Guys there is a new study out indicating that a mix of floating and sinking may well give the best results. I will locate it - is a CE article or about to be.

This was in PB mag about 4 issues back IIRC - Get the Mag its worth the subscription.

A bit from the article :

There is a lot going on in the area of studies on pelleted feeding at this time. The research both published and private is growing rapidly. I am not sure anyone can keep track of what all is in the works. Feeding pellets to largemouth bass and the associated growth, condition and efficiency is one area of interest.

One recent study investigated the growth, survival, and feed conversion of Largemouth Bass fed one of two sizes of floating pellets or a sinking pellet for five months in small ponds. It is titled Effect of Feed Pellet Characteristics on Growth and Feed Conversion Efficiency of Largemouth Bass Raised in Ponds by James Tidwell, Shawn Coyle & Leigh Anne Bright, in North American Journal of Aquaculture (2015), 77:1, 5558,DOI:10.1080/15222055.2014.960116

The authors note that fish food must be designed to meet the nutritional requirements of the applicable species and must be manufactured into pellets that the fish will readily accept and utilize efficiently. Several factors can affect the ability of fish to find , eat and utilize a food pellet including physical characteristics such as pellet density (floating, sinking, sinking rate), size (shape, diameter, and length), color (contrast), texture (hardness) and smell (taste) .

In this study both pellet sizes (5.5 mm and 13 mm) of the floating food were well used by the fish throughout the experiment. The sub-adult feed trained bass in this study averaged 6.5 ounces and were 8.9 inches at the start of the 151 day feeding study. Harvest data indicated that use of large (13 mm) floating pellets produced no significant advantage over the use of smaller size pellets ( 5.5 mm) during second year growth of Largemouth Bass in ponds . However, fish fed the 5.5-mm sinking pellets had better growth (average weight gain and growth rate) than fish fed either size of floating pellet.

Last edited by ewest; 03/15/16 10:37 AM.