Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Need Feeding Advice

I have a new 1.5 acre pond. I am fertilizing and have a good bloom x 2 months now. Started with LOTS of mosquito fish (thanks to mother nature). Added bluegill (1-2") and cats (3") in OCT. Started feeder in mid April. Feeding Purina Game Fish Chow for 1 second once a day in the same spot. Have yet to see any bluegill/cats take the feed ( but the mosquito fish and tadpoles seem to like it). I have yet to see any activity from the stocked fish. I am planning on stocking LMB in the next few weeks. My water temps have ranged from upper 60's to low 70's for past month. Anyone have any recs?

I had the same problem when I first stocked. I concluded that the BG and cats just weren't where I was feeding. I started feeding by hand in other areas and it worked. You know they were raised on feed at the hatchery. Try to figure out where they would be if you were fishing for them.

how many days have you been feeding in the same spot?,you said mid april.i dont think you have gave then enough time.it took my fish about 2-3 weeks to find and and start eating.don't worry they will come to the food.you do not have to find them they will find you.

Sarchasam,
I think it would be best to wait until next fall to plant the lmb.

When I bought my lake last year, the fish were never fed by the previous owner of 45 yrs. It took 2 months to get the b-gill and cats to feed. Persistance!!!!! We fed them all last year, and just last fri. evening I walked down to the point where I feed them (by hand) and there they were waiting for me. Man have they grown! so just keep feeding, they'll catch on.

Ric,
Why wait till fall for the LMB? I was planning on putting in 2" LMB fingerlings in a couple of weeks. Did you think they were going to be adult LMB or is there another reason why I should wait?

Sarchasm,
You're right, 2" fingerlings should be put in now. They would get eaten by your cats if you waited. Larger fish put in now would eat your cats & b/g & should be put in next fall.
Sorry, I should have realized you were refering to fingerlings.

No prob Ric. I appreciate the input. BTW, my feeder has been going since mid MARCH (not April as I had stated). I kinda forgot what month it was...

Sarc

I put 2" LMB in for my initial stocking. I think they ended up as forage.

Dave,
What had you stocked prior to putting in the LMB? I know my bluegill are not gonna be big enough to eat a 2" LMB, but dont know about the cats. Does anyone know how big a 3" channel cat grows from OCT to now? How big does a catfish have to be to prey on a 2" LMB?
Sacr

Sarchasm, My cats had been about 6 to 8 months when I put the bass in. At that time they were 10 to 11 inches long and chasing schools of fat heads across the water. I put in 50 crappie minnow size F1's; about 1 to 2 inches. I have no reason to believe that over 25% of them survived. I'd wait a little longer and put in some 6 to 8 inch bass. Essentially everything in the water eats everything it can catch and get in its mouth.

I put my bass in last July. They were 2" long and I just caught one last weekend and it was 11" long and weighed 1 lb ! It's amazing how fast these things grow.

My blue gill also are not eating . They were eating from the feeder last year and I have had the feeder on for about a month now. Are Coppernose more sensitive to water temps than native blue gill?
My water temperature is 64 degrees. The coppernose were stock fall 2002.

Well, the fish finally found the feed. It took about 2 months. I think that feeding later in the day and the fact that the pond visibility has increased to around 30" now has helped.

Sarc

If you wait until the fall to stock your LMB, you'll be able to get 6-8" fish for not much more than you will pay for a 2" fish now. You'll be pretty sure they will survive, and your prey fish will have several more months of reproducing and growing in the absence of predators. Why not let the fish farms grow those 2" fish out for you.

That's what I would do.

Wesley,
You didn't have 11" bass on patrol last year. Have your bluegill started eating yet? I read in PBmag that the bass won't eat the food but they eat what eats the food... I am new and don't know much about pond mgmt yet, but I do know how to fish for bass. If there is a place for them to ambush feeding bluegill they will do it. May be a threat management problem over a desire to eat on the bluegill's part. Do you have any shallow, flat bottom water where you could move your feeder?

Wesley -- One more thought - do you even have any bluegill left? Going from 2" to 11" in 10 mos. means a lot of little fish had to get eaten by the bigger fish...

I think you may have hit the problem with the water temp. We feed out bluegill here in SW Louisiana and start getting reaction with feed when the water temp tops 70 degrees. They really get excited when the timer goes off. We feed just after sun up and again 30 minutes before sunset. The fish have their own clock and start feeding on imaginary pellets minutes before the feeder goes off, its amazing! Go ahead withe the bass stocking.