Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Catching fish once you start to feed!

Once I began an assertive feeding program I have a very hard time catching anything but BG, RES, and HCP on artificials. My SMB and HSB will still hit jig/crawler, minnow or BG under a float, but it's not steady action. If I shut down the feeder for a couple days, which I rarely do, the action picks up significantly. If I want to tie into my SMB or HSB I resort to the pellet fly presentation and I have no problems catching them.

I have mixed feelings about the whole scenario.

I love the WR and apparent health of my fish that AM pellets render, and a part of me feels good that my fish are so reluctant to hit artificials which may discourage any trespassers. That last one might be a reach...

I miss being able to employ different angling strategies and having to resort to just pellet fly patterns. It doesn't require any skill to cast a AM 600 or LMB pellet out to feeding fish and hold on. So, I miss using plastics, topwaters, jigs, fly rodding with streamers/buggers or poppers.

In my fishery it's a tradeoff [high WR fish/poor angling success] unless I want to shut down the feeders - but it may be different in other ponds. Eager to hear other people's experiences on angling success on well fed pellet fisheries.