Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding feeding in shallow clear water

Hey all, i'm new to the forum. I'm trying to help a friend out with his pond. It was built over 20 years ago, and hasn't been stocked since. He wants large bluegill to harvest, so i have him feeding every day, same time, same place. He's been doing it for about 2 weeks consistently and still doesn't quite have them "swarming" for the food. There are a couple swirls over the course of about ten minutes but that is it. Could this be because he is feeding in shallow, clear water (secchi of 4 feet)and feeding over spawning beds? Are they still just getting used to him being there? Do BG feed less on the surface when they are guarding nests? What's the longest it could take before they get used to him? Thanks for the help!

talfermann, welcome to the forum, things are kind of slow on a weekend but you should get some good advice soon.
If you could supply as much info as possible it should help, such as type of food, floating or sinking, pond size and what are all the species present in the pond.

When were they stocked and what size were they?

What else do they have to eat?

Is he feeding where small fish would normally hang out or where he wants them to hang out?

Were they from a hatchery or seined from a local source?

Welcome! As long as the fish have been in the pond, it will take them some time to acclimate to the feed, and in my experience with my fish, they won't hammer the feed like feed trained fish.

When BG are spawning, they don't leave their nests to feed, although they will chase a small lure or worm a couple feet from the nest, but return immediately if not hooked. He'll see an increase in feeding activity once the spawn is over. The BG are nesting in my pond, and I hardly see any feeding.

I was feeding generic food from Tractor Supply, and when I switched to Aquamax 500, the feeding activity increased. I've also noticed that with the larger pellets, the BG will spit it out and grab it a few times, where with the smaller pellets (500 vs. 600) they'll grab it and swallow it.

The key to getting fish acclimated to feeding is
1) feed the same place and time every day
2) don't feed more than they can clean up in 15 minutes
3) feed in an area that has deep enough water for fish to escape predators, 3' deep or deeper.

To figure out what size feed to use, one of the experts here said to normally feed fish food that is the size of the fish's eyeball.

Oops, yeah I guess a little more info would help.

Pond is .34 acres/i'm not sure how they got in the pond as it has been at least 15 years since it has been fished/the water is clear and there are no aquatic plants or woody structures present. There is a little bit of green algae material on the bottom, but it is patchy/Other species in the pond include largemouth bass and that's it/He is feeding floating aquamax, i think the 3/16 size (number two pencil eraser)/he is feeding over a spawning bed in about 2-4 feet of water that is adjacent to 8 foot deep water. Thanks for all the help thus far, that's a big help!

Glad to have you here, talfermann. You've gotten some great input from a few guys who know their stuff, so you're off to a great start. Just some personal experience here from a very new and inexperienced pond owner to share. The one pond I'm now feeding in is generally shallow all over and my water is very clear, too. However, my BG have learned, over the course of this spring, to hammer the food I'm using. Like esshup, I had been using TSC's store brand and the fish were marginally interested at best. I recently switched over to a good quality, high protein food from Burris and they are absolutely loving it. When we walk up to the pond, we can see schools of BG swimming in from all directions for feeding time and we don't even do it regularly since we don't live at our farm.

Long and short, my experience is that you can absolutely get fish to feed in clear and relatively shallow water, so I wouldn't worry about that. More than anything, it's just a matter of time if they weren't feed trained to start with. I don't have any reason to think those in my pond were feed trained before we bought the place, but they are loving it now and it has only taken about 3 months to get to this point.

Keep us posted.

Keep tossing the groceries. They will come to it. It might just take a little time. They seem to like floating Aquamax.