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I have noticed that when using a better fish food with a higher percentage of protein that we all seem to use less feed. Now if I am correct I could go to a food with higher percentage and use less food and probably save money. That really sounds good to me. This is a very good topic. thanks

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 Originally Posted By: hang_loose
Man, I feel like I'm starving my fish..(1/2 acre pond) 50 pounds is lasting me from April to Oct. with a few pounds left... But I also throw a few lbs of FHM in the spring and a few lbs in the fall...

This is about the same amount so far this year. Feed March to November. This tread will help me in knowing wahat other are doing. Really first feeding seasion.


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I have increased my feed rate to 400# a month on twelve acres and am planning on increasing it again when my two new sweeny feeders arrive at the end of this month. This is probably double what I was feeding last year. Bruce told me my fish looked thin. That comes to 33# per acre a month. So last year I was probably feeding 15pounds per acre.

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5000 lbs from april to october of 2009 on 33 acre lake.
That will double in 2010 with the addition of a few more feeders and tons more feed trained fish.


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200 lbs per month in a 6 acre pond. 2 feeders and I fill them up every 2 weeks.

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I think I'm at about 120#/acre/mo at peak since I feed about a bag and a half by hand during a few months in summer in my half acre pond. I feed lower rates in the spring and late fall. I did the Moutrie feeder deal so I'm in the process of figuring out how often/when and how much to feed. I'll be down at the pond daily to throw out some Largemouth pellets but the feeder won't give me the opportunity to see how well they're eating.




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I now have my two new sweeny feeders from Greg Grimes set up and running. I would highly recommend the dock legs to go with the feeders even if you are not going to put it on a dock just because of the height they add to the feeder. Having the feeder higher off of the ground increases the distance it throws the food by about two or three feet. I have now increased my rate of feed to 200 pounds per week which is much higher than last year. I would like to increase my rate even higher but am concerned with water quality and the price of fish food. I have increased my feeding rate in response to this post and Bruce telling me my fish were thin. I just discovered a new problem after I installed one of the new feeders. It appears that the channel catfish spawned again last year and I have hundreds of one year old catfish at the new feeder. I wanted to feed bass and bluegill not a hoard of catfish. Have any of you had success at removing catfish. I have been removing about fifty pounds a week and thought i was making progress until I saw all of the new ones.

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My feeding rate varies depending on what species I'm raising, and what size they are in my four ponds. It changes from year to year.

I'm presently feeding a bag of AM500 & AM600 mixed together per month in my .62 acre all male bluegill, all female perch, and approximately 200 6 to 8 inch smallmouth bass pond & .10 acre broodfish holding pond. The other two ponds are just starting to produce fry so they don't really count. So I guess the two pounds combined at .72 acres comes to 139 lbs. per acre.


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Cecil how do you keep your water quality in good shape feeding at such a high rate?

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Originally Posted By: james holt
Cecil how do you keep your water quality in good shape feeding at such a high rate?


I think the diffusers help a lot and I'm sure the Chara and Sago Pondweed also take up ammonia from the water. Hence why I have so many weeds! I'm also using Aquashade in both ponds which should suppress an out of control algae bloom. And I only feed once per day.

In aquaculture the upper limit is supposed to be 30 lbs. per acre per day with aeration. That comes to 900 lbs. per acre per month!

Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 05/28/10 10:28 PM.

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Cecil is that with some type of water exchange or is that just with aeration?

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Originally Posted By: james holt
Cecil is that with some type of water exchange or is that just with aeration?


If you mean the rate I quoted for aquaculture -- no water exchange -- but they are usually shallow ponds with significant surface aeration. On the top end as in large catfish ponds up to 20 acres you can bet they are also constantly monitoring oxygen, and have emergency aeration on hand if needed.

Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 05/28/10 10:29 PM.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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I've been on an "extended work week" schedule for the last 11 months, which has really limited my life and my pond management activities. For much of last summer, and all of this spring, I've mostly been feeding only on Friday and Saturday evenings when the water temperature has been above about 60 degrees.

The 150 lbs. of feed I was using two seasons ago for my approximate 0.7 acre pond, has dropped to about 30 lbs. per season now -- and I can see a really big difference. Hopefully, in the next few weeks, I can post what has happened. From what I'm seeing, in just one season, my average bluegill catch has dropped from over 9-inches per fishing session, to about 7-inches per fishing session.

During the most recent spawning, the males I was catching averaged about 7 inches, rather than over 10 inches last year. I still have a number of large bluegill in the pond, but they seem to have become a very distinct minority.

I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but the ratio of small to large bluegills sure seems to be related to my big cutbacks in my feeding activities.




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Good thread. Lets us see year to year changes as well as pond to pond.

For 2010 March thru Nov - true supplemental feeding rates vary over time and location.

97 lbs of GFC per acre
9.25 lbs of AM per acre
2.5 lbs AM-LMB per acre (only 1 location on this for the HSB )
















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I've only been feeding now for 6 months. During the summer months, 2 pounds per day. During the winter, about a 1 pound 2-3 times a week depending on weather. We have stocked 450 CC in our 2 acre pond. I realize they aren't going to get big fast with that small amount of feed. I feed by hand in the same spot.



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I just wanted to give this old thread a bump. As a new member who is trying to find info on the long term cost of pond ownership this thread is very helpful. I had been looking for a feed cost per acre for a while before I came across this.

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I feed about 8 months per year total at about 3 pounds per acre per day. I used to feed 5# but was pressuring water quality so cut back.

My fish would readily eat more if I fed it.

Last edited by snrub; 01/21/18 12:05 PM.

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I feed 3 times per day , 15 seconds per time. Not sure what amt. or cost that is.


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What is the consensus on feeding rates for large ponds? Personally thinking about 66 acres with around 50% shallow "panfish" water. Some of the numbers here are scaring me!

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You do not have to feed the whole lake. Just set up one to five feeders in strategic locations and feed specific areas of the lake. I don't use a feeder but the guys that do can give you an idea of how much feed they run through each feeder per year.

You might want to start out with one or two and see how it goes, depending on the speed you want to advance the fish growth in your lake. If you want to push the whole lake to growth limits, probably best to get a pro out to do an eveluation and come up with a solid plan. The professional likely will save you money overall and heartache avoiding big mistakes. A BOW that size, mistakes can get expensive. The cost of a consultation, if you want to push the growth limits, would be money well spent.

Last edited by snrub; 01/22/18 08:25 PM.

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I have heard Bill Cody say that anything over ten pounds per acre per day is asking for water quality problems.

On 66 acres that is over a ton of feed every 4 days. Better have deep pockets and lots of spare time to fill feeders. And probably a bulk bin to have feed delivered by semi load. Or even half that a ton of feed a week.

Or you can feed selectively and less.

Last edited by snrub; 01/22/18 08:32 PM.

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With 66 acres of water you may not or should not have to feed pellets to grow big or quality fish. This is a very good topic and lesson for forum discussion.
Two items of several things or topics have a big influence here.

1. Pond fertility. Even with infertile water, thus clear water (vis 4-6ft), 66 acres can grow a lot of total fish poundage when the system is functioning at carrying capacity. With some increased alkalinity / fertility / plankton the fish poundage will be even higher. If the poundage of fish is harvested and managed correctly one should be able to skew the sizes / community toward large individuals without pellets. Fish poundage (carrying capacity -standing crop) due to natural fertility ranges from a low of about 50 total fish pounds per ac in clean clear low alkalinity water to a high or around 450 lbs/ac in high alkalinity (90-180 mg/L) limestone soil based ponds. These total account for or encompass about 10 times more forage fish pounds than sportfish pounds a typical 'natural' forage to predator balance.

