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The catfish is amazing enough, but the fact that you are holding a fly rod that it was caught on is doubly amazing.

I sent this thread to my son, because when we stocked his pond with BG, FHM and a few RES then later a few CC, he had a couple of BC they had raised in their aquarium they had bought from the pet store that they put in the pond.

Be interesting to see how that turns out in a one acre pond.

Last edited by snrub; 07/31/15 09:54 PM.

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Originally Posted By: snrub
The catfish is amazing enough, but the fact that you are holding a fly rod that it was caught on is doubly amazing.
CC are a blast on the fly - just be sure to take them out because as DD says - "they will NEVER bite anything again with a string attached". smile
Never fished for blues...
George






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Snrub, keep us updated on how that turns out.

George, that is awesome. I've got a goal of hooking into a 15lb blue cat while flyfishing out of my float tube. Can't wait to get them to that size!

It sounds like my blue catfish experiment is kind of unusual. Not many have managed a pond with the goal of a trophy blue catfishery. It'll be interesting to see how many mistakes I make along the way.


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Originally Posted By: NEDOC
Snrub, keep us updated on how that turns out.

George, that is awesome. I've got a goal of hooking into a 15lb blue cat while flyfishing out of my float tube. Can't wait to get them to that size!

It sounds like my blue catfish experiment is kind of unusual. Not many have managed a pond with the goal of a trophy blue catfishery. It'll be interesting to see how many mistakes I make along the way.

NEDOC if I had a 20 acre lake and wanted Blue Catfish, I would figure out a way to transport some of Oveton's superior genetics BC - love "golden bones" carp as well.
Good luck with your program,
George

http://www.overtonfisheries.com/StockerFish/SportFish/BlueCatfish/tabid/72/Default.aspx



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I have been eyeing his website regularly and dreaming about getting some D&Bs up here. For this fall, I plan to stock some out of Iowa that TJ is hooking me up with. I may make a run to TX next fall though. Thanks for the advice.


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George has been nudging me onto this thread and finally I sit here with a little time... Nice Thread. Noble goal that I can appreciate. Growing big blue catfish on common carp...LOL. Thanks George!

I have been caring for monster blue cat broodstock for 12 years now, and they are a joy. We are one of the very few hatcheries that produce blue catfish. I think they are the closest thing to a shark that we can stock in ponds LOL. Blues are the dominant species in our 2.5 acre catfish broodstock pond. The pond is aerated during the summer, and stays somewhat turbid 12" or less. Forage available includes threadfin and gizzard shad, crappie, largemouth bass, sunfish, koi (colored common carp). There is virtually zero recruitment of koi in this pond, but I can't attribute this to blue cat predation. A colored fish has odds stacked against him from day 1. We supplement with 25lbs of high protein fish food every other day. We have blues up to 50lbs that feed on pelleted food. We harvest channel catfish whenever we can to reduce biomass. The blues rarely get harvested unless we need them for broodstock.

In your situation NEDOC you need to harvest as many adult carp as possible as time goes on for biomass control, and also stock a healthy density of blue catfish for control of carp offspring. I would suggest 50-100 blue catfish per acre. Ladder stock if you like, depends on practicality and your goals and budget. Management strategy of the blue cat population down the road will depend on your program. Ideal forage are gizzard shad but I doubt the blues are very picky. You are too far north for thread fin shad. In our ponds the catfish have zero chance of wiping out gizzard shad, and they can produce astronomical forage numbers.

We do have some adult blue catfish available this fall, they appear to be 5-10lb range. We also have a bumper crop of 4-6" size fingerlings, that will be easy 6-8" by October. But we sold so many midsize 8-12" blue cats this year that we don't have anything in between right now.

Y'all are welcome to come down here and see these fish. If you decide you want to stock some then I recommend you let us deliver direct to you.


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If you end up making a delivery to Nebraska, let it be known ahead of time. I would almost be in route and have been trying to figure out a way to make a trip down to your place to get some of your LMB later this fall. Did not know if they would survive the trip in the back of a car.

