Just as an FYI so everyone knows what I'm dealing with is that I have a 2/3 acre pond with redears. I've gotten them to feed train on Optimal. Doing well and growing great. But I wanted to share an experience....

Normally I had stuck with the rule of feeding as much feed as they will consume in ten minutes. With my redears that was only a 2 one second feedings, and I did it twice each night with 45 min in between. They fed well. For experimental purposes I set the feeder to go off every ten minutes for one second intervals. First I set it for 3 feedings. As I observed it appeared with the shorter intervals between feedings the fish feeding increased significantly. In fact when the feeder first went off they'd feed somewhat reluctantly and became more aggressive with each feeding. Then I got to the point where I had 5 feedings at night with just ten minutes in between each feeding. Again the fish fed better than they did with just 2 feedings, and still fed more aggressively with each feeding. By the fifth feeding they were going wild. At this point I thought maybe it was just the increased water temps causing the more aggressive feeding so I switched it back to 2 feedings 45 min apart. The fish immediately went back to feeding less aggressively. It's almost like each feeding attracts more fish to the area that linger until the next feeding until the fifth feeding the fish are just boiling when the feeder goes off. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

This observation is different, but I think somewhat related.

My fish are trained to come to the sound of my Polaris 900 UTV. They hear it approaching or going around the pond and I see fish wakes racing towards the sound.

If I am in a hurry I will make one single round the pond throwing feed out. If I am more leisurely I go around once and feed at a lesser rate so I have some feed to make a second round. There are at least as many if not more fish the second go-round, supporting your observation.

Now another observation. If I walk out to the pond, a few fish will come towards my footsteps but not nearly as many as with the UTV. If I throw some feed out a few will start feeding, but not too many. But if I stand there for a while and throw out more feed, over time lots of fish will show up and ultimately be as many as if I had approached with the UTV.

It appears to me my fish have at least three "dinner bells". One is the sound/vibration of the UTV. The other is the sound of my footsteps (or perhaps sight) on the bank or especially on the dock. The third is the sound of other fish splashing at the surface getting feed. I think fish are very attuned to the sound of other fish feeding. Probably not only on the pellets I feed, but I would guess on natural food like bugs, etc. In other words, if a few BG start hitting bugs landing on the surface it sends a signal to other fish "hey, someones eating, I better check it out".

So I would think the multiple feedings close together probably rings the "dinner bell" for other fish in the area. They come to check out what others are getting for supper.

My thoughts on fish psychology.

A couple of things I've noticed. My pond is about 1.5 acres. The 4 wheeler does a couple of things. First, it lets the fish know I'm there and it might be chow time whether I trip the feeder or not. But, they seem to expect a quick test throw. I think they hear the Texas Hunter warming up and come to the feeding area. Second, it lets them know that I just might have a fishing pole in my hand. They got to the point where they would ignore a hook with a piece of night crawler. OK, Stubby Steves fixed that. A red and white bobber is less effective, for me, than a plain old brown cork one. My remaining catfish will tail slap a red and white bobber when I'm feeding.

I have found that my footsteps on the bank also makes a difference and bass get a quick case of lockjaw. Plastic lures and rubber worms are useless on my educated fish. I have to first catch some BG's and come back an hour later without using the 4 wheeler. It seems to help when I crawl up to the pond and keep a low profile.

If I try to fish often, my catch rate goes down significantly.

My conclusion is that pond fish can learn about footsteps on the bank and 4 wheelers.

I'm curious enough that I may slowly move my Texas Hunter feeder up to 8 feedings a night at 5 minutes intervals and see what type of response I get. Unfortunately that will mean I only get 1 morning feeding. But I'm just curious how this will work. It has definitely led to more food getting consumed.

I guess what I'm getting at with this observation is that for the guys that have a feeder and only have it go off once in the morning and once in the evening, would it be better to break it up into more small feedings in hopes of getting more fish involved?

Go ahead and try it and let us know what happens.

That's the plan Shorty!! I can definitely say I've got much more feeding in 5 quick feedings than I ever did in 1 or 2 feedings. Even with the weather we are having they were going wild last night. I wish I had a more objective way of evaluating other than just eye balling it.

I do believe I'll be able to catch a few and have a good idea on how it impacts growth.

NEDOC, I think you are on to something. Maybe the short feeding cycle only gets the most aggressive feeding fish fed, then with no more food available the less aggressive fish go hungry.

Maybe the increased feeding frequency is getting pellets into the less aggressive fishs' stomachs, and they are now becoming more habituated to pellets, but are still letting the more aggressive fish feed first.

We have found this to be the case with perch as well. The first throw they do not take to the feed as quickly as the minnows do. This minnow action seems to get the perch triggered. Then with every throw the perch frenzy intensifys.

We feed once every night just as the sun sets. Water is just getting to 50 now so we will be placing the feeder out this weekend.

Sounds like a good experiment NEDOC. Do keep us informed.

My problem is not getting the fish to eat enough. They would eat lots more than I am feeding them. My problem is paying for the feed!

That is one problem with a larger size pond. If I fed all the feed my fish would eat, I think I would need to take out a mortgage on the place. A smaller pond with less fish I could probably full feed them and get faster, better growth. The way it is we will have more fish than we can ever eat or want to clean so extra fast growth might not be best for my goals anyway.

The good part about a larger pond is I can fish different areas on different days and hopefully put off fish getting hook shy quite so bad by not fishing a small area so often.

The expense of feed makes me glad I have small ponds. I try to feed them all they need.

No way I could continue to afford to feed Optimal if my pond was much larger than the .33 acres that it is.