esshup, I hear what you are saying, and I know that you are right. It just doesn't quite seem to fit in this case, at least from what I can determine. There are just way to many BG at all times of the year ( they must be spawning more than once ) of all sizes, large, very large, small, tiny, you name it, and nearly every cast will net one. The pond, both sides, are not only full of BG of all sizes, I still have a huge population of FHM swimming around enjoying the silt for cover apparently. As far a dinner is concerned, it does not LOOK like there is a shortage of any kind for the bass.
Interestingly enough, I asked everyone that has been catching the larger CC to look into the stomachs for any sign of fish /bugs /etc. Of the fish that have been caught, none have had any fish in them, it all appears to be a mixture of bugs / Purina material. I have thought it odd that I often see small and medium size BG and FHM swimming within inches of feeding CC and have no fear at all, if I did not know any better, I would swear that the CC and the BG are living in some kind of relationship that is ok with each. I know it can't be so, but NOTHING seems to impact my BG numbers, they just keep increasing and despite the fact that I never stock, I always have a pond stuffed with them.
Perhaps the unique layout of the two ponds married into one has given the BG a place of safety, perhaps the CC are content with the Purina, perhaps there just are not enough CC in the pond to overcome the BG population ( quite possible, that same green water offers the BG excellent cover from predators ) since it is maybe possible for 15 or so pretty big ( especially albino cats that show up so well ) catfish to make such a commotion on the surface while feeding as to give the illusion that there are a lot more CC than there really are.
That thing you mentioned about catching one and that is pretty much it. I remember many years ago I flew out to MO from California to visit my dad and mom on a 40 acres farm they had. She was getting ready to ask for the tab ( colon cancer for 9 years, one tough fighter ) and wanted to see me one last time so I stayed with them for a little while. He had a pond very much like mine ( ironically, not 60 miles from here, where I bought mine over 25 years latter ) and had some large catfish he fed by hand each evening. One evening I caught one and he remarked "well, that's it for two hours" and when I asked him what he meant, he explained that in a small pond, the ruckus caused by trying to land a fish that size in a small body of water always bothered all the fish and there would be no more bites for 2 hours.
Well, of course, I had to see if dad was right, and like most dads, he was. Now, many years latter, I have discovered the same thing in our ponds, the longer it takes to land a big fish, the longer it will take before the bite is back on.
Some of your other points...live bluegill, yes, several of the Amish have tried that when all else failed since they said that was a fail-safe, but our CC ignored it.
Phosloc....have not heard of it, will eagerly look into that, google is my friend after all
I do not know how much I am putting in each month of the Aquamax, I definitely should have been keeping track of it, at least 100 pounds a month combined , probably more, maybe twice that for all I know. The BG feeder, with just 500 in it, goes off for 1 second in the morning and 1 second in the evening. But a one second burst of pellets that small is a LOT of pellets. The plan of trying to grow really big BG with this 500 seems to be going very well, I just seem to be growing very big turtles, birds, CC GC and everything else eating those expensive pellets! Al I can say to that is I have indeed struggled with the question for some time now how much is enough, or to much. IF I use the "15 minute" guideline, then I am not feeding nearly enough, as they clean their plate in a matter of just 3 minutes. But I refuse to go by that, I KNOW that I am not underfeeding in any way, even though the very large catfish are clearly still quite hungry and would stay up there and eat me out of house and home if they had their way, so I stop the feeder at what I can only guess is reasonable, despite the fact they are clearly still hungry. And I have to remember the GC in this equation. They are very gentle feeders of the pellets and actually do me a favor. They do not like to be in the dog fight that takes place in the major center of the pellet spread, the catfish boil is probably to rough for them, they appear to be like gentle giants as they feed, eating all the pellets that fall far from the crime scene, to far away for the catfish to notice. We enjoy watching a fish that appears to be close to 40" or more in length gently pluck one single pellet at a time from the surface without even causing a ripple. Occasionally one of the CC tries to muscle in on them and then a massive slap of their tail or body cause such a spalsh it actually causes a wave action felt through the entire pond! I have to remember the GC in this equation also. My Amish neighbors actually managed to catch one of the first plants years ago, only 13 months ago after the 6 were put in. they were about 10" at the time. This is gonna sound like a fish story, I swear it is not, if I had not measured it myself I would not have believed them even though they won't lie if you point a gun to their heads. Tha fish had grown to 32" long in ponds that were not fed and had NO plant life of any kind, I had NO idea what those GC were eating, in fact, AFTER I put them I realized that they might starve to death. Instead, they found SOMETHING to eat, and eat well, they got huge! I know what you must be thinking, it was already in there, but that is not it. The GC love to swim together near the surface sunning them selves, and we were able to see the remaining 5 ( all 5 are still in there, look like Nile Crocodiles ) nearly every day since that time. Geeze, they are getting so big it is hard to miss them in a small pond. By the way, my neighbors ate the fish based on my advice, which came from PB articles, and they told me it was the BEST fish they had ever had by a long shot!
However, I do not think that the feeders are the problem leading to the green water, it was this way years before the feeders made their first appearance, it is no better or worse since I began feeding. IF it had turned after their introduction, then overfeeding would be a very easy conclusion to come to. Heck, I think I could have gone there by myself....eventually
I really do not know how much water I have. I did take my range finder out to try and size up the ponds, but with two different shapes and two totally different depths, it is very difficult to estimate the amount of water I have. The ponds are not that big, but I DO know how much water I put in since I know how many GPM the pump puts water into the ponds, easy math....even for me, so up to 400,000 gallons of fresh water over a 8 day period every 2 weeks or so is accurate. I still think that is my life saver. The folks that built our pond came back a few months ago at our request, we wanted to see if there was anyway to extend the ponds again. They were amazed at how clean the surface was ( they did comment on how green it was ) and asked if it ever "turned over" as it was going crazy all over this part of the country at the time, but ours remains the same always. We discussed the leak and they also firmly believed that the adding of so much fresh water was nearly like a spring fed pond and the only thing they could think of why our pond never develops any surface algae during the extreme hot months or any fish kills due to lack of oxygen. They have been building ponds for 35 years, and although they have their own pond of course, building ponds and maintaining ponds are not the same thing and do not expect them to have the same expertise as you folks do. Still, it was nice to hear at least one other person with a whole lot more knowledge than I ( didn't have to hunt hard for that ) to confirm what I had long suspected. I may be off base. But that much fresh water is doing something in there I suspect. Perhaps it is the only thing that offsets the fact I have not been able to aerate yet. or maybe it is just as simple as making up for lost water and nothing else!
I will look into the other suggestions you had, all sound good to me, thank you so much!
