I can certainly soak some food beforehand. Right now the FHMs push it around until it's soft enough to mush, but no action from the big boys which are anywhere from 2 to 6 inches. The RES are on the smaller side, the HBG in the middle and the HSB tend to be 5 - 6".
I did get one splash last night towards the end of my patience (20 minutes maybe), but I also noticed that the swarms of top swimming water bugs seemed to be few and far between. My fish may just be full of minnows, leeches, waterbugs, spring peepers, and such. The little pond is stupid full of small forage.
Maybe "feed trained" is too strong of a word. The fish farmer said that he feeds the fish to make more fish, not necessarily to make big fish. I took that to mean they are accustom to eating pellets.
Anyhow, I love going to the pond of the evenings more now than before just to see what happens next.
