With Pond Boss VII rapidly approaching, we would like to give this wonderful community the first opportunity to be part of our first ever Optimal open trial.

As mentioned in the letter, we are excited to get fellow fish enthusiasts involved in some of our ongoing research. As part of this trial, we are interested in particular attractants. Each kit will have 6 different feeds of one pound each.

This will be a blind study, so the goal will be to see whether your fish have a preference - without you knowing which feeds are which.

This early access is for Pond Boss members only. If you would like to participate, please message us with your name, contact, address, and commitment to run the experiment and share the data honestly. We will discuss any extra details from there. We will also bring some of the trial kits down to Montgomery Texas for the conference if anyone wants to talk to us in person!

Ultimately, the goal is to have fun and get others involved. After the results come in, we will share the ingredients and take a poll on what the community thinks will come in first...and then release the results to see how we did!

There is a limited supply, so if this interests you, shoot us an email!

**Out-of-the box thinking is strongly encouraged**

Now this is what I'm talking about.....a feed company that encourages participation and feedback from those out in the field, in real world pond settings. Not just " here's what we have, buy it or not....IF you can get your dealer to source it for you!"

I've been feeding Optimal since it first became available. I only concentrate on bluegills, so cannot comment on other formulations. But the results are eye opening to say the least. Incredible.

I'm still feeding my bluegills, but my water temps are dropping. Not sure I could give the trial a legitimate run, or I would be all over this with both feet. You guys in the more southern locations need to step up!

Much like sprkplug I'm very interested in this and have been feeding Optimal for 2 years already. But my fish are starting to quit feeding for the year. Will be following the results closely.

Big thanks to all the participants who have already signed up. There is still room for a few more.

For those colleagues in colder climates, I understand the timing is not ideal (we had a good frost here last night). Rest assured, we hope to do a few more open trials next season!

I'm in. BG will likely feed for about seven more weeks, maybe more depending on weather. I have fed several bags of Optimal and Jr.

PM sent, like John, I think we'll be feeding for a while longer. The warm to hot weather just won't leave! I have not fed and Jr, but did feed optimal BG last year. Fish loved it. Haven't used it this year, but hope to next year. Thanks for all you guys are trying to do!! Really going the extra mile!

My fish in Missouri are slowing down quite a bit. I too hope to get in next year. Just ending my second season with this feed.

Dustin:

The only thing that I can think of that might skew the results is if the fish are conditioned to feeding on a round(ish) pellet and the feed trial pellet is worm shaped. Some fish are reluctant to change what they eat quickly.

How did things go for Optimal at the PB conference? Did you make some good contacts and get good feedback from pondowners?

My fish don't care. They gobble all pellets, regardless of shape. I have gone from one to the other shape and back; it made no difference that I could see.

Mine are like Johns, although I see a huge difference when changing from grain based to fish meal based feeds.

I have noticed something lately...maybe I just haven't paid attention until now because I've been out building fence every afternoon and was close to the pond, but the smell after feeding. I smell nothing, then feeder goes off, then soon after I get that really fishy lake smell. I'm sure its from the fish breaking water and maybe the feed itself. But I always know now that the feeder went off without being there because of the smell. I love it, wife turns nose up...lol. Its the hot summer lake smell of early morning or late afternoon. I don't know if that makes sense...but I remember if from my childhood when we camped all the time at Lake Degray here in SW Arkansas. Anyways, maybe that sounds silly, but just wanted to share. Kind of thought it neat when I realized it the other day.

Can't wait get the trial.

Same here with my fish having no class. They don't turn up their nose to any kind of feed to date.

The Pond Boss conference was a success and I came home with the two 50# bags of Optimal BG feed that Optimal donated to the hurricane benefit auction.

Right after I ordered some from Esshup......

Hope my fish stay hungry for a couple more months.

I have found the fish food keeps good once weather turns cold (I store it outside at ambient temperatures in a shed) and I keep it in sealed plastic barrels. I have kept a few bags over winter and the next March when I started feeding again it smelled and felt fine and the fish ate it. I would not be comfortable storing it that long in hot weather, but during winter it works ok.

I would like to be part of the test if you still have room. I feed mainly Optimal (24-30 bags per year) but also end the feeding season with a few bags of AM500.

Esshup,

I'm glad you brought this up!

To alleviate some of those extra variables, the test diets are a 11/32" / 9mm round pellet. They are not mixed lengths. The trial is based of our bass 44/8 diet, which people are successfully feeding to a fairly wide range of species.

Participants are free to feed whatever species and with any technique they want. All we ask is everyone takes good notes and allows us to share the results openly. Optimal has never tried anything quite like this before, so depending on how this goes, we will hopefully do more open trials next season! I fully anticipate tweaking the process for future trials, so any thoughts on how to improve this platform is very welcome!

BrianL,

PM me with your name, address, and contact info and I will get some trial feeds out to you.

This was our first time attending the Pond Boss Conference and it was a blast!

We finally got the chance to meet the some of the people in person we've been talking to for years over the intrawebs. It is incredibly powerful hearing feedback from everyone out there using fish feeds of any kind.

We're very grateful to Bob Lusk for allowing such a free exchange of information and to the Pond Boss community for their support, criticisms, and experiences. We hope to support Pond Boss for years to come and keep pushing the limits of we can accomplish in ponds & lakes!

Sounds like an exciting test! I’m in central Illinois and my water temp is dropping but would be interested next year. I have fed about 60 lbs. of Optimal BG this year and had a first year BG spawn from 1-2” BG stocked on March 20, 2017. Great food!

First test today, interesting results.

More tomorrow I hope.

