Come spring I will continue to feed the pond. How much and what feed I use will ultimately depend on what I observe is feeding.
I inquired about the SMB stockers and they were raised on feed as well as natural forage. Come spring I will attempt to keep as many as I can on feed.
I plan on getting both some Optimal LMB and Purena LMB pellets as the fish get some size to see if I can entice them to feed like TJ's up in Nebraska does.
If some of them will continue on feed, that should make the higher stocking rate more viable also. In fact, if they really take to feed well, I might leave more of them in longer rather than transferring half of them to my main pond as soon as they reach a size big enouh to escape LMB predation in the main pond.
my RES and SMB pond story 
