Thanks, each of you, for sharing your experiences with StubbySteve's. I put some smaller trout, tigers (sorry, I didn't look up our acronym for these beauties) and RNBT, in my pond last fall. I purposefully have not targeted them, letting them put on some size.
3 and 4 years ago I grew some larger browns and rainbows. Along with the tubby 30+ inch GC that came up for pellets, the trout fed on the round pellets I was hand feeding. I found them all to be extremely selective about what they'd take, living up to the stories of wild trout ignoring a fisherman's fly while taking a seemingly identical living mayfly right alongside the fake. A pellet pressed, or glued, onto a hook floated or sank differently than a free-floating pellet, and consequently, was ignored! Picky fish indeed.
The GC are still in there, larger than ever; the trout have died of old age at up to 24".
I'm ready to order more Optimal. I'll ask them about the bait that may mimic their pellets.
Even though we have detractors that may believe our ponds are like "fishing in a barrel" (I've actually had that said to me!), it is still fishing, and Not Grocery Shopping, right?!
