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I have someone that wants to get the bluegills in his pond on feed that have never seen a pellet before. That is they were never planted from a farm and were naturally reproduced in the pond.
Anybody have success doing this?
What would you suggest?
I was thinking of starting out with the Gamefish chow that has a mix of sizes and feeding at the time in the same place until he gets a response?
I know one thing he has going for him is bluegills are supposed to be the easiest species to get on feed, and that has been my experience with the smaller ones.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 02/06/15 12:47 PM.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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Cecil - you requesting forum advice on feed training fish is a futile exercise - you've been there done that more than most of us put together!  Bruce feed trained a bunch of my BG and YP in a tank this winter, and he started with blood worms and graduated to softened pellets, then to straight floating feed. I think this was due primarily to the more sensitive YP, the BG may have started hitting pellets immediately. I think hydrated sink pellets might be a good place to start, however, to try and acclimate as many as possible. But, you already knew this, so I digress.
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TJ,
My feed training has always been with small fish crowded in tanks and cages. I'm talking about bluegill of all sizes in a pond.
What kind of response will he get in a pond?
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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Lunker
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BG are easy to feed train. I would pound a metal fence post into the ground and bang on a couple of times every time you feed. (Ring the dinner bell) Feed at the same place and time and the BG will pick it up very quickly.
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I wonder if you could start out teaching them to gather in one spot at night and pick bugs off the surface by using some sort of night time light/bug attraction device. Then add more 'surface food' at night and then when they know where to go for food add day time food there?
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Only one of our ponds contains bluegills that were fed at a hatchery, the others are "wild" populations, and they take feed readily. When I started, I hydrated the feed and things went smoother.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.
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Thank you Gentlemen. That is what I thought. I can show him how to hydrate in a gallon zip lock bag. Any suggestions on size? Aquamax 500 or start out with Gamefish chow so there is a variation in size?
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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thought you were getting wild with blue gills...LOL
Goofing off is a slang term for engaging in recreation or an idle pastime while obligations of work or society are neglected........... Wikipedia
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Cecil, I just fed GFC at the lake house from a feeder. 1/2 hr after sunrise and 1 hr before sunset. They learned without hydrating the feed. Had common carp and golden shiners also feeding. It took about 3 weeks before I saw any BG eating from the surface.
Water temps were in the low 70's when I started.
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I put a feeder out on my pond last year and the bluegills stared feeding right away. I used Aquamax 500.
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For those that said the bluegills started feeding right away, how many of you had bluegill that were NOT from hatchery?
I put some pond hatched bluegills in a cage years ago. Only got about 20 percent to feed on pellets. But they were dry pellets. No doubt I could have got them going better on hydrated pellets.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 02/06/15 04:00 PM.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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I am going to give an opposite experience. Before renovating the pond, I had BG that would not come to the feed. They had never seen feed, ever. I fed the same time, same place, every day. Not like the fish I got from the hatchery after renovation, that were looking for it.
If it was me doing it again, If I didn't see the wild ones taking to feed in a week or two, I'd throw in a half dozen feed trained ones to give the oldies an idea of what to do.
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I'm not sure what constitutes "feeding right away"? The bluegills in our established ponds didn't begin tearing into the feed until probably 3 weeks after beginning the program. There were interested parties almost immediately, but they would suck in a pellet and spit it back out....which led to hydrating the feed.
Now those same bluegills follow me around the bank, waiting, at suppertime.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1)
And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1)
Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT?
PB answer: It depends.
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I'm not sure how well GF Chow will hydrate. Many of the 32% protein pellets become mushy when water is added. If you use less water to dampen the pellets it may work okay. I think hydrating the feed results in faster pellet trained fish.
