Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Will rainbow trout eat bluegills?

With you being in Arizona, I can't really answer with any confidence.

I believe I'm in a much colder mountain climate, so I'm not sure my observations hold for your area. I can just provide my observations.

Most years, my "warm water" ponds are suitable for trout from early October to early June. The trout are a lot of fun for multiple reasons.

I didn't put any in this season because we froze over in early October, and we are still significantly frozen over. I'm actually glad I didn't try to put them in this season.

In the many seasons I've stocked them, I've always done examinations of their stomach contents when we've taken them out in April and May. Most years I have found stomachs with bass and bluegill fingerling remains.

About three or four years ago, after two very bad winters, I found mostly pine needles in the stomachs of my winter trout. My fisheries biologist friends believe it was because the trout didn't have enough fry and fingering to eat. They were going after whatever forage was available in my structure of sunken evergreens.

When, and if, I have open water, I feed high-fat/high-protien feed to my fish.

I wish I had better answers.

Good luck,
Ken