Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding New SMB Pond, Should I feed?

Feeding won't lessen your angling chances, and the predators won't just concentrate on the pellets, nor will they concentrate on feeding just around the feeder.

While feeders are a lot of $, I think you definately get what you pay for. As for high maintenance, with the top of the line feeders (Texas Hunter - that is the only one that I have experience with) the only maintenance is filling it with food and adjusting the time of day to feed.

Feeding isn't mandatory, but it will help your fish grow quicker.

Other than forage fish, basically you're stocked sunfish and predators are the brood fish, and their offspring are the ones that get eaten. That will change as the stocked fish get older and start to die off, but that's the plan in the beginning.

I think the feeder helps with angling success, the fish won't specifically target pellets if they are feeding on them, and you can get the bite to "turn on" by throwing in a handful of food - that works really well when kids are wanting to catch fish.