Thanks for this. I feed by hand; it's really simple for me....I stand on the boathouse dock, which is the deep part of the pond (~10' deep....will be 13' when full.) and cast from there. When I started feeding this past spring, didn't take long for them to show up and feed enthusiastically, so it's very obvious when they're there, and active; they're plopping all over the place. I will wait till "a nice string of 4-5 days with 50s low/70s high," as suggested.

Spawning: Google source says between 61-68 for shiners, minnows, so that's what I'll wait for. Substrate: yeah, plans for a submerged log or two; otherwise we have gravel every inch, plus large submerged rocky area, plus large shallows where the little guys are fairly safe...should be good...definitely had some spawning last year, as I mentioned, so we'll see. I've heard that cedar is great for submerging as it lasts a long time....but google says tannins can leach, not a problem with larger pond, but I DON'T have a larger pond; just 1/4 acre. Could this be a problem? Never heard of this before.....plenty of small ponds I'd imagine have cedar logs submerged......

Last edited by BJ Nick; 01/19/26 12:03 PM.