Adam, your plan for the new trout sounds very good to me. Please update us throughout the winter and into spring. I'm particularly interested in your expectation of feeding when the pond is ice covered.
I've tried Optimal BG dropped into holes cut in the ice while ice fishing with no visible takers. I didn't expect the fish to come all the way to the surface, but pellets that were drifting down also didn't get visibly grabbed. I only have a few trout though in winter, as few as 5 or as many as 15, so I didn't expect to see much. I'll also hand throw some Optimal into the open water created by aeration without any visible feeding by trout.
The pellets eventually do get eaten by wild mallards who move in to the feed trough. Grrrr.
It may be that my trout, whether RBT, BRNT, or TT, are easily filling up on bass, sunfish, perch, or crayfish and just aren't hungry for pellets.
If you are able, post pics of your ice fishing experiences.
Thanks again for this interesting thread.
