Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Feeding new fingerlings

I will be stocking fish next weekend and am hoping I can get the BG and RES fry to eat right away.

I've read some other threads and information here and saw that some people will keep their RES confined while they get them trained.

If I start out with the same feed that the hatchery is feeding them, do you think there is a chance that the RES will eat the feed without having to cage them up in the pond first? If I do have to cage them, I was thinking of putting a hutch I used to raise small chicks in about 2 to 2/12' of water next to my dock. The cage is about 3 1/2' x 2 1/2' and about 2 1/2' tall. Would that be too small for 200 RES fingerlings that are 3-4" long?

I could possibly put some in the cage while allowing others to go free in the pond and just work with a smaller population.

With the bluegill, are they more likely to eat the feed without training and would it be a bad idea to mix some of them in the cage with the RES?

BG will feed train themselves very quickly. I've found that if I cage one or two BG with the RES during pellet training the RES will catch on a bit quicker than they will otherwise.
The difficulty in pellet training RES is getting them to figure out that pellets are food. I mix chopped fish/nightcrawlers/bugs/liver/etc with hydrated pellets to get them started.
Once they figure it out you can phase meat out of the mix over a week or so, then over the next week you can reduce the amount of hydration until you're feeding only dry pellets. You'll never get all of the RES to eat pellets no matter how hard you try. If you get 80% on pellets you've done well.
I've never started with more than 50, so can't offer good advice on how many will fit in your cage without being crowded, but my gut says 200 3"-4" inch is probably too many.
I think you'll have a very hard time getting their attention if you try this without putting the RES in a cage.