Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Small pond question

Ive read that many people with ponds wish they would have never started catfish. However if we get our pond built it will be around 1/4 acre or maybe slightly smaller and maybe 5 to 8 feet deep. It will be filled by mostly surface runoff.
Would you agree that our pond might be too small and hot for bass, etc...but could be better suited for catfish ?
We dont mind eating catfish.

I have a small <1/4 acre and 11' deep. I have very nice fish, thanks to Cecil and B Cody. I would recomend going a bit deeper as the pond will fill in some with soil wash in and decaying vegation. I was going to go 10' but a friend who digs ponds told me that. He said after some yrs as much as 2'. I also am very pro aeration without which I doubt my WE, YP, and SMB would do so well. Last yr a neighbor caught a 7#2oz CC which could eat YP up to 10". I didn't put CC in, they came with the FH stocking ten yrs ago. Once in a pond almost any fish is hard to eliminate. If things don't work out with other species you can add CC anytime. Except for the beach it has a 3-1 drop.

I renovated / built my ponds for the raising of CC for table fare. I only wish I had not stocked so many, which has forced me to collect more than I really want, due to overcrowding issues. We have had catfish to eat almost every day now for five weeks or so. If I had to do over I would not have stocked more than 40 in my quarter acre ponds. I stocked about 78 in the first pond and 58 in the second. I suspect with morts, that about 68 survived to adulthood in the first pond, meaning I will have probably 50 or more to survive in the second pond. Too many catfish means a lot of feeding, work, and risk, IMO, one of my biggest pond mistakes. Probably about 40 still survive in the first pond, meaning I still need to take out about 20 more or so...even more if I have had CC reproduction and survival.

Well, I love my CC! I'm not a fish snob though. I even like my GSF, to me they are a much prettier fish than BG. I don't see all the hoopla made over BG myself, but I'm not your run of the mill pond meister though, so don't go by me. I don't have any Bass in my pond, so BG multiplying isn't my highest priory. When I first started, I thought I just had to have true blood BG, but as times go by, I don't care if they mix and mingle with my GSF. I say it's your pond, stock what you like. Do take and weigh all advice given, then make a decision based on your goals.

Thanks for all the great help.
I will have to search what some abbreviations are like GSF, and others.
Anyway I thought a smaller pond was best suited for catfish but I think I need to first worry about getting it built, check temperatures, see how well it holds water, other factors, and go from there.
I have a lot to learn.
Thanks again.

Mudball, some people that (like me) wish they never would have stocked CC in is because as they get older they compete with the LMB for food as they start to eat fish (BG, etc.) when they get about 2 lbs each. I've read several times that a pond your size, 1/4 acres, would be better suited as a CC only pond as you can stock fingerlings, feed them, start harvesting them in a year or so because they grow so quickly. Then, as stated earlier, add more once you've harvested out some (or all) of your original stockers. I'm not sure if CC will canabalize their young but I suspect they will which will mean that subsequennt stockings will need to be larger than fingerlings if you don't harvest all the originals prior to re-stocking

BTW... commonly used abbreviation are at: http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92442

Sounds great. We hope to have a better educated idea as what to do as that time grows closer. Thanks for the help and the link as well, both were very helpful.