Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Help-Fish quit feeding

Hello,

Dave J here again. I have been feeding my HBG, LMB and YP for about a month now in SW. Michigan and they have been eating like crazy-literally the HBG almost jumping out of the water to eat. Been feeding two times a day so I know they were getting enough to eat. But we had a big storm about a week ago and now the feeding has really gone down. I still have some eating but not like they were-So my question(s) are:
1. Is this because of the storm?
2. I have had a ton of tad poles just hatch-are they eating them instead?
3. Or is there something wrong with my pond?
***I have read were others said if fish are swimming at the top it means they are having problems with oxegyn-but I am not seeing that

Thanks for the feedback

My best guess is that you might be having a midge hatch or that natural forage is very abundant right now since the fish are not piping at the surface. The other possibility is that this latest cold front that came through really dropped the water temps down which lead to reduced feeding.

What is a midge hatch??

Thanks

They are an insect that spends that thier larval stages in water, then they emerge from the water to become adults and breed for a short time. Maybe this will help. When they hatch there is a large amount of food available for your sunfish.

http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/887/True-Fly-Chironomidae-Midges

Dave J my feeding has been off the last three days also. I have seen what look like baby minnows and millions of tadpoles so my guess is that my fish are eating at a different table. All water params look good.

I remember when mine quit feeding; they were making beds...little did I know that the first year...I kept thinking, gee-wiz I have thousands of fish in there, where are they?...Now I'm smarter I think...They are also not eating much here in Indiana so I figure must be getting close. We have had colder weather here so I'm sure that is playing havoc in the picture too.

Mine do this every spring as well.They start feeding a little better until they are swarming the feed and then they quit.I get nervous every time,and then a few weeeks later they start feeding again.You're probably OK,just nature taking its coarse.

I have noticed here in SW Ohio that cold front and windy days affect the feeding habits as does a stationary 3 day high pressure stalled over the region like last week.

These cold nights havent helped either, ( mid 30-s the last few nights)

Salmonid

Thanks guys, I went out to feed this morning and they were doing a little better-not as great as before but not as bad either-maybe the warmer nights have helped. The best part of the whole thing was I take my 5 year old twins out with me-they love throwing the food out and looking at the tad poles (much which have disappeared the last couple of days) and we had a deer about 15 yards away-the kids loved it! Put everyone in a great mood going to school and work!
Have a great day!

I had the same thing happen to me today. As I was walking back to the pond today I saw a blue heron taking off from my feeding area. Needless to say the feeding was pretty poor this afternoon. Hopefully this doesn't continue.

Just an update-feeding was back to normal this morning-after reading Black bass comments about the Heron I told my wife and then she tells me that she saw a big bird in the water just the other day-I am assuming now that that might have been the problem

Good to hear...The neighbors down the street have a smaller pond with several decoys surrounding it. I think they have three BH decoys and two Great Horned Owl's.

I went to a pond seminar hosted by the Soil and Water department early this spring. I asked the pond speaker what he thought about them. He said that he's seen several real herons in one pond before therefore he doubted the deterrent value of a decoy for the supposedly extremely territorial herons.

This guy has managed a hatchery for thirty years so I imagine he's seen everything. Anyway both my neighbor and buddy have had success with them. I'm checking them out now for myself. It can't hurt. Sure it may scare the fish at first, but they'll get used to it.

Birds do affect the feeding habits of our fish. Setting feeders at low light conditions(7:30am and 8pm) helps once weather and water warm.