Dave, "if...eating fish pellets" in my novice opinion is the huge trick. If you can persuade my GC to do that, I'll pay for your services to fly up here to Ohio. I can't imagine trying to get them to come to the dock to eat floating pellets. In my pond on most days you can't locate any GC. When they do pop their heads up it's often in the late Spring to eat the floating cottonwood seeds. On those occasions, they swirl away in a cloud of mud if they detect the slightest motion.
I had a hired gun try to shoot them for 4 weekends in a row, and he came up empty handed. He said he saw them but couldn't get a shot off. We also tried floating jugs and tying lines to the tree branches baited with cherry tomatoes, celery, lettuce, corn, and you name it. Nothing. I tried planting water lilies to re-establish some plants, I thought for a couple of weeks that I had found the solution. Then suddenly one morning, the lilies were gone.
My advice to Salex or to anyone contemplating adding more GC to a pond is don't.