Dustin, I missed u @ the conference, saw your booth but missed an opportunity to visit with you about your fish food, my bad. Just not enough time there to gather all the information there that was available to me. My visit at the conference was cut short and missed Sat afternoon and evening festivities. So, I wanted to discuss with you any science you might have with your product when it comes to excess nutrients in pond water that is caused by feeding or over feeding. How does your product or products do in that situation? For me, I feed a couple of pallets(+-) of Cargill Triton per year and it may be a contributing factor in my excess blooms that I see each year. And cost has also been a concern for me when feeding that many sks, not a big concern but still a thought I look at when comparing fish food. Now that cost would not come into play if fish food would not fertilize my water so much.


PS: Brian (Highflyer) post up, What u talking bout Willis?

Dustin again, sorry we did not meet at the conference.

I also wonder if heavy feeding helped cause a huge FA problem in my pond that was renovated in August 2015?

Okay, today I tried a few things.

First off I tossed the feed where I always do and the results were as expected. It hit the water and the fish who were waiting eat it all. The only difference was the timing. Some foods were eaten faster. Then I decided to toss the feed in another location and time the goings on. As seen the first day, there was a winner. Then I decided to try to ground up the feed and toss the powder. Even more results. My fish do have a preference so far. Tomorrow, I will now go to other places around the pond and see how they do.


This is interesting to say the least.

Tracy,

From my readings on these forums, there are quite a few things that can contribute to algal blooms. It should be stated that effective management of excess algal blooms in ponds includes not only Optimal feeds but also advice and management strategies provided by expert lake and pond management personnel

We are certainly aware of the role feeds can play in causing algae blooms. To minimize the impact of our feeds we use a combination of approaches. First, we meticulously source protein sources with high digestibility to promote fish growth and not algal blooms. Undigested feeds pass through fish and accumulate in the water column. Second, we are constantly working to increase the pellet properties of our feeds to minimize the amount of dust or fines that contribute to water quality issues. Thirdly, we are quite sensitive on not only the amount of phosphorous in the feeds, but how bio-available it is. Like poor quality proteins, some phosphorous sources are not readily absorbed in the fish, and pass through into the water column. For example, many plant based products contain phytate which is not readily available for most fish species. Fish definitely require phosphorous, but we’re careful not to exceed what we believe is required for maintaining excellent growth rates.

I’m not sure if you are looking for anything in particular, but hopefully this helps!

Thanks to everyone who is participating!

I dropped off all of the Open Trial #1 kits at fedex yesterday. Hopefully everyone will receive them over the next few days.

I've already received some good questions and feedback. Feel free to reach out if there are questions/comments/or concerns. I'd like to have everyone's results in by mid-november!

The rules for this are pretty simple.

Be creative
Take good notes
Take lots of pictures
Have fun!

John, I've found the same thing, with one caveat: opened bags cannot be stored, even inside a trailer. Ants get to them every time. Such bags must be taken home to keep them ant-free. Of course, I don't have sealed plastic barrels...

Tracy:

From personal experience, and from observations at clients ponds, when feeding the same amount of feed, switching from at least 2, maybe 3 other brands of feed resulted in less FA in ponds.

I noticed that in my personal pond 3 years ago when I switched. Now I'm seeing that in clients ponds that switch.

Dustin, either mail or send to my personal e-mail a label for the blue mouthed Yellow Perch. I will be fishing in my pond in the next 2 weeks now that the water has cooled.

Dustin, Thank you for getting back to me here. I like the idea of less fines or powder that is thrown into the pond water when I use my TH feeders. If you have or can reduce those fines, it has to be a plus in reducing fertility in pond water. I may have to just give Optimal a shot for a year and see what happens.

esshup, FA that I get is usually in the spring and that is when I add the Tp. It does not take long before I see the FA gone.
It's the excess green water that concerns me when I have those dense blooms. I am two weeks into one now. You know I start out with good intentions and reduce feeding amounts but then that feed all they will eat in 15 min comes into play and my food is gone in 15 seconds, so I dump more fish food in. I have to quit doing that So I was thinking about how I can't eat much chocolate cake , it's too rich and was hoping the Optimal fish food might be the same. Rich food= less intake=less poop

I started the trials today with my BG, fed twice. So far, inconclusive results. The pellets are sized so that the small BG do not try to eat them. The 5-8 inch BG eat them fine. EDIT: After four feedings, so far the results are still inconclusive. My BG eat all of it.

Dustin,

I have emailed you the results of my trial feedings of my BG. Finished today.

After grinding up the food, I have about the same results. I'll email what I have learned. I do have a winner, but it is closer than I thought.

I did toss the grindings in different places and I used three ponds. It might be a little overkill, but what the heck.

flyer, did you get a better reaction after grinding? I may try to grind mine today. I fed for the first time yesterday and have a clear winner so far. We have had a warm snap and they were a little slow. I feed AM500 so this feed is a bit bigger. The biggest difference I could see was the intensity of the splash with the different feeds. I did not see more or less in number, but the winning feed exhibited a much more aggressive splash than the other. Can ingredients cause this?? Like smell/taste? I guess like the difference in bait attractants?

A big thanks to all those who are participating!

I've received some results already, but am still waiting on a few more. A quick reminder to email me results so we can start getting them ready for release!

Are you going to be doing this study again next summer?

It depends on the level of interest, but we would like to do three or four more open trials next season.

The intention is to make every trial unique, so this particular set of experimental diets will not likely be repeated. Based on the many threads and discussions here on the Pond Boss forum, it should be pretty easy to design new trial themes (moisture, redears, pellet densities, smells, etc). If anyone has ideas they would be like to see, feel free to send us a pm.

Just stay tuned. The Pond Boss members will always get first shots at signing up. We're proud to support this forum, this community, and create the best feeds available. Listening to feedback from the people out using our feeds is fundamental to our success.

-Dustin