Hi everyone,
I stocked 100 7" RBT in June, and have been feeding them daily since. I have fed them about 150 pounds of trout pellets in that time, and the fish have grown a lot, probably over 10" in size now.

The hatchery I purchased the fish from said that most people dont feed their trout any pellets, but that I could if I wanted faster growth rate. My pond is about a year and a half old, 1/2 acre, and certainly has some natural forage now. I didnt feed anything last winter from Oct-Apr, and things seemed allright for the 40 or so RBT in the pond. There is definitely more native food now than a year ago.

Can I stop feeding them pellets now, primarily to save money? Is there anything to be concerned about with stopping feeding? I plan to fish out the pond pretty heavily next spring, and want the fish a good harvest size by then.

Thanks-
Adam

What is your definition of a good harvest size?

100 rainbow trout in a half acre pond is fine when you are supplementally feeding them. However, a half acre pond isn't going to produce enough forage to allow 100 rainbow trout to have a decent growth rate. You may be able to cut back the amount you feed them...

Good harvest size for me would be 14+ inches.

I definitely see what you're saying with the pond being too small to provide a large forage base for that many fish. Would the pond be large enough to at least maintain their size in a healthy way? Might it make sense to keep feeding them for another two months, get them up to 12-13 inches, and then stop feeding over the winter?

You can track the growth rates and see.

that would be 20/20 hindsight.

i was hoping more for some foresight to make a good management decision.

If your budget allows, I would continue to feed them even if it has to be at a reduced rate.

Your question is kind of a flipped version of my experience. I stocked 50 RBT in my pond last October. Did not feed them anything because I wanted them to hammer the small fish that I didn't want. They did that and in the spring I started to feed them. Saw exceptional growth. 11" stock grew to 15-17". Most that I pulled out in June before they died from the heat were pushing 3#. Now how does this relate to you.... I caught one just a little while ago that happened to live thru the summer. Hadn't been eating much due to staying where the water was cooler. In that two month span, I figure it lost about a pound in weight because it was just under 2#. A big loss in my opinion. So, I think it would be like CJ says, keep track of the current weights of ones caught, and if you start seeing a decrease in weights, you better start feeding again.

That is neat that at least 1 RBT was able to hold over the summer in your pond... Is this a first? Any idea if any others held over?

First time stocking them, so now I am curious if it might happen next year too. I doubt that it will. This year has been a cooler summer than normal. Since I caught that one, I have laid off fishing in hopes that others may have made it. If they did, I could have some pretty good lunkers by springtime. I was amazed at how much body weight dropped off that one in two months. Almost as fast as they gained it.

He probably held right at the thermocline and ate almost nothing for 2 months.

I feed my trout in the open water that the winter diffuser makes all winter long. I'll typically stock 50 in the pond. I will go thru a 50# bag of food every 5-6 weeks.

thats a good benchmark Esshup, thanks.

so I'll deal with the expense and pick up a few more sacks of trout chow this weekend. keep feeding the aquatic hogs till november.

i didnt feed at all last winter, fish were huge in the spring. were they eating something under the ice? or did the cold temps and slow metabolism mean that they just maintained on next to nothing?

my plan is for a big fish out once the ice melts in spring, and I want to manage between now and then for nice fat trout.

I think larger stocked trout grow quicker too. I've stocked 1# RBT and 2# RBT. 1# were 3# in late June, 2# were 7# the first week of July. Same amount of food fed, same numbers of fish in the pond.

Scott, those are some bigger sizes that were stocked. Any of those sources in Ohio? ..... 7#, WOW.