Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Feeding Fill me in on the ins and outs of feeding!

19 acre pond/lake. If I decided to feed it would only be 1 feeder. My goal would be a better forage base of bluegill and golden shiners, ultimately leading to fatter bass. Is this feasible? How much feed would it take a month to be significant? I suspect there is simply too much water to make a difference but figured I'd ask you guys. Are there any dangers to feeding?

Here's a satellite image that shows the weed coverage (coontail) if that matters to you guys.

Start feeding at one spot. You'll find enjoyment at the very least.

The feeder guys on the forum say that it is important that the fish eat up all of the food that you put in. Otherwise you are just adding very expensive fertilizer to your pond bottom that is going to go to the plants. Once your fish are trained, you need to determine how long it takes them to eat most of the food and set your timer appropriately.

I would also utilize a feeding ring on a lake your size. Especially AFTER they are trained. However, at the start you may want some feed drifting all over the lake? Hopefully, the smart fish will follow the food back to its source.

I don't believe you can feed an entire 19-acre lake from one feeder. However, there are some feeding threads where people have determined that fish will travel a surprisingly long way to the feeders!

Observe your results. If you think you are having a positive effect for the time and money, then you can always add additional feeders at a later date. Plus your learning curve will be higher on the later feeders!

Good luck. And as Sunil says, have fun!

CW: "Never feed more than what the fish consume in 10 minutes."

My list of do's are to find a location that the wind can drift the food in either direction that also has access to deeper water close by. I've also seen tips on feeding in an area dedicated to spawning. Makes sense to me as you will have the ability to touch more fish in the spawning zone when they need it vs anywhere else.

We feed from the center of the west bank, which allows for the spring and summer winds to drift the food to the North and Spring and Fall winds to drift the Feed to the South. Any westerly winds drift the food further out in the pond to deeper water. Our (4) pea gravel beds, approx. 1,000 sf are also spread across the West side of the pond too. We do occasionally get a little bit of east wind but it's not nearly as common.

It's hard to beat seeing all the fish really get after the food when they figure out where it's at. Good luck on the project. Worth the investment IMO.

My pond is just short of 5 acres and the fish have been eating about 100-125 lb a month out of 1 feeder and 50 out of another feeder. They could handle more if I let them. Get 1000 BG at a feeder and they only get a few pellets each

Feed multiple times a day - BG have small stomachs.

Thanks for the replies! Do you guys think 100lbs a month would/could make a measurable difference in bass rw's? I'm assuming my feeding would need to target bg and golden shiners.

Conventional wisdom says if you feed 100 lbs of feed, you'll put on approx. 50 lbs of weight onto the fish.

So, the question is...which fish will get that 50 lbs, and will that be directly, or indirectly?

It will help the bass, but unless the same bass stay in the 2-3 acres around the feeder then you won't see much measurable increased RW on the LMB. Now you WILL see a big increase in size and RW of the BG around the feeder. I have seen that on public lakes where people feed the fish, but then fishermen find out and target those areas so the people typically stop feeding.

So if I was to put out a feeder with pellets that targeted bg and golden shiners could I expect an increase in their populations, or just bigger forage, or some of both? I'm really not sure what the lowest fruit is here. Is the limiting factor nutrition or is it spawning habitat? I really just want more critters for my bass to eat. Of course I'm working on that by removing a ton of bass, but I'd like multiple approaches if possible.

The feed helps the target fish grow directly. It also helps them have stronger spawns by producing more eggs, and perhaps whatever the male fish discharges.

The bass will benefit by ingesting feed indirectly by eating the bluegill and GSH.

Bass will also start eating feed directly themselves if they are around the activity long enough.

Perfect!