Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Yellow/Mud catfish in new pond

I stocked our brand new 1.75 acre pond in October of 06 with 1500 CNBG, 400 RE and 5000 FHM. On 6/28/07 I stocked 150 F1 Tigre bass. On our June fishing trip we were catching CNBG that were between 3 and 5" long. FHM were everywhere along with the snakes. What irritates me the most is that my 8 yr. old son and I caught 31 yellow (or mud) cats about 7" long in front of the feeder. We were fishing approx. 6 ft. deep with worms & cork. Is this what most would consider normal? What can I do to rectify the situation? I feed for one second in the morning and one second in the evening on med. speed with my ADF 75. Is there anything that I can do to fix my problem. Thanks everyone for your help.

jjzavodny-

I don't have all the answers, but I can definitely relate to your problem. We've had similar experiences with unstocked bullheads around our feeders. Unfortunately, that experience is normal for us, but it shouldn't be normal for anyone. I'm assuming when you say yellow or mud cats you mean yellow bullheads as opposed to actual yellow cats?

My advice would be to keep fishing for them, especially near the feeder around feeding time, since that's where they'll be. I'm sure at 8 y/o your son enjoyed catching them, even if they were only 7" long. Assuming that you don't want them in your pond (I don't in mine), explain to your son that they are not helping the pond and are eating most of the food meant for the CNBG and FHM. This way you can give him a job to catch as many as he can, and he'll understand the importance of it and have fun doing it! I'd imagine he'll catch them as fast as you can take them off. My dad and I caught seven bullheads in one cast on a leader with seven #10 hooks. I'd recommend using the small hooks and worms, shrimp, stink bait, etc. Bullhead fillets are actually pretty good, but the ones we catch that are too small to fillet make good fertilizer.

The other option is to trap them. We've had good luck so far with that, but the trap catches fewer and larger bullheads. We catch more and smaller bullheads on hook and line. The problem with trapping is that we've also caught BG, LMB, and HSB and tried about every bait I've heard of.
If all else fails....dynamite.


If you want bullheads in the pond, then ignore everything I've said...as George and Bill Cody say, "it all depends" on your goals. I'd rather use the feed and biomass on BG, RES, CNBG, HSB, and LMB. I hope I've answered your question and not gotten too far off on a tangent. Good luck!

Small bullheads can be eaten by bass.

Bullheads are hard to get rid of anywhere.

I suggest you just keep any you catch and see what happens.

Bullheads are hard to get rid of. Fishing and trotlining should put a big dent in the numbers. Invite all the neighborhood over and have a fish fry. They are excellent deep fried.

JJ - after the bullheads reproduce, the youngsters will form into a "ball" or "mass" with the entire group of young bullies together. They are very vulnerable to LMB predation at this stage, and the bass usually cut bullhead reproduction and survival to almost nothing. The bass probably won't take care of your 8 inch and longer bullheads, so it may be a couple of years before you notice the decline in bullhead numbers. However, in a well-managed pond with plenty of LMB, the bullheads will quickly change to a low density of very big fish.

Thanks everyone for your help.