Here are my favorite points about feeding bluegill. Supplemental feeding expedites growth rates. It also reduces, during part of the year, competition for natural bluegill food. As Dr. Condello notes, fecundity and relative weights increase. Oftentimes, we see greater survival of young of the year in ponds consistently fed. During electrofishing surveys, it's common to find adult bluegill, stuffed to the gills with fish food, more than 100 feet from the feeder.
Keep in mind, when a bluegill loads up on fish food, during warm months, it takes less than 8 hours to digest. Unless a feeder spits out those precious nuggets every 8 hours, bluegill still are compelled to feed. One other thing, not all bluegill come to the feed. Bluegill are similar to other animals in that some are aggressive, some are passive, some are average. Some hide, some thrust themselves into the line of feeder fire, others stand at the back of the line.
If I have seen one bass ambush bluegill nibbling on pellets near a feeder, I have seen two thousand.
That's about all I have to say about that.