For our 66 North Carolina clear water acres, lets assume 130 total fish pounds per acre (8500 lbs / 66 ac); 13-15 lbs/ac will be predator pounds and 115-117 lbs should be forage - panfish. If there are 14 lbs of bass /ac then the 66 ac has 924 lbs of bass. If 25% of the bass should be harvested each year to produce overall larger bass there needs to be 231 lbs of bass removed each year to achieve the "goals" of larger bass with natural foods only management. Ideally there should be some panfish also removed each year and this will take additional time / effort. Is the owner up to this challenge and does he have time and resources to do MORE if the pond becomes more fertile?

2. Adding pellets without proper harvest / management will just result in more fish but not necessarily larger average fish. Increasing the carrying capacity by feeding, fertilizing, or increasing the alkalinity means harvesting more fish to achieve goals of larger fish. Is this a management method / effort you have time and ability to achieve beyond the current status of the 66 acres?

My point is manage the 66 acres properly and it will produce lots of high quality fish without feeding pellets or increasing fertility.

My question for the fishery experts is: Will larger sized fish be able to be produced if the system has low or high fertility? Managed properly which system will produce or is capable of producing the largest fish?

Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/22/18 09:04 PM.

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My pond is 2 acres and I feed 50 pounds about every 3 weeks. Probably feed 48 weeks a year. Maybe around 15 bags a year at about $32 a bag. I know I spend between $500-$600 a year on just feed for 2 acre pond. My aeriation costs me $30 a month to operate and will run at least 9-10 months a year. So I spend about $1000 a year to have fish in my back yard!! But I love it!! Hope that helps Brad C.


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Awesome info Bill.

I spoke with the owner about harvest rates last week and mentioned that it was going to be a big job to keep the pond numbers in check once we get to that point. I didn't know the exact numbers but it makes sense that the more you feed, the higher the lake capacity, the higher the harvest required. 200+ pounds of bass in the under 14" range is a lot of fish! There will be a decent size group of good anglers to help with this so I think we are up to the challenge. We are already thinking ahead about how to manage the recording of fish removed and we haven't stocked it yet. We are waiting on warmer weather to get the electrofishing done and get the right stocking plan laid out. And also working on the structure - of which there is none at the moment.

That brings up another point I think Bill made in another thread - importance of structure. I know this is a big deal but how does it play into the feeding/fertility/fish size ratio? Right now the pond seems to have an over abundance of 2"-3" GSF. I'm assuming low carrying capacity due to clear water and very little vegetation growth. We have caught a few big GSF but no real presence of predators. Would adding feed to this senario without adding structure or predators only result in more small GSF? Clearly that will not be our path but just for info sake.

Shrub,
We definitely do not have the funds to feed to the tune of a ton a week. We are also not trying to keep up with the King Fisher Society either! We will discuss feeding with the experts when they come out for the evaluation. I doubt we will be able to put in enough CNBG to stock 66 acres at one pop so I suspect feeding some amount could help boost spawning/growth to get our forage numbers up. I'm expecting to work out a multi year stocking plan and it will be interesting to see what is said about reaching our goals with or without feeding. Of course as soon as I get those results and recommendations, you guys will be informed.

Also interested in Bill's last question.

To feed or not to feed....that is the question!

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My ton of feed example was kind of tongue in cheek. I did not figure you would be up to that, plus it likely might create more problems than it solved.

But you were not getting many replies, and I knew by giving some bad examples that would shake the tree and get some of the guys thinking about it who could actually help.

From my perspective, and it is from a novice perspective that has had NO experience managing a BOW that size, I would want to put out one feeder, after you have stocked the pond, in a strategic location just as an experiment if nothing else. Set a modest amount of feed a couple times a day and just monitor results. But that is just me. I enjoy hand feeding my fish about as much as I do fishing for them.

Last edited by snrub; 01/23/18 01:16 PM.

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