today i got some Purina Game fish chow and tried to feed my bluegill in our 3/4 acre pond. The bluegill are Native and been there a while (not coppernose or hybrid) until now i just fed them sparadocialy for fun and they tear up bread and crakers etc. they do hit the fish chow but 90% of them spit it out. Any suggestions on how to make them eat it? maybe put some chow in a bucket and spike it w/ Chicken liver juices?? anyone have a similar problem and maybe a solution? thanks in advance.

I was told by my feed salesman (Phil of Mellick in PA) that when fish spit it out it may be a sign the feed size is too big. They can get in partially in their mouths but can't swallow it.

Or it may be they will have to get used to it and you will have to be patient.

Another possibility is they are well fed and will not graviate to artifical feed. Although many say that bluegill are easy to get to feed on artifical feed, I have seen some that will have no part of it. Be patient, keep feeding for at least a week, and see what happens.

thanks for reply, i'll keep tryin and keep ya posted. The feed isn't that big and most of the bluegill are around 6". oh well.. we'll see.

day 3... as soon as i come to the pond.. a whole squad of all size bluegill congragate. throw in a handful of feed... a few test it... spit it out..then the rest just sit there..they stare up at me as if to say "We're suppose to eat THAT?" Maybe i'll try a few more times... but it looks like these gills will never like feed

I have seen fish in several ponds that wont take feed. In every case there was somebody throwing bread/crackers etc. I would try crushing up the feed into bread at first. if they take it start adding more and more feed and less and less bread. this process has worked for several of my clients. Once you get them eating feed, never throw bread again.

I see the exact same response from my bluegill, although I never fed crackers or bread. Mind you even my feed trained, (From the hatchery) bass won't have any part of the game chow...

My fish are fed daily with Purina by a auto feeder. When I hand feed off the dock they hit the feed as soon as it hits the water.
I agree that it is what they are used to because a couple of times I have put in bread after a cookout and they will not touch it!
Keep at it daily with a small amout of feed until they start eating it.

It sounds like they just don't like the feed. It could also be old. Take a look at the date. Also, you can take a piece of it and smell of it and/or even taste it. If it isn't fresh, my fish don't like it either.

The feed is relatively new (dated april 30th) but i will try to crush up some feed in some bread today. wish me luck.

whoa! I made big dough ball outta 2 pieces of bread w/ no crust and a big handful of crushed up feed. added a lil' water and made a nice dough ball. The fished LOVED it! next tim i'll add a Lil' more feed. this just might work! thanks for tip guys!

i've been feeding w/purina for a year now. i often see the bluegill spit out the feed too; but the bluegill do eat plenty. what i have found is that many of the fish, both large and small, suck the water-softened outer coating of the pellet off, and then spit out the rest. i've watched many bluegill do this over and over until the pellet is fully consumed. other fish just hammer the hard, dry feed. just a thought. -jb

glad the feed/dough ball helped, keep us posted

fellas', i tell ya, fish now adays, they are spoiled....remember when we were kids, why... we'd eat what our folks gave us, and we'd like it... i tell ya, what is going on with our nations fingerlings?

UPDATE: I have been making the gills a dough ball mixture for some time now.. i have reduced the bread in the mixuture from 50/50 to 60/40 to 80/20 (20bread) at 80/20 they still love it and go crazy.then i'll throw in some straight floating feed and they'll attack it!!!! sounds good.. but today i went to feed w/ just plain feed. They attacked but not nearly ass agressive and some even spat it out. i think the just like the soft texture of the dough ball like someone here said. oh well i'll keep at it. it's still a blast to watch them eat..so relaxing. It's also fun to throw frogs and worms to the bass.. does anyone else try to feed bass? what do you use?

I read this post and it all sounds so familiar. My Gills would not eat the fish chow, ended up throwing a whole 50lb bag away because it sat so long it got the bugs. I have been purchasing a fish food called "pond 10" from Walmart and the Gills go crazy over it. I have been feeding them this 3 years now and they were 1" in size when I stocked them, they are now bulls that I can barely get my hand around them to take them of a hook. It is a little pricy, about $10.00 for a 4lb bag, two bags last all summer and I feed them every evening. I do stock my pond with Fatheads twice yearly so the hand feeding of food is just for fun.

My bluegill spit out the food also. It is too big for them when it goes in the water. Sometime I crush it up, but that destroys the bubbles that make it float. Other times I put the feed in a container and pre-soak it. They still spit it out, but they take a big chunk out every time and in about 3 tries they get it. - If a catfish doesn't get to it first. I guess that approach would not work with automatic feeder. I would like to get floating fishfood in about 1/8" size pellets.

Eric,

You should be able to request the size pellet you want when you order. If not, it's time to find a new supplier.

Well, I use about 50 lbs. every 2 months hand feeding right now and I am don't exactly have a supplier yet. I just get the catfish food that the local feed store carries and the blue gill have to do for now. They don't seem to mind.

I even feed the catfish in the pond, in front of my house (4 ac subdivision lake), cat food. It smells fishy and they love it. I just feed them for the fun of it.

I am shopping for a feeder, though, and will need to find a real fishfood supplier close by.

I get catfish food from Tractor Supply and then get a smaller style from my local feed store. I mix them in a big trash can so when I feed, the fish get some of each. It has worked out real well and the bream and fathead minnows readily take the smaller size and the cats go after the larger.

Bob

Glad to see I'm not the only one using the trash cans for food storage. They have been handy, I use a large plastic one with a good closing lid. Keeps the moisture out and the bugs too so far. I was using just a co-op brand of food, and found a feed-seed store that sells the Purina Fish Game Chow for right around $10 a bag. It was definitely fresher that the previous feed I was using. The only problem I have now is that it sinks much faster than the previous feed and its hard to keep track of how fast they are eating it.