I have fed with pellets since day one and when the fish reached about 1 1/2 pounds I started adding veggies. Catching fish during that time was very much like shooting fish in a barrel, anything that went in was taken, from asparagus to zucchini.
But, priorities changed and I went back to pellets only and not fishing, but maybe 15 minutes every two or three months. The longer between trips the more difficult they became to catch. The old veggie, hotdog, shrimp, bread baits became worthless.
I worked on a pellet based bait and began catching fish again.
Now, I can't say that the number of fish who show up at feeding time is reduced in any way, but can say that the pattern is the same. The biggest fish eat first, working down until the babies at ponds edge are cleaning up the few scattered pellets that remain.
As for the growing of big fish by attempting to ensure that all of the fish get as much food as they can hold, I would say that the task would be very difficult. Fish don't grow at the same rate and the biggest eat first and the smallest eat last. My example is barrimundi, they don't eat pellets, at least not directly. In the last month we caught, first a 25 inch, then a 27 inch and last a 14 inch, all from the same spawn, all stocked at the same time and all with the same opportunity to feed.
