Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Do LMB need to be fed in the winter ?

1/2 acre pond - 11' max depth - water temp 44-47 degrees

Feed my LMB and a few spotted bass Purina Aquamax Sportfish 600 (floating pellets) from Spring to Late Fall. Only have one or two fish feeding now and so I usually just curtail feeding for the winter, but I recently saw an article somewhere that said just because they don't come to the surface to feed in the winter, they are still wanting to feed even though they are not coming to the floating food.

So wondering if I should be buying some sort of sinking food for winter feeding if the fish are still wanting to eat, but just not on the surface. I have always presumed they just went kind of dormant in the winter and did not feed.

LMB metabolism drops by a factor of two for every 8 degrees F the water temperature drops. So compared to 80 degree water, their metabolism (energy consumption) is only 1/64 as much in 32 degree water.