We love our ponds, our fish, and the serenity water (usually) brings. But sometimes things go awry. In the spirit of sharing helps us laugh at our blunders, mistakes, and pratfalls, here's my contribution.

WPE ever: A few days ago I discovered the lid to my TH feeder had come off -- one latch was bent during delivery and has proven problematic. This time, it rained hard on 40 lb of feed. I didn't realize the problem until a couple of weeks later...

The smell of rotting fish food just about knocked me over. It looked exactly like it smelled, a box full of feces. Maggots crawling in it, but I wondered how even they could stand the stench.

Had to control vomit reflex while I dug it out, and a friend shoveled a deep hole for burial purposes. Took 30 minutes of my life that I'll never get back. My wife threw away the trowel I used and made me shower & change clothes -- but she still complained about the smell. Washed my hands eight times...

Just hope the neighborhood dogs don't dig it up.

I feel your pain! I had a a feed can leak once and do the same thing with about 20 lbs of MVP. Worst smell I think I've ever had to deal with. Absolutely horrible.

That same smell is present when I gut bluegill who have been eating pellets.

I have learned to turn the feeder off for a couple days prior to harvesting fish.

Sorry to hear that anthropic. Been there, done that with a TH latch not holding. I wound up using a bent piece of barbed wire as a easy off lock.

I might wait until it's totally dry inside, and then wait a few more days before I called it good. I used a 3" putty knife and scrape all the hopper sides and corners until all the dust and crud is gone. I also paid particular attention to the corners, and used a small brass gun brush to really clean the corners. If not, then it'll stink forever, and the remaining dust is the first thing to hold moisture.

I might also hand spin the big slinger to make sure it's not binding. Over time, fish food dust can fall between the slinger and the housing, and if it gets wet, it can swell up and it'll burn through batteries, and cut down throw distance. It's just a consequence of all that fish food banging around.

Thanks, guys. Good to know I'm not the only one!

Because the stuff on the bottom was the spitting image of what happens after you eat a bad tortilla, I couldn't scrape it all out. Had to pour water to break it up, which eventually worked. I guess will have to scrape sides with wire brush, then pour water, then let sit in hot sun a few days. Nasty!

I like the barbed wire idea, too. Gotta secure that latch!!!

Never thought of that, but then I haven't personally eaten any fish from my BOW yet. Also I bet the bite would be faster if they haven't been fed for a day or two.

A big wind caused it for me a couple of times but no feed got wet. I now use snap locks to keep it from happening.

Frank, it's time to eat some fish lol. I have not sampled my hsb nor my lmb and I have not eaten my res either but the cnbg are great eating I see why the lmb like eating them. And I also lost the lid of my TH Feeder once due to high winds and not locked properly. I could see down about 5 foot deep laying on bottom. Kind of a pain in the arse to get it out at the time.

So you're saying the smell of the rotten fish food could knock a buzzard of a sh*t wagon????

Makes me wonder how well wild hogs would take to the smell of sour fish pellets. They usually like the rankest stuff you can find to throw out for them.

Maybe even two buzzards!

That's one of the problems with it: I was afraid it would attract animals (dogs, coyotes, raccoons, whatever) that would die after eating. Couldn't dump it anywhere within the watershed, either, or it might end up in the pond.

I was thinking of an alternative to using feed that had gotten old or wet as bait! Hogs aren't usually very particular, and the smell would definitely get their attention from quite a ways off.