That is correct - BG and some other species are subject to conditioning behavior. They can be trained as yoy as hatcheries do or will be conditioned in a pond by seeing others eat.
I suspect it is more species dependent than anything, i.e., those species easy to train in a hatchery are most likely to have pond recruits that pick up on pellets.
I recently read some posts from Bill C. stating he removes YP ribbons to limit recruitment and another that states he supplemental stocks pellet trained YP to keep the number of pellet trained YP up in the pond. This leads me to believe that YP recruits in a pond don't pick up on the pellets by observing other fish very well.
Hopefully, Bill C will see this post and chime in.