It is my understanding that trout mostly do not require feeding in winter, given they have adequate fat reserves in fall. By this time of year the trout fishing in most local stocked lakes is tough to say the least, they are just not interested in biting. Contrary to this, the fishing in my small pond has not slowed much since ice cover. The pond is less than a year old with very little vegetation and visibility has always been unlimited, i.e. I can see bottom in ten feet of water. I fed the trout fairly regular all summer as the only forage is insects and invertabrates that self colonized. The trout grew from 4" in May to average 10" now. Should I be feeding periodically and would I expect some growth under the ice?
I also have a question regarding winter aeration, I have been running 24/7 all winter and have no open holes in the ice, I'm not surprised as ice thickness is 30" at opposite end of pond and about 16" above aerator. Where is the air trapped under the ice going? I can here it bubbling and booming but other than drilling holes for occasional fishing it is solid. Temps here as of last night were -35c (-31f). The plus side to this.......You guys in the south feed my Heron for 8 months of the year.

Wood,

Your trout should make it through the winter O.K, but I prefer to leave an open hole in the ice by way of my diffuser on one end of the pond, and feed then ever few days in winter only once in the evening. This is just for maintenance and like I said you trout will be fine.

As you elluded to with temps as low as they are their metabolism is quite slow and they do not need much to eat nor do they metabolize their feed very well.

As to why you do not have an open hole from your diffuser I don't know. Is there enough flow etc?

Your air is probably escaping through cracks in the ice or where your ice meets the bank.As you probably know cracks are common in ice especially when it gets very cold.

If you want to see trout feeding in winter go to my website at http://www.ligtel.com/~jjbaird/bairdfish2.htm and click on the brook trout page. You can also click on the address in my profile. I updated a little since last time.

I had brook trout coming up into my ice hole in my shanty looking for feed before I applied any to the water. One stuck his head out of the water and clacked his jaws scaring the dog to death! The dog almost knocked the shanty down trying to get out! My brook trout were much more active in the colder water than the browns and rainbows. However brook trout are actually a char and prever colder water as you probably know.

Cecil, it's amazing the poundage of fish you grow in your small pond, pretty intensive operation. The brookies must be fairly tame to come up like that, dog and all. I can't even keep a hole open while ice fishing, after about 20 min it's frozen over already. I decided to stay with the soaker hose aerator this winter to see what happens, I have watched it with the aquavu camera recently, it creates a curtain of air about 10 feet long and I think a single stone diffuser would help keep a small area open vs the hose. I also noticed most of my fish are hanging out in this area and as you say, swimming very slowly. I might try feeding some when the weather warms a bit, a little added nutrient in my case shouldn't hurt much. How are your Nipigon's doing?

Wood, it got down to 24 degrees here last night. Did you forget to close the gate again?

Dave, I get the same weather here you had last night, it's called August.

Wood - I also cannot explain why you do not get any open water from the aerator. It may be due to the bulbling action of the boil not being violent enough or it not lifting enough water water from the bottom into the surface boil. However this may be very good in your case not having open water. This way your water under the ice may not get quite as supercooled compared to when it gets exposed to subzero air. The bubling action of the diffuser may create enough dissolved oxygen into the water to prevent a winter kill of your trout. Time will complete your aeration story from Alberta.

PS. In the new issue of Lake and Reservoir Management (Vol.19(4)2003) the article by Miller & Mackay (University of Alberta) "Optimizing Artificial Aeration for Lake Winterkill Prevention", they found that surface aerators did a better job of preventing fish winterkill than bottom diffusers in a study of 6 lakes.

Wood,

There's a gate? I thought there was only a barbed wire fence to stop the cold air from coming down? I hope you like winter up there. It's sounds like a long one. I'm sure you appreciate spring when it comes.

The brook trout I was referring to were harvested this fall. They were quite domesticated although they did not come very close to shore in open water. The Nipigons are a different story. They are about as wild as they can be. But I have been able to concentrate at least some of them for feeding in the open water in the ice created by the diffuser. I may have to invest in a seine and concentrate them at one end of the pond this spring to really get them feeding together. They just are so scattered in open water I am wasting a lot of feed throwing it everywhere. I need a seine at some point anyway as I never harvest all of the fish by angling.

Cecil, I've learned to like it, it's part of life here, you bundle up and work around it. It is a long wait for spring, ice comes off lakes around 3rd week in May. Very short growing season, last summer I had only 90 days of water temps above 60. Bill, there are many gov't stocked trout lakes nearby, refered to as put and take lakes, good for kids but large fish are rare. They have identified a few lakes as trophy trout fisheries and have implemented bait bans, size restrictions, and limited seasons. These are the lakes that are aerated, you are correct, they use surface aerators, and keep a large area open all winter. They do not aerate in summer.

A few comments:

I don't think Wood's diffuser is keeping a hole in the ice 'cause it's just too damn cold. I mean 31F below zero. Sh*t! Any air/gas would find some path of lesser resistance.

Cecil, I'm not suprised that your brook trout don't come into the shallows.....They wouldn't fit! Do you provide a couch, TV, and some beers for them? Some of the biggest guts/bellies I've ever seen.

Agreed -35C is super cold but, the above mentioned article by Miller & Mackay noted that bottom bubblers and surface (fountain) aerators managed to keep an open water area (sometimes small) in lakes of northewst Alberta Peace River Region during winters of 1994 thru 1997 dispite temps down to -30C to -40C which are temps similar to what Wood is seeing this winter.

Sunil,

Are you making fun of my fish! Just kidding. I did overfeed them but the problem is it was hard to judge how much to feed them as a weekly inventory like they do in raceways was out of the question. They also varied in size when I got them so that made it difficult to know how much ot feed them. I tried to feed them to satiation but they were never satiated!

I personally believe Wood's lack of a hole from the diffusion is exactly what Bill elluded to. The air is to scattered with the soaker hose and not concentrated like a diffuser. I have still maintained a hole in the ice when it was below zero here but it was much smaller than when temps rose.

Cecil, I'm impressed with the fish you have. When I think about trout, I think more like submarine shaped, even with steelhead.

Yours are like footballs. If the NFL wants to do away with pigskin, I think you'll have a niche market.

I defer on the aerater stuff. I have no experience.

Even more impressive than Cecil's trout is the small size of pond that he grow them in. Amazing fish from such a small pond. Great work Cecil!

And Bill couldn't get a bit when he was here!
LOL Sorry Bill I couldn't help myself.