I have a northern feeder question. I have a ˝ acre excavated pond in Michigan. It is going on four years old. I stocked Fatheads, Perch and Catfish the first spring and Hybrid Bluegill and Largemouth that Fall. I have kept putting Fatheads in on a yearly basis but they last about 2 weeks to no more than a month each time. For the most part the banks are fairly steep. Two years ago, in the fall, I excavated an area about 100’ by 30’ along one bank to try to establish a spawning bed area for the bluegills. I made the depth of this area about 2 ft. They really seem to use this area for beds. The problem (if it is a problem) is that I never ever see anything that I would consider feeding size. Every thing is full grown and if I put in more fatheads they will be gone in no time. Should I consider adding a feeder (what kind?) rather than adding fatheads, or should I consider golden shiners instead of fatheads or maybe adding regular bluegills. I am confused on the subject since according to the Michigan State Publication I shouldn’t feed, or fertilize, or use regular bluegills. For informational purposes the fish that are in the pond appear to be healthy and not under weight.
Fozzy:
State Publications tend to give conservative, one-size-fits-all advice and are frequently a little behind the state of the art in pond management.
Most of us here would suggest you add a forage species capable of sustaining small fish for your LMB, YP, (and Cats) to eat longer than a load of FHMinnows last. Regular BG will probably be (much) easier to add in an established pond than GShiners would. I imagine the state pub advised against regular BG on the possiblity that they could overpopulate and stunt; I am willing to bet that virtually everyone capable of finding and utilizing the Pond Boss Forum and Magazine can handle BG population control in a 1/2 acre pond.
Whether or not feeding is advisable is a function of items specific to your pond that the state is unable to address in a Michigan-wide publication. Some that come to mind immediately are your water quality/clarity and how much water flows through the pond regularly to flush any excess nutrients out.
Your existing YP, Cats, and HBG, plus BG or GShiners that you add would probably all readily utilize feed pellets.
Theo:
Thanks for the suggestion. To take that one step farther, it would seem that if I were to add some regular bluegill I would probably be advised to add maybe 6 or 8 pairs of larger feed trained BG. My thinking is that the feed trained BG will retrain the existing fish in the pond and if I get large enough pairs, I won't have to worry about them being eaten right away. Does this sound about right?
Yes.
If you can get them, I would advise putting in from 25 to 50 total adult BG, but any number would help the forage and start outnumbering the HBG's relatively feeble attempts at reproducing right away.
I think most BG feed train themselves when hungry enough and fed, but I also believe if you put in feed trained BG they 1) will start eating feed right away and 2) may "teach" the HBG faster than they would learn without an example.
I don't know if feed training ever crosses species lines, so that BG could "teach" YP or Cats to eat pellets, but both should learn on there own no problem. Maybe someone has an idea; if not, it would be interesting to conduct a controlled experiment to see.
I'd keep an eye on any BG you add, but the large YP should feed on their young through-out the winter to help keep them in check. Your Bass (like myself) will prefer the YP over the BG, but the combination should keep them in check while adding more feed for your Bass.