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BG are easy to feed train. I would pound a metal fence post into the ground and bang on a couple of times every time you feed. (Ring the dinner bell) Feed at the same place and time and the BG will pick it up very quickly. I drive a Polaris UTV around the pond. That is the signal for the BG to start following me around. See small wakes in the water like a flotilla of small submarines heading towards the sound/vibration. Rice breakfast cereal will get the fish interested. Rice Crispies are fair, but the real deal is Fruity Pebbles (generic brand in the great big family bag works fine). The various colors really get their attention. The small size and the fact that they sog up pretty quickly, the small BG will take right to them if they are at all hungry. I've tried Cheerios, and would think they would be great. But my fish at least were not oat fans. The Rice cereal they really went after. Feed some of the Fruity Pebbles, then add in some fish feed as they get to feeding aggressively. The bigger fish will get the idea when they see the small ones getting to eat and they are not. Competition does wonders getting them to hit things they otherwise would not.
Last edited by snrub; 02/06/15 05:34 PM.
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BG are easy to feed train. I would pound a metal fence post into the ground and bang on a couple of times every time you feed. (Ring the dinner bell) Feed at the same place and time and the BG will pick it up very quickly. I drive a Polaris UTV around the pond. That is the signal for the BG to start following me around. See small wakes in the water like a flotilla of small submarines heading towards the sound/vibration. Rice breakfast cereal will get the fish interested. Rice Crispies are fair, but the real deal is Fruity Pebbles (generic brand in the great big family bag works fine). The various colors really get their attention. The small size and the fact that they sog up pretty quickly, the small BG will take right to them if they are at all hungry. I've tried Cheerios, and would think they would be great. But my fish at least were not oat fans. The Rice cereal they really went after. Feed some of the Fruity Pebbles, then add in some fish feed as they get to feeding aggressively. The bigger fish will get the idea when they see the small ones getting to eat and they are not. Competition does wonders getting them to hit things they otherwise would not. Awesome tip Snrub. I will definitely give that a try this spring at my place. I fed my CC grain based 32% pellets for 6 weeks or so last fall and my BG never did show any interest. I stocked pellet trained PS last fall but it was too late in the season to feed pellets. I did buy some small 3.5mm 45% pellets which I will feed this spring. Hopefully, the BG will get the idea when the PS feed.
Last edited by Bill D.; 02/06/15 06:04 PM.
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Snrub - creative way to get fish eating fish food. Good thinking. Hopefully others will try it and report their results.
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I'm still a fan of old school Post Cocoa and Fruity Pebbles, so this is right in my wheelhouse. The generic ones taste good too, and come in huge bags, which is another benefit. I sneak a bowl around midnight when everyone is asleep once or twice a month - kids cereal is a secret shame I guess. Can't wait to try this on BG this Spring, good post.
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau
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I could not understand why the BG did not like Cheerios. I guess it must be they have not heard the benefits of oats lowering bad cholesterol. That could possibly be an educational problem, or lack thereof. Don't understand how that could be though, because I have seem the fish actively schooling. I guess schooling attendance does not automatically equate to learning. 
Last edited by snrub; 02/06/15 07:51 PM.
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I could not understand why the BG did not like Cheerios. I guess it must be they have not heard the benefits of oats lowering bad cholesterol. That could possibly be an educational problem, or lack thereof. Don't understand how that could be though, because I have seem the fish actively schooling. I guess schooling attendance does not automatically equate to learning. There's no "Snap, Crackle, Pop" with Cheerios and they aren't shaped like insect larvae? 
Last edited by Bill D.; 02/06/15 08:40 PM.
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My bluegill were not from a hatchery. I did set the feeder up in a place where I could always catch some bluegills. On my new pond I stocked FHM and CNBG 1-2" and it took a couple months to get them to feeding good.
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I could not understand why the BG did not like Cheerios. I guess it must be they have not heard the benefits of oats lowering bad cholesterol. That could possibly be an educational problem, or lack thereof. Don't understand how that could be though, because I have seem the fish actively schooling. I guess schooling attendance does not automatically equate to learning. There's no "Snap, Crackle, Pop" with Cheerios and they aren't shaped like insect larvae? Maybe one type of cereal has more insect larvae in it and the fish know it. All cereal has insects. In fact there is a maximum standard allowed by the government.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 02/07/15 09:11 AM.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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Cecil
Yum yum! But true
Pat
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Fish choosing foods are probably very similar to many kids - go for the sweeter and more colorful types.
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Bill, have there been any studies on water clarity and feed training with BG?
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