Hi Folks,
Since it will only be fished by one family and not given too much pressure, my wife and I are not going to offer out trout in the two BOWs we intend to have dedicated to them any prepared food, so we can get the most natural, "wild trout" taste possible. Although even hatchery-raised, pellet-fed trout with white meat still taste amazingly good (I challenge anyone to tell me Cracker Barrel's lemon butter trout is not out of this world), there is something special about the pink or red wild trout we've caught in more remote places.
We do plan to feed the trout by supplementing their natural pond diet with live food items that are part of their desired natural food that we raise in forage ponds and tanks. So far my research has turned up three organisms that are important for trout in the wild that give them their best flavor and red meat (as opposed to mollusks, grasshoppers, etc.). These are crawfish, freshwater shrimp (Gammarus fasciatus), and freshwater scuds (Hyalella azteca).
The most important thing is not to raise these in forage tanks and ponds, but to get them established in the pond before we add trout. I want to see what other species of forage I am missing that are best to give trout their best flavor. Are Mississippi grass shrimp a good option as well? I like to dissect the stomachs of the trout I catch, and the ones in the wild areas had a fair number of insects and mollusks, as well as a good number of small macroinvertebrates.
