Fish benefit from protein, too

By Mark McDonald
Premier Ponds & Wildlife

Nobody asked my opinion, but if I bought a ranch, one of the first orders of business would be to build the largest waterbody I could afford.

Once the lake was built and full of water, I would install an aerator system and start a supplementary feeding program.

The aerator system would enrich the water column with life-giving oxygen. The feeding program would add protein to the natural forage the pond produces.

Just as many of the best deer hunting ranches make high-protein pellets available for their whitetail, the best fishing holes feed protein to their fish.

Largemouth use live prey and do not eat protein pellets unless they have been trained to do so. Ahhh, but bluegill ? the very foundation of most fishing ponds ? do indeed take protein pellets. The less energy bluegill expend gathering food means that much more can be used in spawning, which means a healthy forage base to support bass.

Bonus benefit: The bluegill grow large enough to become a target sport species in their own right. When bluegill reach the approximate size and shape of a pie plate, anglers love catching them on light spinning and fly tackle.

To set up a feeding program, we recommend the following:

* Use a quality protein product. With great success, we have used Game Fish Chow by Purina Mills. It comes in a multi-sized pellet, 30 percent protein.

* Use a floating pellet. This allows you to monitor if fish are rising to the surface, readily accepting the morsals.

* Feed the same time every day. I like to use directional feeders set on the shoreline or dock. Sweeney makes a high-quality directional feeder, as does AllSeasons. I set the timer to go off at 9 AM and 3 PM.

* Feed durations should last about 5 seconds. Distribute only as much feed as the fish will clean up in 10 minutes. Anything else is surplus. When the winter weather really sets in next month or so, you might want to scale back on the feed rations.

Feeding fish in your pond is not only beneficial to the fish, it?s fun.

Once catfish get accustomed to seeing a floating ration, they will swim through the pellets, their mouths open wide. It looks like a shredder running through light pasture. Hybrid striped bass fairly explode when they come to the top and chomp on a pellet.

The author runs Premier Ponds & Wildlife, a consulting firm that specializes in designing, building and renovating ponds, and creating wildlife programs. Visit his website at PremierPonds-Wildlife.com.