic feed with 30% protein, floating pellets. I do see fish eating bugs at dusk, though. What does this mean and what do I do? Am I ruining water quality by putting in too much feed? BONUS QUESTION: Attempts to catch bass with beetle spins has failed to yield a bite; are they just too small still or is this a problem?

PW, the true experts will be along soon. I'm far from that, but do have a few thoughts.

First, is your pond water very alkaline with a high pH, or low alkaline with low pH? The issue with excess fertility from feeding could be serious with the former, but not likely latter. My own new pine country pond has a relatively low alkalinity & pH so excess nutrients aren't much of an issue.

Second, could it be you've had a huge hatch of bugs or minnows that satisfy the appetites of your fish, at least temporarily? Sometimes fish get locked in on a particular food and ignore others for a while.

Third, 30 percent protein sounds kinda low. As fish grow, they often become more particular about what they eat. You might try a good branded food, like Aquamax or Optimal, and see if it makes any difference. I know it's more expensive, but that makes more sense than buying generic that doesn't get eaten.

Best of luck!

The higher quality food is actually better for the pond because you usually feed less of it.

I would either feed Aquamax Sportfish 400 (small pellets) or the Optimal Sunfish food.

You could also go to the place where you bought the fish and see if you can get a bag of what they were feeding to those size fish and try that.

I would not feed 4x a day until you saw the fish cleaning up all the food. Any uneaten food is just going to waste.

PW, where in Texas are you? Lots of difference in fish behavior from Amarillo to Texarkana and over to El Paso.

Generally, if a fish was eating a certain type of feed, they will continue. What type of generic feed are you using? Is it fresh? Some of that stuff should not be labeled fish food. 30% is, IMO, too low for bluegills. But, I have no idea why they won't eat it unless it is a hold over from last year.

Kinda surprised that the bass won't hit a beetle spin. Try night crawlers or just minnows.

What is your water temp and recent weather ?

Thanks for the input! I am in NE Tx, Longview area and my water is low pH, low alkalinity. I am not certain of the temperature due to a faulty thermometer I through away last night but probably in the 65-70 degree range. Record setting flooding and high temperatures here lately.

Rapid changes in water temperature or water clarity will put fish off their feed too.

PW,
Our pond is also in NE Texas and we can't cast a 3-4 inch rubber worm or a real worm and retrieve it untouched. Also had great luck with my fly rod catching BG.

So far we have removed over 40 small LMB and we have released less than a dozen larger LMB back into the big pond. I believed we had a late second LMB spawn last year and I am now seeing evidence of that spawn with an entire class of five inch fat LMB along side of the 13in to15n fish we are culling.

We are catching most of the fish around 8am CDT and around 6-7:30PM CDT. The catch rate goes down to one every ten to 15 casts during mid day.

I agree that 4 times a day is a bit much? I do 2 times a day and my fish eat great, if they don't get feed they will eat other stuff... Mine trained up just fine on twice a day.... It took about 3 weeks. I fed at like 8:30 am and then once at about 6:30 after we sprung forward.

I have had my fish slow way down on food if water levels fluctuate to much or a cold front is coming in... but for them to not eat any is kinda strange...

Did I miss it or did they eat it before and then stop or have they never ate it at all?? Your food sounds more like a catfish food to me then BG food.... My AQ is 41 or 42 percent protein and they love it! 30 may be a bit to low....

Keep us posted,
RC

Two situations that will often stop pellet feeding for a while are weather (cold or muddy water) and spawning. 70 - 72 F temps are optimum for BG spawning.

I'm hoping to update and get some new replies on this thread because now I have the same problem again, fish not feeding, but new situation. My fish eventually starting eating again and ate very well. I did continue the four times per day schedule but only a second each time and they consumed it pretty quickly. Water stopped flowing out of my drain pipe and water level started dropping 1 month ago, water is now really hot, and I fertilized and finally got a plankton bloom with green water and about 23 inches visibility. With all these changes, the fish have stopped feeding completely and we can't get a bite from either bluegill or bass. I am planning to aerate but haven't done this yet and have figured it won't be too dangerous with minimal organic buildup with my pond in its first year. I'm theorizing the fish are just too stressed to feed because of all the changes but what do you think? What can I do to improve the situation?

I'm close to you and my fish are still feeding very aggressively, although there is a big change in soil and pH in the 60-70 miles between our ponds. Did you ever get a higher quality food like AquaMax or Optimal?

Yes, I did get a high protein food from the Lochow Ranch guys

I am located North of Marshall so I'm not far from u. Yes the water temps are high, my surface temp was 93 last time I checked and my fish are feeding really good early and late in the day, but not so much if I try feeding later in the am or earlier in the pm. They are deep right now in the cooler water and so they are slow to feed if feed at the wrong time of the day.

Tracy

I stopped feeding for a few days then restarted after we got a big rain and the started eating again! thanks for the help