I have raised my catfish for two years. They are getting quite large in the 3 to 4 lbs. range. I know this sounds stupid, but I can't bring myself to catch them and eat them. Will this affect the balance of the fish or should I take the first step to thin them out?

lol, i got the same problem. i got couple friends will come over and thin some out and just hand me some cleaned fish .

That's the problem guys, hand feeding your fish pellets turns them into pets. It almost feels like you're eating your dog or cat. It gets tough killing someting you worked hard to grow and nurture especially the biggest ones.

So true. I have been hand feeding my fish religious everyday for a year and last week the wife decided its time to eat our first one. I caught it but could not bring myself to kill it so my wife did the deed.

Not sure you should have told us that Haus.
Nobody answered his question. Yes, it will cause a problem if you don't remove some. Half of what you feed them turns to poop and if you feed them enough to continue growing, they will turn your water to a sewer and eventualy kill your fish.
You could always slow down on their feed until they are almost skinny and keep them that way for years. I know an old lady that did just that.

I had the same problem. Couldn't bring myself to keep any fish . Always through them back. Now my catfish have all but disappeared. The bass are hard to catch. I would have been better off to have paid heed to the advisors and thinned properly.

Did anyone ever see (on TV) a segment about a older lady who had a pond and fed her fish with a spoon?. Each day should used to wade into her pond with a boll of cooked rice, and she'd use a spoon to feed a few huge carp that were in the pond. They'd come right up to her spoon which she held just under the surface, and they'd eat off the spoon.

This was 10 years ago or so. I think it was on "That's Incredible." Having said that, more like 20 years ago.

Man that would be a very tough choice to make...How big is your pond anyway? Remember cats don't reproduce in ponds so they would not over populate....maybe take out a few of the smaller ones. Also you could turn them loose in a public river or lake..

I would think that you could get yourself in a heap 'o trouble releasing fish into public waters. I would check with the authorities b/4 doing so. They don't seem to be too concerned about zillions of gallons of polutants from factorys but put a fish, frog or crawdad where it don't belong and they'll come down on ya hard.
I would check carefully b/4 doing this.
Dan

Can't see how this could really be that big a deal they are all living creatures??... Its not like an illeagle species or anything....just leting a few trophy channels back into the wild...see it on TV all the time. Can't see why there would be a fuss over this..

Because it's illegal and you typically need a stocking permit before planting fish into public waters regardless of the species and whether it is native or not. Lots of problems have resulted in unauthorized plantings; including introducing viruses, bacterial diseases, parasites etc. You can also introduce unwanted plant fragments that can spread and cause widespred problems. A definite NO NO!

I say eat the fish. If you've named them eat them anyway. Restock and name new ones with the suffix Jr. Sure beats eating them out of polluted rivers.

Sound ridculous to me...Dams break, ponds over fill and flood, and stand pipes get over filled and lakes and ponds get drained all the time you have streams, srpings, creaks and rivers carying water shed from who knows where all over the place. Believe me, fish from ponds and lakes get dumped into rivers and stream all the time....all the time! If these fish had bacteria,or virus or any other problem I garentee you it (the sickness) has hit the open public water system Loooooooong....before the fish from the pond gets there..

If this were such a tramatic emergency that could cause that much problems then the terrorist have all ready won....heck this is easy to do and get away with who could ever find out or even care??? Think the bigger issue to public waters is the REAL polutants, poisons, pesticieds, and toxic wastes!!!! Or some sort of other Bio or Chemical hazard to the enviroment. I would very much welcome some fish from another pond, as appossed to these other just mentioned.

I tell the truth I will be VERY VERY upset if someone get caught dumping some silly fish in a river some where, and someone else dumps some sort of strange and forgin toxic waste in the river and not get caught!!!!

doddbldr2,you are write on the money.gentlemen,grow up.fish are not pets.they are there to have fun catching them and guess what you eat them.i don't think i need my wife to tell me when to take fish out are to clean them.

HAUS, HAUS???? HAS ANYONE SEEN HAUS??

(see haus's first post on this subject)

also, does anyone have any thoughts as to when the channel cats taste the best for eating? 1, 2,3 , 4 etc... pounds. ? thanks

I need to change my password, some in my office posted the above. Check my post under "problem" hell I need to thin out a couple 100 cats and have a feed, most are around 2-3 lbs and I have never tasted better fish in all my life. My fish do have a name, I named them DINNER

Haus,now you are talking.this is must better.the guys in my office were laughing at this site.they thought there were alot of women on this site,not men.start EATING all the cats you want.hit them in the head with a hammer and clean up.

Why are people this way on channels not on Bass??? I mean really , think about it...We do all this management to rais these so called "Trophey Bass" and when we catch an 8 to 12 lb lunker, way say, WOW! what a catch take a picture and then let him go!!! Then we go around bragging to all our frinds on what a Great pond or lake we have, and how we caught some 10 to 12 lbs lunkers the other day. We spend thousands of dollars on these ponds to make conditions right to grow these fish this size. But let a good friend or realitive of ours, come over to our "trophy well managed bass lake" and catch three or four 10 or 12 lb bass and then call them "Dinner".....boy we would be sick!!...........would know what to do with our selfs!!! "Man you should have thrown him back", we would have said.
Now what do you called these fish huh? Sounds like very EXPENSIVE pets to me!!!!!

