Stocking pond with catfish

[stitch]

Going to put catfish in a 7 acre pond / lake......I think.

Lake is overstocked with small bass. Lots of 6-10" bass in the pond. Lots of bream in the pond.

I have easy access to catfish in the 4"-6" range to stock. Is this a mistake? Will the bass eat the catfish that size? Do I need bigger catfish? I guess my thought process is that once the catfish get bigger, they will do a job on the bream and bass........as you can tell by now, I know enough to be dangerous. What I do know is that I want catfish in the pond for kids to catch / eat.......go, what say you?

[420 racin]

What kind of catfish you putting in there? If you put flathead's in there, they will eat all your fish, (of course not every single one, but..) I have a 3 acre pond and I have some decent bass and a ton of little bream, I put about 100 or so channel cat from my neighbor's catfish pond, bout the same size you talking bout, and they have taken off. That was about 4 years ago and today I can catch catfish, sometimes, all about 4-5 pounds. I like it.

I had the GW's come out years ago and shock the pond and write me a recommendation of what to do. Basically I understand you can have fewer but bigger fish or more but smaller fish. I'm managing for the more and smaller bass. I don't care to catch a 10 pounder, but I love eating 2-3 pounders. and the bream are over stocked for sure, but the kids love it and it's a great way to get them into fishing. I got buddies that bring their kids over and you can catch them all day. They always want to go back and do it again when they catch fish.

[hntrpat1]

a pond full of 20lb flatheads sounds awesome

[Woodgoat1]

Just a thought.....Flatheads don't survive well in anything but moving water.....BIG water....Rivers....

[Smoke68]

Just a thought.....Flatheads don't survive well in anything but moving water.....BIG water....Rivers....

I know of several examples that deviate from this line of thinking.

[lilwhitelie]

Just a thought.....Flatheads don't survive well in anything but moving water.....BIG water....Rivers....

I know of several examples that deviate from this line of thinking.

Family lake had some put in it many moons ago and every year we still catch some big ones. Think we finally got most out and some we caught were over 40 lbs. didn't think they would reproduce in a lake but we caught some last year in the 5lb range and there ain't been one put in there in a very long time. They will keep bream in check and everything else. I do not advise putting them in. This is in a 15 acre lake.

[pondman]

Let me take a shot at this stocking catfish thing:

-- Do not stock flatheads in a pond. They are ferocious predators and will clean the pond out.
-- FHC will successfully reproduce in a pond. The fry have a hard time surviving due to to LMB predation, but some will make it.
-- FHC do not need running water. Several years ago out of a series of neighborhood lakes in Rankin County we shocked up several FHC in the 20-73 lb range.
-- Stocking Channel catfish will NOT help with your LMB overpopulation. A bunch of hungry anglers is the best way to deal with a predator crowded pond.
-- If you have too many bass it is highly unlikely that you have too many bluegill. Unless you had some really weird issue like excessive aquatic vegetation growth, it extraordinarily difficult to have too many bass and too many bream at the same time.

-- Short version: Do not flatheads. Do not stock CCF with the hopes they will remove excess LMB and BG. To get rid of the extra LMB, go fish. If you have too many BG the LMB will take care of them in time.

Pond

[Smoke68]

Let me take a shot at this stocking catfish thing:

-- Do not stock flatheads in a pond. They are ferocious predators and will clean the pond out.
-- FHC will successfully reproduce in a pond. The fry have a hard time surviving due to to LMB predation, but some will make it.
-- FHC do not need running water. Several years ago out of a series of neighborhood lakes in Rankin County we shocked up several FHC in the 20-73 lb range.
-- Stocking Channel catfish will NOT help with your LMB overpopulation. A bunch of hungry anglers is the best way to deal with a predator crowded pond.
-- If you have too many bass it is highly unlikely that you have too many bluegill. Unless you had some really weird issue like excessive aquatic vegetation growth, it extraordinarily difficult to have too many bass and too many bream at the same time.

-- Short version: Do not flatheads. Do not stock CCF with the hopes they will remove excess LMB and BG. To get rid of the extra LMB, go fish. If you have too many BG the LMB will take care of them in time.

Pond

Pond, what about his question about stocking channel catfish for kids to catch? If he stocks fingerlings, will most of them get eaten by the bass before growing to eating size?

[420 racin]

Can't speak for Pond, but in my case, no the bass didn't eat nearly all of them. I didn't put the channel cats in as any sort of control measure for the bass or bream, I just want them all to co-exist in the pond so the kids can catch them, so far it worked. Me and my little man walked down to the pond yesterday and first cast with the Pumpkin Seed Baby Brushog landed a small 1.5 pound bass..I hooked it.he reeled him in..he loved it, always asks me if we can go fishing..That's why I like a lot of fish over larger fish...right now.. as he gets older we will probably migrate to a different style of management, but right now when my son it tugging on my to go fishing..it's because we catch fish when we go. Might be a catfish, bass or bream, but we catch fish

[pondman]

Pond, what about his question about stocking channel catfish for kids to catch? If he stocks fingerlings, will most of them get eaten by the bass before growing to eating size?

My bad. Missed one.

If you stock 4-6" CCF some will get predated. Most will not. I usually recommend a 8-10" inch fish. They do not cost much more, survival is virtually 100% and they seem to haul a little better (no science to back it up; just personal experience).

Something to remember -- catfish remember take up biological space just like bass and bream. Any space occupied by catfish is space taken away from bass and bream. Unless someone utilizing the pond is an avid catfish angler, I do not recommend stocking them in conjunction with bass and bream. The ideal situation is to have a catfish only pond. Also, stocking rates vary widely. Catfish are fast growers when fed a supplemental ration everyday; therefore the space they occupy will expand every year unless they are fished regularly.

Pond

[cajun squealer]

If kids catching fish (any fish) is the #1 objective rather than catfish fillets, stocking intermediate coppernose bluegill and installing a couple of quality automated feeders is the way to go. This would be better for the fishery on the whole (as a bass/bluegill fishery) rather than stocking catfish. I'm sure Pondman can hook you up with both the fish and feeders.

[SB]

Which fish feeder do you recommend? Is a Texas Hunter a good brand?

[pondman]

Scott,

I recommend Texas Hunter. I used to be a big Sweeney guy, but thier quality has really declined in the last few years. I do not sell them, but you can get on-line and order whatever you need. Easy to assemble.

Pond

[matador1]

Which fish feeder do you recommend? Is a Texas Hunter a good brand?

We spent the extra money and got the Texas Hunter and it has been well worth it. Zero problems in 4 years. Never seen a feeder that will sling feed as far as it does.

[levi127]

Which fish feeder do you recommend? Is a Texas Hunter a good brand?

We spent the extra money and got the Texas Hunter and it has been well worth it. Zero problems in 4 years. Never seen a feeder that will sling feed as far as it does.

I 2nd that! We have had ours probably for 6-7 yrs now and no issues.

We stocked our 3 acre pond with catfish and maybe 5yrs later now you cant catch one anywhere in it. We have tried everything. Only time you will see them is under the deck when the feeder turns on, they come out then!