Benefits of Using a Fish Feeder

The sun was kissing the horizon as I made another cast from the gravel and earthen pond dam. The golden light illuminated the twitch in the line as another fat bass sucked in my Texas-rigged worm. At the moment I set the hook, a sound from behind me shattered the evening calm and I nearly jumped into the water. It was a fish feeder activating, and it was one of the reasons I’d caught and released no fewer than two dozen bass in about an hour of fishing. 
 
Now, while largemouth bass are known to eat the feed thrown from a feeder, these sought-after gamefish benefit more from a healthy forage fish base. These forage fish, bluegills and bream mostly, benefit directly from the feed as they swarm to and gorge on the floating nutrition spewed from a feeder. Smaller prey fish also benefit as they eat the crumbs left behind. The result is a healthy forage base, and in turn, a healthy population of gamefish.
 
“A feeder is a great idea,” said Bob Limbird, district fisheries biologist for western Arkansas, “especially for people who don’t live right at the water where they can be there at least three or four times a week to feed from a bucket.”
 
Feeders certainly do make it more convenient. Moultrie’s 15-Gallon Feedcaster Fish Feeder holds 50 pounds of feed – enough for an entire month of worry-free feeding. The feeder also features a programmable motor that can feed up to six different times a day, and the amount of food dispensed is totally adjustable. The Feedcaster mounts on any 4-by-4 post, such as those bracing boat docks, making it great for lake house owners.
 
“A feeder lures fish into docks on big lakes,” Limbird said. “It’s no different than putting out fish structure.” In fact, combining fish structure or cover with a fish feeder will create a fishing hole the grandkids will remember all their lives. 
 
In addition to the Feedcaster, Moultrie also produces the 6-Gallon Directional Fish Feeder, which features a directional shroud on the motor that directs the fish food where you want it. It features a photocell timer that feeds twice a day at dawn and dusk. This smaller, bucket-type feeder is perfect for hanging from a plant hook or with a chain from a tree limb near the water.

“Catfish really benefit and take to fish feeders,” Limbird said. Anyone who has ever seen these whisker-fish rolling on the surface of the water after being fed can attest to their cooperative nature.

“Feed is also especially important to the small fish,” Limbird added, noting that fish hatcheries grind up fish food to feed minnows.
 
Tommy Youngblood, Director of Finance for the Greater Alabama Council of the Boy Scouts of America, understands the need to give the small fries a helping hand. Recently Moultrie Feeders donated three 15-Gallon Feedcasters to the Alabama Council for a 3-acre trophy bream pond.

This winter the Greater Alabama Council began a campaign to improve the fishery at Camp Comer in Mentone, Ala.,” Youngblood said. “This effort supports our ‘Hooked on Scouting’ theme that has been developed in a partnership between the Greater Alabama Council, the Boy Scouts of America and PRADCO Outdoor Brands. Private funding was secured to apply approximately 300 pounds of lime to the fisheries and 1,600 to 2,000 5-inch Georgia Giant Hybrid Bream were introduced to the small pond in late January.”