Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Optimal Jr. BG Chow

I got a free sample of Optimal BG JR from Hoosier Pond Pros when I ordered some Optima BG chow. I suspect other folks have too.

I have a school of small BG that rush to the shore when I go down to feed in the evenings. In the past I would toss them a handful of 3 mm Skretting pellets and then throw Fisherman's choice to the CC further out. Well I ran out of the Skretting so I broke out the Optimal Jr sample.....I now have easily 3 times the BG coming close to shore at feeding time! I have seen 1.5 to 2 inch BG grabbing the biggest pellets and then watched them run with it before finally getting it positioned so they can swallow it. Problem as I see it...OPTIMAL JR IS NOT FOR SALE YET!

Anybody else tried their sample yet?

Did you notice any differences in shape or color vs the Optimal Bluegill chow ?

I threw out some food close to the shore yesterday afternoon and the little two inch cnbg will attack with a vengeance and do summersaults and tail walk in the air. The little ones are aggressive to say the least and are fun to watch.

Tracy

I haven't opened the regular BG chow yet. Still throwing the last of my Fishermans Choice and trying to get out a few more CC before I start throwing the BG chow. I can say the Jr is very light in color and floats great.

A bit off topic, no hi jack intended! I am encouraged to see the variety of Optimal feeds. Regular bg, lm, and now bg jr. Are there any others yet, and what is still in the works?

Maybe it will be for sale by next spring. That way I won't have to order AM Grower 400 in February for April delivery at $60 per bag.

I am hoping I can buy smaller bags of the Jr like 10 or 20 pounds. My puddle is small and it would take me a long time to use 40 or 50 pounds of the Jr. Keystone, the fish farm I use, repackages their small Skretting chow in 10 pound bags to accommodate the little pond owners. If Optima doesn't come out with smaller bags, I hope somebody like Hoosier Pond Pros does some repackaging. I wouldn't mind paying a little more a pound.

You can also try to find someone close to you that would share the feed and the cost.

We would like to celebrate the official launch of our Optimal Junior Bluegill line with a coupon code to the incredible Pond Boss community.

Good for today only, use coupon code "bossfive" at checkout to receive $5 off any purchase of a single bag!

We have a lot in the works so stay tuned for more announcements (including new product lines and smaller bag options;-)

Big thanks to Pond Boss and its community for your knowledge, passion, and support.

This is great news.

And again, I can't say enough how wonderful the customer service has been when I have worked with Optimal. These guys have been great. And most importantly, the fish are responding unbelievably.


On that note, I'm interested to hear the direction and line of products they plan to come out with. It may alter my pond management plan for the pond that I plan to kill off and start over.

My feeding is only supplemental by hand, but my bg just love the Optimal. Thanks for the great product guys!

Maybe I missed it, but can someone post a side by side picture of the current Optimal run (mixed sizes) and the Optimal BG Jr? Optimal was developed and designed to excel for bluegill/sunfish. So how is BG Jr different? Same formula, just smaller size? Is it all one size or mixed sizes?

Glad to hear that we can soon buy smaller quantities!

I think it is higher protein and smaller size.

Without going out to my shop to look, I believe the BG Jr. was darker in color.

Details regarding new BG food would be helpful.

We got a lot of feedback from people requesting a smaller pellet. We put together a little info-graphic to help illustrate the size difference between the Standard Bluegill and the Junior.

I'm going to try to add an image to this post...so hopefully it works!

This feed is not only a different size, but also a different formulation better suited for smaller bluegill. Although it is still a similar 40/10 diet, key growth promoting amino acids are fortified in these formulations to target the smaller fish.

As for the new lines and size options...we've got a little work ahead of us before we make any big announcements. Stay tuned!

TJ, I've been meaning to run some BG Jr and Optimal Bass up to you but just didn't take the time to do it. And now I'm all but out of the BG Jr. It seemed to me, that my young RES feed trained MUCH easier when I had the BG Jr. mixed in with my Optimal. Right now I'm feeding a mix of 6 parts Optimal BG : 2 parts BG Jr : 2 parts Optimal Bass. It seems to be working very well.

