Al, I wasn't certain that you were actually complaining
Once a fish gets to be about 1 year old ... the phenomenal growth ends and reason settles in. Most fish just get a bite or two more than what it takes tread water. So in a pond where most fish are growing the need for maintenance is being met and the fish don't have to eat much if any more than they already are. They spend less time foraging because it is pretty easy to get the meals they need. I think this is true regardless of whether the pond is fed or not. IOWs abundant natural foods can cause fish to be difficult to catch.
Fish that are struggling to get their daily ration, particularly those that may not consume sufficient energy every day spend more time foraging. They are in the mood to eat more often and for longer periods of time making them more susceptible to angling. Its a difficult choice to make but the choice truly is between great growth and susceptibility to angling. I think that I would prefer to err on the side of better growth. I say this because if fish decline they are much more likely to experience mortality.
Were it me, I might try to feed the same quantity of feed each year but try to bunch the feed in peaks and troughs so that there are intervening periods where the fish are forced to forage longer to get their maintenance ration. You could custom design the lower feeding periods around your favorite or most convenient times for fishing. To optimize, a cycle timed to peak with the full moon and trough with the new moon "might" be ideal resulting in peaks of newly hatched lepomis forage matching peaks of feeding.
