Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Feeding Trout Under Ice / Trout Eating Off Bottom

The aquatic isopods are probably as good as an invertebrate food as any other for fish. These "bugs" are bottom crawling critters so apparently trout and probably most other fish can find and eat them. I want to stock some isopods in my perch pond this spring.

Bill, help us with names of some isopods and how does one source for stocking?

I'm glad to hear that the aquatic isopods are good food for the trout.

I put my camera down today while doing some fishing (no bites) and saw such a strange looking worm on the bottom. It looked a lot like a dew worm used for fishing, except it was moving on the bottom and seemed a little bigger. The last time I fished with worms was two weeks ago, and I used very small red wigglers. I do not believe this could be one of the worms I used. Does anyone know what it is? I was shocked to see it when I reviewed the camera footage. It was also right on top of the trout food. Maybe it was trying to eat it?

Here's a now spring update on feeding in the trout pond.

We have had two weeks of very warm temperatures, and lots of ice has melted. It was melted enough today that I was able to fish some open water on the side. As I was fishing, I noticed boiling on the surface, so I went and got some fish food to throw. After a few minutes of the food in the water, there was some concentrated action at the surface, some of which I managed to capture on video. Please let me know if this is the trout eating or not based on the video. I did not feed much, but will throw some more tomorrow evening as well. I'm also trying to tap a rake handle on a rock under the water as Bill suggested every time I feed.

There is also a high amount of curly leaf pondweed floating where the ice has melted. We will have to get out in a boat within the next week or two to collect it to allow for better fishing and feeding.

Video: https://youtu.be/3Kmhqx6J4Qc

That's certainly what trout feeding in my pond look like.
And, that is an awful lot of weed, isn't it!

Good to hear it seems like they are feeding. This is only my second season feeding trout, since they were on a natural diet before. I'm hoping to get some good growth for the next few months.

And yes, way to many weeds. A tricky problem to control.

Here is a quick update.

All the ice on the pond is fully melted, and I have started to feed floating pellets. I see feeding activity only when I feed around 30 minutes or less before sunset. Feeding mid afternoon did not result in any trout surfacing. I have only been feeding about 1/4 - 1/2 lbs of food a day, because I am not sure if all of it is getting eaten or not. I caught two trout in 10 minutes of fishing two days ago, and they were both fairly fat looking, so whatever they are eating, they are eating well.

I ran a castable camera setup through a day ago as well, and caught two fish on camera briefly. Here is the link to the video for those interested: https://youtu.be/NrgMmG3OCzw