Thanks good Intel

I know I will be trying some in the spring.

I ordered and got the discount.

However, the price for a 40 lb bag was $55, $5 higher than regular BG food. So with the $5 discount, it came to $50, the same as regular BG food.

Still, my experience with Optimal has been good, so if they say it is specially formulated to enhance small RES/BG growth, I believe them.

i sure hope the new sizes include larger bass and bg pellets.
the bass pellets are just the right size for my larger bg, but too small for my bass. the bg eat them as soon as the hit the water and the bass never get an opportunity. since my goal is large bg, i'd love for the bg pellets to be too large for the smaller bg.

I agree with this. My LMB love the bass food but my big BG are eating most of it before the bass get it. If the bass food could be big enough that the BG couldn't get it in their mouths my target fish would benefit more. Of course I know nothing about all of this,maybe a big pellet would be hard for the fish to digest. Oh by the way my BG also love the BG food as well.

I believe they made the Optimal Bass as large as they could and still have it run through a Texas Hunter feeder. So any size larger than that will have to be fed by hand. I'm guessing that would all depend on what they believe the market would be for such.

That makes sense.

My bag of BG Jr feed arrived today. It's about half the size of Optimal BG food. The small BG were very responsive to it. They had been eating AM Grower 400, but I ran out Saturday. The Optimal is easier to get. I fed broken up catfish pellets to them for a couple of days.

I may try it in the spring. I'm about out of feed and will not be getting more until then. Anyone think there will be a chance on a mixture of JR and BG in the same bag? I know I could just buy two bags and mix myself...but trying to keep my feeding in the budget I can't spring for two at a time and keep mrs. peach happy about feeding fish..lol. A bag a month doesn't look as bad as two at a time...even if it might go further. I know they have two mills its coming from, just curious if that was a possibility.

I figure I might have another month of feeding here in NW AR with the way the weather is trending, even on catfish.

I could keep feeding pretty easily...just a bit close to Christmas...lol. I'm SOO ready for the actual fall weather. This week and last felt like summer was back. We are bad dry right now...had next to nothing in Oct. Under a burn ban right now. Pond is at its lowest since last year. Have you had any rain of late? I know you have watched it go north and south for so long...

No. No significant rainfall here since July 26.

Still sitting at low pool here in N. Illinois as well. I'm still hoping some of the rain that keeps passing us by will hit us one of these days. I stopped feeding a couple weeks ago do to lack of enthusiasm from the BG and CC.

3 foot low here in deep east Texas!! Last significant rain was in the end of August!! Water temp 74 and still feeding heavy.

I got .3" yesterday. Biggest rain in months. Water temp is 60, fish are still feeding.

Has anyone noticed that the optimal Jr. sinks? just purchased a couple bags and about 20% sinks immediately with the remainder progressively sinking within a short time. Is it possible I got a bad batch?

FWIW I had a one pound sample bag I fed last fall. I did not notice any sinking.

I fed about two pounds of Optimal Jr by hand today and did not notice any sinking.

Just saw your post on the junior line. The feed should be all floating. We make fresh feed regularly and the first few bags and last few bags tend to sink just as part of the normal extrusion process. We try to discard a few everytime, but one must have snuck through. Denser pellets carry higher nutrient density per pellet than a less dense pellet (think a cup of cheetos vs a cup of cliff bars) so it absolutely wont hurt the fish
I'll ger a replacement bag put to you this week. I apologize for any inconvenience. -Dustin 605-691-5551

No worries Dustin, I purchased this food to start off about 2000 CNBG fingerlings. I have since started feeding against the bank and they seen to be getting all the sinkers. Their feeling behavior went through the roof after only 4-5 morning and evening feedings. The way they are now attacking this food I doubt a kernel will remain. Definitely a HUGE improvement since my original post. Thanks for the heads up on the extruder challenges.

All the best,
Tommy

I seldom have any sink, which as fast as my 3-4 inch BG attack it. I don't think it would stand a chance anyway.