Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction New Ohio member pumpkinseed question

I have a pond a little over an acre and I was wondering if anyone on here knows how big an adult pumpkinseed will get? I have caught two in my pond that are just over ten inches and was wondering how much bigger they will get or are they about as big as they are gonna get. Thanks

Kris welcome to PBF!

I have PS in my pond. A 10 inch is awesome. They won't get much bigger than that! Got any pics you could post?

A 10 inch pumpkinseed is a trophy!

A 10" PS is a candidate for the wall in my opinion.

Kris, welcome to the forum. If you catch another one that size, could you take a picture of it and post it? I've never seen one that big and would like to.

A fishery full of 8-10" PS would be an incredible achievement for anyone on the forum. Please post photos!

A 10" long pumpkinseed are trophy category fish and two of them from a pond causes me to wonder if the fish are truly pumpkinseeds or the measurement is an estimate? esshup and TJ have the right plan; it would be good to see a photo of it next to a ruler. Pumpkinseed at 10.5" is the Ohio state record caught in 2009. Since some members here are very interested in pumpkinseed sunfish it would be valuable to have documentation that they normally grow to 10".

I have two pictures on my phone but I can't get them to load onto this site. I will try to email it to my work computer and get them posted on here for you guys to see. They are a beautiful fish and I wasn't sure how big they get because I haven't caught a bunch of them. I do catch 8 and 9 inch quite a bit and that is being measured not guessing. I'm taking my kids out tomorrow so I'll try and get some very recent pics to show everyone.

Hi Kris feel free to email them to me if you need help posting tj@hudlandmgmt.com

I snorkeled Hathaway's Pond on Cape Cod last summer(google it if you want to see info on the fresh water pond). I witnessed a number of PS on nests that were really nice sized. The pond also had some large LMB so I saw very few small PS. Mostly just the large breeding size, as I imagine the LMB kept the smaller forage cleaned out.

It is always dangerous trying to estimate size under water because it has a magnification factor. But my hand with fingers spread out wide measures 9" from tip of little finger to tip of thumb (so I have it readily available for comparison). And there were numerous males on beds that were that size range.

Thanks I am heading to church and will send you the pics this afternoon. I appreciate you posting them for me

KrisC5 are there any other sunfish or panfish type fish in this pond that compete with PS for food?
Are there numerous smaller PS in this pond?
What is the weed community like in this pond during summer?
Who are the fish predators to control the numbers?
Are the fish harvested from this pond?

I will link this thread to the Common Pond Q&A Archive topic Common Pond Fish Primer(Sunfish Edition) subtopic Pumpkinseed - PS.

Hey Bill, yes there are bluegill that compete for the food. The predators are largemouth bass and blue catfish. Weeds are not very many I have several piles of rock and concrete blocks and sets of the pvc fish attractors in several places. Pond is stair stepped up from deepest to shallowest. Fish are fed minnows, and wax worms all spring and summer every Saturday morning other than that they are on there own for forage so to speak. I'm emailing my pics to be posted hopefully later today. Just saw some pics of other pumpkinseeds that were beautiful and I'm sure that's what mine are.

I would also like to add I have no idea what I'm doing with my pond other than enjoying it!

The piles of rocks and blocks with the PVC allow for extra good habitat for snails which are one of the favorite foods of pumpkinseeds. Do you see very many snails in your pond?

For your LMbass, do you have numerous sizes or are they mostly sizes of 7"-14". Would you consider the bass density low-fewer, common, or abundant?

About the abundance of the PS? Are the BG and PS about equal density or is one a lot more common than the other specie??. When panfishing do you catch numerous smaller PS(4"-6")?. Or whenever you catch a PS, are they mostly large as in your pictures?

Did you add the PS or were they there when you got the pond?

Your blue catfish. Are they primarily a blue color phase channel catfish or are they true blue catfish that you bought somewhere? To my knowledge no one in the Midwest including Ohio sells blue catfish. Blue catfish are rare in most Ohio waters. Watch this video for separating blue and channel catfish(CC). Note large older CC are often dark with sometimes a blue hue and no spots.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udYENQax_18

http://wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/species-and-habitats/species-guide-index/fish/blue-catfish

The reason I ask all these questions is to help develop better management plans on the Forum for the members wanting pumpkinseed sunfish as the main or only panfish. Pumpkinseeds were thought to be a very good panfish rather than bluegill for smallmouth bass ponds in the northern states. Pumpkinseeds may also be a good fish to have with yellow perch.

I and probably many others here are excited to see this thread. Thank you Bill for askin important ?s and adding this to the FAQ archives. May just entice me to get the dirt guys back and dig a 2nd and 3rd pond.

Some of my bass are big and in high numbers and lots of 1 to 2 pounders also. There are lots of snails in my pond and the pumpkinseeds and bluegills are about the same in number from what I catch. I do catch quite a few smaller ps also. My kids dip around the pond with nets and catch several ps in the 2 to 3 inch range. I put the ps in my pond 4 years ago. I just emailed some pics to tj so hopefully they go thru and he can post them for you guys and hats off to him for doing that for me.

Mine are the actual blue catfish, they are very dark in color and have a more big block head than channel catfish. I'll send tj a pic of them to post also

Just watched your post on the difference between the catfish mine are definitely the blues.

The only way to really tell is to count the anal rays. My adult CC in the pond don't have spots.

"Blue catfish differ from the very similar channel catfish by having a longer anal fin (30-36 rays compared to 24-30 on a channel catfish) with a straight bottom edge, as opposed to a rounded bottom edge. Also, blue catfish never have black spots on their body like those on young channel catfish."

I will upload a picture of a fresh dead CC from my pond that came to shore in late November.

C5, do you have a record of what and how many of everything that was stocked. Ya say ya don't know what ya did except for havin fun. Well things seem to have gone very right for you.
This is gonna be a many paged thread. Nice first post!!!

O.K. Here's a few pictures of a large freshly dead CC from my pond. 32" long, 22#, gape was (IIRC) 5"-6" across as it is in the pic. I estimate the CC in the prime of its life would have weighed around 30 pounds plus/minus a few.

I wear a size 11.5 shoe, and that's my shoe in the picture. Perspective distortion is the reason that it looks so small, but it's still a VERY wide headed catfish!

Take a hard look at the last picture. See how the anal fin is rounded on the bottom edge rather than a straight line? That and counting the rays in it will determine whether yours are Blue Cats or Channel Cats. If you notice, mine is very dark too, without spots, like yours.......

Scott, did ya happen ta measure and/or weigh it? I caught on last July that was 27&1/2" but didn't get a measurement. It was actually pink/peach. It was 7 yrs old. Cecil told me it is common for a CC to turn that color(P/P0 as they get older. Aqua life is sooo interesting.

Thanks esshup I'll check really closely. I actually have a dead catfish I saw today and I will get it out and take a pic for you. If tj will post it for me that way you guys can see it. ( fingers crossed)😁

Lol. Thanks Bob-o. I honestly do the pond so me and my kids have a nice relaxing place to fish and have good family time. The nice fish that we get to catch are a big bonus. It's pretty neat watching how everything is turning out. I did buy a lot of my fish so I'll try and get you some numbers together