Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Feeding during the winter

Over the years I have always shut down my feeder during the cold months in Texas - I am being told that since I stocked Floridas I need to run my feeder once a day during the cold months for my bluegill?

Seems like I have read here more than once that most folks shut theirs down during winter. Is it worth trying to feed when it is cold?

Mine still feed some but I cut the feed waaay back! If surface temp gets below 50 I turn feed off completely but...That rarely happens in deep east Texas. At least on my pond. I have noticed in real slow feeding times, I'm not sure the turtles don't pick off a lot of the floating feed.

Told by whom?

My BG do virtually no feeding when the water temp is below 50 degrees F. On nice, sunny Fall/Spring days when the temp is approaching/rising above that temp, I will toss out a few pellets to check feeding response. If present, I'll feed a little more. Feed volume consumed in a cold water week might be half of what the BG eat on a warm Summer day. And honestly, under these conditions I'm feeding probably more for my enjoyment than for the BG's.

I would not want to have an automatic feeder going under these conditions, putting feed in the pond whether or not it was being eaten.

+1 to what Theo has said.

My pond ices over throughout the winter. I keep a small hole open in the ice, as so many of us do. There are a couple dozen trout, rainbows and tigers, in the pond, along with assorted panfish and bass. When my pond becomes ice free, as it did a 2 weeks ago, I start "testing the waters" with a small handful of Optimal BG and mealworms.

Trout feeding activity arrived with gusto a week after the ice went off. Nary a splash before that.

I shut down my aerator when the first ice off occurs, knowing that regardless of complete ice cover building each night, this thin sheet will be gone mid the next day. And, even though the shoreline is covered with snow, last night I witnessed several sunfish coming up slowly and carefully for food. Because of the lighting, I couldn't positively ID both green and bluegill sunfish, but I'm imagining I saw both. No YP yet.

All this is to say I threw about a half cupful of food to the sunfish. They ate only some of that. The trout moved in later and cleaned up the remainder. There are thousands of BG and GSF in the pond. Right now they ate less than a half cup of food.

Be careful to not overfeed. There are threads on the forum discussing BG eating but not properly digesting fish food when the water is cold. Feed very sparingly if at all; monitor the consumption. In my not expert opinion, your water quality may be better and your fish healthier if you feed less than they can clean up than if you add excess nutrients by giving the fish too much.

Just a FYI, but the average Lampasas temp in February is 51 degrees.

tim k,

I read the Pond Boss forum for expert advice on a multitude of topics. I also believe that you have received solid expert advice on this thread.

However, there are too many variables in "pond science" for remote expert advice to work all of the time.

I highly recommend you perform the experiment on your own pond! Run your feeder a few days and observe the response.

Take a temperature reading at a fixed location while performing your experiment. If the BG don't feed now, they may start feeding in +2 degrees from now. If that is the case, then you will know approximately what temperature your pond needs to achieve in 2023 to start your feeding program coming out of NEXT winter.

One of the problems with adjusting the feeders is that it is so SENSITIVE. When mine were adjusted to prevent jamming of larger feed, the result was huge overfeeding of regular size pellets. One second = eight seconds, two seconds = fifteen, and the like. I've learned to live with it, since at least it doesn't jam, but it sure is annoying.

You have to understand that I am in Texas - pond temps even during the winter are around 50-60. I had a "pond management" guy tell me that since I put Floridas in that I should feed my bluegills during the winter because the Floridas hit them hard.

Anytime I have tried feeding during winter I could not get the bluegill to eat

tim k, I think it's safe to say both Theo and I realize your pond will not get nearly as cold as ours do. Your BG may stop and start feeding at different temps than ours. And what FishinRod has written about experimenting with feeding is spot on.

Maybe instead of running your feeder, try hand throwing some food so as to not overload your pond with uneaten pellets.
Try a few spots around the pond. My fish fed fairly well today, considering the pond was completely frozen over this morning and thawed about 10. In Fall my BG stop feeding when the temp of the water drops below 48 degrees. The water was not even close to 48 this morning when BG showed up looking for food.

Are your BG northerns or coppernose? I can't tell you if that makes a difference in food acceptance.

I'm in east Texas near Longview. Oddly, my CNBG and BG will spawn even when they are too cold to eat much, or at all. Saw the tiny YOY around my dock last week.

One advantage for the disadvantage of having an acidic, naturally infertile pond: I don't worry much about uneaten food causing issues. I should be so lucky!