Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Blue catfish

How would one manage for trophy blue catfish?

I have 1 blue in my 1 acre pond, let me tell ya he eats me outa house and home. He can scarcf down 50% of my feed and always smacks a few 2-3 inch gills at a feed frenzy. You would almost have to stock gills all the time and feed like crazy. I keep him because company loves to watch him feed ... and I got alil attache :-)

Does anybody know what size forage a blue catfish can eat? For example, a LMB can eat roughly something 1/3 it's length. Would a similar rule apply to blue catfish?

Cody---How big is it and how long have you had it?

He is alil over 30inches and probably weighs in at 20lbs I stocked him 3 years ago and was much fatter but now on aqua max much longer and healthier. I have seen that cat take down 6inch bg .

Wow, thats getting to be big in 3 years...... 30" now, what size when stocked?

14 to 16 I would say but a really fat pig. Now he looks liked a shark... more healthy looking for sure.

If it was fat does that mean he was eating beter before? If he is lean now mean it is eating less now?

I think because I bought HIM from a hatchery he was confined and did not get to swim like he can now. I see him flying around the pond all the time now almost like a koi looking for its human. I don't know about all blues but my blue likes to swim... a lot.

14 to 16 I would say but a really fat pig. Now he looks liked a shark... more healthy looking for sure.

What other fish would be good to stock along with blues? I was thinking possibly a combination of HBG and YP.

If I wanted to manage one of my ponds for trophy blue catfish I would fill up my pond with gizzard shad, crappies, and aquamax largemouth. I would steer clear of expensive fish like HBG and YP.

I've always wanted to do a trophy cat fishery [BC, CC, FC] - say 2-5 acres and use prolific spawners as forage like gizzard shad, bg, bh, carp, crappies...

I think one could get their CC into the mid teens, FC and BC over 30#. Night fishing with the kids for monsters like that on live bait rigs during a campfire would be awesome.

Would a this be doable in a two acre pond? And if so what amounts of each species should be stocked? I originally was planning to stock a combination of BG, LMB, CC, and HSB, but I am kind of kind of shying away from that idea. I just love the idea of having giant blues in a pond.

Yes, you could raise BC about as large as you wanted to [20-30+] in a 2 ac bow provided you create the right conditions [abundant forage]but you will have to sacrafice a lot of the fishery in order to achieve that goal. All depends on what you want to do. I myself prefer having multiple species to target and to manage. Think it over - a BC fishery will absolutely dominate everything else in the pond. Lusk tells of shocking a Texas bass fishing club lake as the owners were concerned at the lack of frequency of catching LMB. He shocked the lake and found it was full of BC hammering everything, even LMB. A 30# BC [IIRC] was shocked with a 3# LMB almost down the gullet. Point is, they will eat anything and are only limited by their gape [ability to swallow the fish]. One or two in a pond can be a great management device. A population of them and things change in a big way.

Why not just fish the Missouri River a few times a year to get your BC itch scratched? I am pretty certain there's several 150# fish swimming in there...if not a 175+. Can you imagine?

I just love the idea of having them in a pond. I don't care if they dominate the other fish population that what I want actually.

TJ:

Was that a Blue that Bob pulled out with the LMB or a Flathead?

I'm thinking Flathead, but I could be wrong.

BC - article about it in a somewhat recent article...I'd say within the last year or two. I'm sure he's shocked plenty of FC and BC and both had big LMB in their gullets - but this was a article focused specifically on some membership LMB lake that had quit fishing well - and BC predation were the reason.

Sam, you need one of these!!!

Yup that's about the size of my blue. Its crazy how fast they are for there size. The grass carp and him fight like crazy at feed time its fun to watch.

The laws of nature apply to catfish in ponds just like LMB and BG. How many big (50 lb)BC do you think 1 acre can support? Not many !

While this is on FHs and there is some gape difference it's not a lot.

North American Journal of Fisheries Management
Article: pp. 198–202

Gape:Body Size Relationship of Flathead Catfish
Joe E. Slaughter IVa,,1 and Brad Jacobsonb
a) Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division, 2065 U.S. Highway 278 SE, Social Circle, Georgia 30025, USA
b) Arizona Game and Fish Department, Region IV, 9140 East 28th Street, Yuma, Arizona 85365, USA

Abstract.

The flathead catfish Pylodictis olivaris is a highly piscivorous ictalurid native to central North America whose range has been extended throughout much of the United States. With this range expansion, many populations of native fishes have experienced declines in the number of individuals due to direct predation by flathead catfish. Previous evidence suggests that flathead catfish are opportunistic feeders and may be the least gape limited of North American freshwater piscivores. To better understand the size of prey vulnerable to flathead catfish, we measured gape dimensions for individuals of various sizes to determine the maximum size prey a flathead catfish can kill based on its gape limitations. Our results show the relationship of total length to horizontal and vertical gape and the relationship of flathead catfish total length to the total lengths of ingestible-sized prey of different body shapes. Furthermore, comparisons of the body depth of three common fish species to the gape dimensions showed that no size of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, bluegill Lepomis macrochirus, or gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum would preclude predation by flathead catfish. Our results support the assumption that the flathead catfish is one of the least gape-limited piscivores.

Cody, all you have to do to break them from eating your pellets, just catch them one time on a pellet fly.
They are smart - as DD1 says - "they wont eat anything again with a string attached...

The BC article in question by B.Lusk was in the 'Catfish' issue of PondBoss - Mar-Apr pg 20-23: "BLUE CATFSIH". One of the experts (Ken Henneke) near Huston says that with plenty of food and space BC can grow to 30 lbs in 6 or 7 yrs. The article did not say anything about a BC eating a 3 lb LMB. But, in another article in the same issue "CATFISH ARE DIFFERENT" p.60-63, Lusk does say he captured a 52 lb BC and when he cleaned it he found a 3 lb LMB in its stomach.

I have caught many BC on Lake Texoma - largest maxed out my 50 lb digital scales.
Big ones not fit to eat IMO - thick layer of fat is nasty...

I have seen a 75 lb +- BC caught out of a 3 acre pond. Not much else in the pond however. Caught on an 8 inch BG. Small saltwater gear used after several bait casters and or rods broken.

Suppose one wanted to manage a pond for catfish-channels, blues, flatheads, whatever, how would one do it? What would you use for forage? Could it possibly stay balanced?