Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding fish feeding

At what size will catfish and perch start eating fish food? Also, what is the best type of fish food?

they will feed at a very young age and small size providing you feed food small enough - the best is Purina Game Fish Chow - floats, comes in various sizes, and high protein

How much do you need to feed b.gill for it to be worth while? Is it figured per acre or on the size of the population? How many feeders would an 8 acre pond need?

I also have an acre pond and run two automatic feeders on it - you should feed only enough in one feeding for them to be able to eat it all within 15 minutes or so. It also depends on number of bluegill you have but I run mine 3-4 times per day - once early morning, mid day, and late afternoon. FYI - it can take awhile for the fish to find the feed - don't be discouraged as they will eventually find it. If you don't have feeders yet, I suggest checking into the Stren feeders - they are excellent. You also want to try to position the feeder where it is in a little deeper water if possible - placing it on the shoreline is usually shallow and much of the feed will float to the shore before being eaten. I built a wooden dock about 5 feet by 5 feet and placed two large styrofoam blocks under it. I mounted the feeder on it and tied it down out in the pond. good luck

People who feed blue gills
How big is your pond?
How much do you feed per month?
How much gain do you see from feeding?

I feed 400-500 lbs per month on an 8 acre lake - yes it can make a dramatic difference in your bluegill spawn rates which in turn provides forage for the bass. Feeding along with proper culling of your bass (if overpopulated) can provide good results in your bass growth.

Here in lies my problem, My family isn't going to spend $300 a month on this pond. If we feed 100 pounds a month would it make a diffrence? or just provide an easy spot to catch b.gill?

I think you could run one feeder and put out 10lbs of feed per day or 300 lbs per month and get good results. Purina fish chow runs around $15 per 50lb bag, so for around $90 per month you could feed enough to help. Also remember you only feed during the warm months when water temps are at 60 or above, so for 4-5 months per year you are not feeding.

our local feed store has sinking fish food for 4.50 per 50 pound bag. i know it won't let me see the fish feed as i would the floating, 3-4 x more expensive feed, but will it do about the same?? i'm assuming it will. any thoughts? this may be something to consider for those not too concerned about seeing the fish feed on floating feed, and want to save a lot of money.

the value of the floating food is that it allows the bluegill to eat more of it - the various sizes of the pellets in game fish chow allows all sizes of the bluegill to eat - I believe the sinking feed is typically one size pellet that is large and therefore the smaller bluegill can't feed on it. The sinking food is good for catfish if that is the objective but for bluegill, floating will get best results.

To answer the question...How many feeders in 8 acre pond? It depends if long and skinny, lots of shoreline you could put out 5 and not reach all bluegill in the pond. It comes down to as you discovered a economic choice. TIm, I agree with everything you said, but you said 400-500/month with only 2 feeders. That seems high, is all the food being consumed. Have you thought about hitting areas in the pond that are not receving a feeeding. Bluegill will not travel a long way to get to the food as a catfish might.

Greg - I run my feeders four times per day each - so they consume it all within 5-10 minutes - I choose to feed less food more times per day - also, I have a very large population of bluegill and catfish, so the amount I feed is alot but is all eaten Tim

Tim you da man. That is exactly what I tell folks less fed but 4 times per day. The bluegill can only consume so much at a time and they really put on some weight when fed 4 times per day. I usually takeout the mid day feeding once water temp gets above 80.

I paid $14.50 for 50 lbs. of Purina Game Fish Chow last week. I am not a big believer in having various sizes of pellets in one bag. The little fish don't seem to do a great job of finding the small pellets. Also, fatheads and small fish chew on the sides of the moistened pellet.

Has anyone ever tried the Silver Cup floating pellets to feed their Bgill. They are about the size of a BB. Just curious if anybody had any luck with this brand of feed.