Not really. I planned on keeping one or two a year for the table for a few years. I have a really healthy population of big BG and RES and a good population of bass that I probably need to harvest some of the bigger ones. I have seen no negative effects of having big CC in the pond. They are a blast to catch and great table fare as my pond is very clean. I did not put in any structure that would aid in them being able to reproduce and avoid the bass. I have caught some of the CC on small lures when they were young and on small BG when the CC got bigger. If it turned out that all the CC were gone I would have no hesitation about putting in more, if I could find them in a stocking size big enough to avoid the biggest of the bass in the pond (There might be a couple that are getting to 15-17 inches) Mostly I was wondering if I just have two bold catfish and a bunch more that are submarine feeders. By the way, these two CC will come right up to the dock where the water is really clear and there are always a few smaller fish and YOY. The small fish are cautious when the CC come in but they seem to have no problems eluding the ponderous catfish. I will occasionally see a CC following a smaller BG but the BG are much faster and maneuverable. I think they mainly eat fish that are in distress. The LMB are a different story. You can watch platoons of them cruising the shoreline like a pack of sharks and in an hours fishing time you will easily see 8-10 shoreline explosions of small YOY fish leaping out of the water, up on the banks and the frantic floppings of LMB out for their evening meal. I love my pond. It is such an amazing success. I spend a lot of time down there just taking it all in.