I've got a sediment pond with no predators to date that I could use as a grow out pond till the fingerlings were big enough to catch and transfer to main pond.

Last edited by snrub; 08/25/15 03:47 PM.

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Thanks for the response Todd, I was hoping you'd respond as you seem to be the hatchery with the most experience with BC on this board. I can't even imagine a fish of 50 lbs in a pond. Wow.

Presently I'm feeding my Channel Cats (CC) about 50 lbs a week of Game Fish Chow. I've fed them close to 500 lbs of food already this year so I'm assuming I've gained 200 plus lbs of channel catfish biomass. After not being fed for years they have certainly jumped in size with some up around 10-12lbs I believe, but the average seems to be below 2 lbs. My carp (CGC) do show up to feed on occasion but not frequently enough that I carry a gun to shoot them.

Goals: (obviously fluid and open to suggestion) (1) Ultimately I'd like to transform the water quality of the pond without the use of rotenone IF that is possible. If that can't be done, I'd like to enjoy a decade or so of a trophy catfishery. (2) Have Fun by trying something new and trying to learn something for myself and the Pond Boss community. (3) Have Bruce and/or TJ fearing for their lives as their float tube is being pulled under by a 30 pound blue cat.

Short Term Plan: This fall, TJ has sourced 200 Blue Cats for me. I'm thinking now I may have to discuss with him upping that order as it doesn't seem enough BC to control CGC in a 20 acre BOW. Although after this year I plan to implement a ladder stocking of Blue Cats and/or Hybrid Cats. Possibly on an alternating basis. I'm doing the Hybrid stocking more out of curiosity than anything. There are no particular objectives in that regard other than observing the difference between them and BC. And taking advantage of their apex predator status. I'd also like to add FHC as I can find them. Probably from local fisherman pulling them from rivers. As stated before I don't think I can source them in the numbers needed to control CGC though. So I will enlist the help of BC and Hybrids.

Mid/Long Term Plan: I'm also planning on building a grow out pond or 2 this fall in which I hope to grow out stocking size BG, crappie, LMB and possibly HBG. My plan is to transfer them into the pond as I transfer CGC out of the pond. The removal of CGC from the pond is a two fold plan. Obviously I plan to use the BC, but I also plan to implement a fyke/hoop net removal system. For the first few years I plan to keep the CGC, dice them up and transfer their biomass into BC biomass. I will journal the number of CGC caught per netting and once my numbers have been reduced to my satisfaction, I will begin to remove the smaller channel catfish as well and transfer their biomass into the BC biomass via dicing them up and throwing into the pond. IF I can attain the goals of having large BC controlling my carp I hope to slowly begin to remove them and let the numbers of BG, LMB and crappie replace their biomass.

What I hope to learn: Number one is that I have boys that are now 3 and 4 years old. I hope I can use this experience to teach them the love of the outdoors and a bit of freshwater biology over the next decade and a half. I realize there is going to be a lot of sweat equity involved and I want them to be a part of it. Along the way I want to study the impact of CGC removal on water clarity and vegetative growth. I will also record mouth gape measurements/ weight/ length of all the CC, BC and Hyrbids caught along the way. I also plan to chart the impact of water clarity on BG, LMB and crappie relative weights. When my BC arrive I plan to begin a thread archiving all of this info and hope to make this a Pond Boss learning experience.

Any suggestion or advice from anyone on this board is greatly appreciated as I begin this journey. And yes, I do want to find a transportation method to get your D&B strain up here. Hopefully as soon as next year. Maybe this thread will get enough locals interested we could have a large haul.


Last edited by NEDOC; 08/26/15 10:17 AM.

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LOL. I was hoping you would get the large haul NEDOC. If you need us to grow some intermediate size fish for you to stock then those could be available by middle of next spring.


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How many would it take to get you up to NE? I may be up for it.


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