I have tried repeatedly to trap out some of the BHC in my pond. All it catches are the sunfish. Baiting with dry dog food inside a perforated plastic bottle and setting anywhere from 3-6 feet deep. The throats are all 1" wide x 3" tall. Are they too narrow? I would think if I had any young BHC they'd be able to get in.

I know there are larger spawning size cats in there. I've both seen and caught a few. From the schools I saw earlier this year, I'd estimate at least 100 head. I've seen as many as three suspended schools simultaneously with 30+ fish in each one. All smaller fish from 3-6". I have no clue as to their spawning habits but I would think by now I would have a new batch.

1" seems narrow, but I don't know anything about trapping BHC. You might have better luck using a sock to put the dog food in and use a wire tie to close it and secure it in the trap. More circulation across the dog food.

When using dry dog food in a fish trap, use panty hose for the food. More permeable. Or, you can take a can of Alpo (or any other type of canned dog food) and poke holes in it and set it in the trap. That's how we used to run slat traps in the rivers and creeks when I was younger. They were illegal back then, so everybody used them. Now they are legal, with permits, licenses and red tape attached to them so no one hardly fools with them any more. Or do they?????

I havent seen a slat trap in ages. Hoop nets...yes.

Just to clarify for the acronym challenged....BHC=BH=bullhead? I didn't find it in the archives but context seems to suggest bullheads. Just curious.

Sorry for the acronym error...BH = Bullhead. I stand corrected. I assumed Mike meant the same.

my entryways are 8" tall and 2" wide - you might want to make them a little larger and try moving the trap around until you find some fish. BH are easily trapped once located. I always have better luck baiting the trap with tuna - a few holes punched in a can works great

Yes...BH/BHC = Bullhead Catfish.

I've done both the canned dog food and dry in a sock. Both have worked as well as my putting dry in a plastic bottled perforated the same way. The traps catch, just not BHC. Some days I'll have 25-30 sunfish of every species in the pond in a matter of 30 minutes. Some days only a few. But they have yet to catch a single Bullhead. The traps are made from 1/2" rabbit wire with a full 1"×3" opening on each side. I've caught wild BG up to 5" in it. I can make entries larger, just didn't want them too big so the trapped didn't find their exit.

I use a minnow trap for BH. I used to put a plastic Easter egg with fish food and it worked great, but once they rolled it around enough and got out all the food they would get out. I now use crawfish bait chunks. They last a little longer and I think they catch more. I rarely catch a BG in it, but I smoke the BH.

If I understand how BH spawn, they should be finishing up now and there aught to be loads of fry. I couldn't be so lucky as to have caught all the females, but as of yet I haven't seen any swarms on the surface. Never have actually, until they get up to 3-4 inches. That size should be able to get into the trap and are the ones I want gone. The larger can stay to help keep the BG in check. I just can't figure out why I'm not catching any. It's not like my pond is huge. I can almost cast across it. I set 2 traps...one on each side and at different depths. Only thing I haven't tried is floating one under a pool noodle out in the middle or right on the bottom in 12 feet.

If you have bass or larger BG they will eat all the BH fry.

Let's hope!! I've got a total of 3 LMB (stocked a month ago) ranging from 10-12". Not sure how many BG, GSF, RES and Warmouth are in there. But they range from 1-7".

Mike, according to Lusk, 99.5% of the eggs laid and hatched don’t make to their first birthday

I can always hope Dave. I've got enough 6 inchers and bigger already. I see a few when I feed, but not big numbers. Unless there's something else larger lurking down there (I keep discovering something else), they've been the dominate predator until I introduced them to my LMB. Luckily, they dont get as big as say, CC, BC or FH. I'm gonna keep plugging away at catching what I can. Biggest I've caught so far was maybe 12", but I've seen a few others that big.

Its good to know those fry will go to good use too. Could be why my sunfish have backed off pellets lately...lol

If bullheads got as big as CC, and as quickly, they would be a game fish. They are trash fish because they generally stay too small to be useful for human consumption, plus they are prolific spawners.

We used to catch black bullheads up to about 1.5 pounds around here about three years after a new lake filled. They were decent eating. The record for bullhead is around 8 pounds, which is an enormous bullhead. After the LMB were well established in the lake, we didn't catch any more bullheads.

Mike, lmb and bluegills in a pond less than about 1.5 acres is tough. Over spawning of bluegills is quite likely with only 3 bass. Have you considered adding about a dozen or so hybrid stripers?

I have given some thought to HSB, but to be honest, I'm apprehensive about spending $ on fish that may just get released into the wild the next time we get flooded. The 3 LMB are just the beginning of my stocking of them. Plans are to try to acquire a few more wild ones and add them to the mix. I have to be careful not to push my carrying capacity too hard until I get an aerator installed. Not knowing for sure just how many BG, GSF, etc., it's a guessing game as to how many I need. If I need to thin the bream species out, the 2 cloverleaf do a good job of that.

I’m more apprehensive of stocking bass in less than 1.5 acre than I am hsb. Managing bass when they get hook shy has been a problem for me.

I'm stocking LMB purely as a control measure for the pan fish. If they never get bigger than 14-16" that's fine with me. That means they'll be concentrating on those 2-4 fish. If the predation on the new and YOY LMB keeps their numbers low, that's fine too. If I never catch one fishing out of my pond, I won't be heartbroken. I dont plan on fishing for them much, and would fish for HSB even less. My intent to to manage for decent eating sized BG, GSF and RES. I'm thinking another 5 or 6 LMB should do the trick. And if I need more later, then I'll transplant more.

Balanced ponds only occur for a short time. Then it takes an infusion of work and cash.

I doubt seriously I'll ever see a truly balanced pond. Heck, I got no idea how many pan fish or BH I actually have. All I can do is go by what I see in the shallows and when I feed.

I do know the LMB seem to have adjusted to their new home. I see them cruising around, lurking over deeper water and busting butts. New fry populations seem to come in waves. One day you won't hardly see any minnow or fingerlings, a week later the banks are teaming. Then a week later, hardly anything again.

If I had to guess, I'd say there may be 300 +/- mixed pan fish 2" or bigger at this time (That's probably a gross underestimation tho) I see a lot of nest robbery on the GSF.