Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Cats

The cats could also be injesting FA if the small bluegill attempt to hide in the algae just before the cats capture them.

Sunday I saw a very interesting CC characteristic. I was sampling in a 0.5 ac heavy, dense, clay lined, dugout pond that had golf ball sized limestone all around the upper pond perimeter spread in a layer 6"-10" deep and down to a depth of 3 ft deep. The stone layer is a common design feature for most ponds in my region. Stone ledge reduces wave-sediment erosion and discourages digging and invasion of muskrats. Anyway I saw this big, very dark spot in the stone ledge about 16"-18" deep. When I went to the spot in my boat and probed the spot with my paddle it turned out to be a cave dug into the bank. Cave was around 14"-16" wide and about 3 ft deep back into the bank. The large catfish (30"-36") in this pond had dug through the stone ledge and into the compacted clay liner to make this large cavity. Owner definately has no other types of animals in or near his pond to do the digging. Pondowner said he sees wide headed catfish (males) in this cave-hole especially during mid-summer. Owner said the cats keep enlarging the hole. Owner thought these wide headed catfish were flatheads. I educated him about the head morphology of male and female catfish. I suggested that he start fishing for them at the mouth of and in this hole to get them out of the pond. This pondowner said that he also has a very hard time catching these big catfish. Catches one and they all quite biting! I have heard about CC digging washtub sized holes into the stone ledge but never a fairly large cave.