I'm sharing a little praise of Optimal.
Backstory is we've owned the 1/4 acre pond since 2009. It originally had only YP, LMB, and GC (2 big ones). As expected YP were few and far between, LMB were undersized/underweight.
Over the years I've added more GC for elodea control, bucket stocked BG and GSF, a very few BCP, and a few SMB. I've hammered on the LMB, removing 184 in the last 3 years.
4 years ago I added 18 RBT and BRNT and started feeding Aquamax at first, then Skretting when I could no longer get Aquamax. The trout persisted for 2 years, grew to 24", and burned out and died. I've continued to hand toss feed since then with only the GC showing interest. The perch and sunfish had not seemed to accept it as food.
One week ago I got my first bag of Optimal Bluegill and have been trying to feed a small handful most mornings and evenings. and am seeing interest in the feed. This morning I fished. I caught numerous chubby YP and GSF where I had fed. They're full of Optimal. Success! In the years when I'd fed Purina and Skretting, I only gutted one fish with pellets in it. Nearly every fish this am had been chowing down.
I think I've finally got a food chain of sunfish going. Because I can now get them to eat pellets, I think they will do much better than in the past. I'll keep the bass numbers low and sooner or later I'll have enough food for the bass, too.
As an aside, I also caught a 9" RBT this morning. Our irrigation water comes from a lake on the Dolores river, a trout stream. I've never put trout that small into the pond, so that fish came down the ditch and pipe. Some people are cursed with BH, BCP, LMB, and worse entering their ponds from BOWs above them. I'm blessed with SMB and now trout!