:rolleyes: Boy I tell you the truth, some of you guys talk out of both sides of your mouth, its amazing....

Big pond, the difference is that you feed the channels all they want to eat, they grow fast and outgrow their environment. I plan to let some of my blues die of old age. Come to think of it, a few channels too. The others I am going to eat.

But a tasty 6 to 8 lb LMB could be just as good...why not eat one of them as well?? I am sure they can grow larg enough to where they "out grow" there enviroment as well...Channels, Flatheads, and Blues live a very long time if the lake enviroment is healthy....

I can't eat my catfish either. its hard but if the pond starts suffering i would let another person do the deed of catching them out. i dont know why we cant filet up a few bass. They are good eating also.

Zach your my main man!!! so true so true, funny how somethings can be so slanted! To most people LMB are "pets" but Oh no!!! better not mention anything about want to save and grow channels you get all kind of junk. From people laughing at you, to people saying that your lake is out of balance and you need to take most of them out...

big_pond, you are right. A big catfish is as wonderful as is a big LMB. So is a big bluegill or redear sunfish or any other fish for that matter.

There really isn't anything "wild" about any of these fish. They are all a crop that we manage to achieve a certain goal. If a person's goal is to raise large LMB, then they must harvest and eat a number of smaller bass. If you wish to raise large catfish, you probably have to do the same thing.

I personally enjoy just having a lake with a large variety of fish in it. The population is balanced and we don't eat any fish. Certainly a lake doesn't have to have fish removed to keep it balanced. Fish populations were balanced long before Europeans came to this contry.

Big Pond, is this correct that cats will not reproduce in ponds? I have always heard they would reproduce so I would appreciate knowing if I am incorrect. Thanks

Deaner, cats will reproduce if they have some kind of hollow cover. A big flat rock sitting upright may suffice sometimes but the more hollow the better. If you have bass or another predator very few will survive but if you have no predators thousands will survive froma single spawn. I had to pull stunted channels out of my half acre pond for two years. Now they have grown to eating size but I still have hundreds.

All the Bullhead species seem to reproduce fairly well in pond and lakes, but the sportsman catfish such as the channels, flatheads, and blues need some sort of cave or caveren with a sandy bottom to spawn. Place old concrete or corigated pipes about 1 to 2 feet in diameter in about 2 to 3 feet of water all along the bank and sides of the lake.
Fill these pipes about 1/3 of the way with sand the male a female cat (channel, Flathead or blue) will mate in these tunnels. The male will gaurd the nest and usually spends the most time there. Spawning season is usually from mid april to late July..

hope this helps..

Man late yesterday afternoon we had about 2inches of rain and now the main creek is about 4ft deep and running in. I hope this will jump start my catfish spawn for this year. I think i will have an awesome amount of babies this year. I've already seen the threadfin and gar spawning so it is about time for the catfish spawn.

When do they taste the best for eating, I can't give you a particular size, but when they get really big, they taste funky. I have eaten 20 lb. blues and loved them. Beyond that, I toss em back out of respect. (This is in a lake, not my pond.)

i'll eat em

Talking of pets, did anyone see the dallas news a couple of years back. They interviewed this guy who had a pet LM bass in his small stock pond. It weighed 8 to 10 lbs. He walked out to the edge of his pier and held out his hand. The bass jumped out of the water and into this guys arms. He gave it a few hand rubs and released it. The news reported ask how did he ever train the fish to do that. The story went that he was mowing the edges of the pond with his push mower. He began to notice that ever time he mowed this small fish would follow him all around the pond as he mowed eating at the debris from the mower. He said he eventally started feeding the fish as he mowed.Over time the bass got more and more friendly and trusting. And would come up to greet him ever time he came to the pond.

That takes the cake RT. It's unusual to see an animal doing something that unnatural.

And I thought this was special.

http://www.dailyhaha.com/_vids/trained_fish.htm

Bob that is crazy. I would like them to explain that training.

I think they got to much time on there hands...

I can't eat my catfish either.

The miserable critters refuse to get caught!

Don't let them get too big. They get smarter as they get older -- or is it that I get dumber as I get older?

Anyway, we still have way too many that are over 30-inches long. I keep trying to invite them in for dinner, but they keep refusing my invitations.

Catmando; Cats turned down all of my offerings until I bought some FRESH shrimp. The salty smell did the trick. Five 7 year olds caught 5 fish weighing 37 pounds. I've never found a better catfish bait. And; I just used the heads on a circle hook.

Dave,
I'll probably try some shrimp in the springtime. If something doesn't start to work this year, I may have to resort to "duPont spinners" -- those red sticks that get lit with a match! We've tried nearly every other technique and bait. Last year it gave us good reason to have many Saturday night fishing parties -- where the guests brought their best baits and techniques.

Right now the pond is covered with about 7 to 10 inches of ice, so not much happening.

Catmandoo, be careful, they may be reading that Erica Yong book "Fear of Frying".
Dave, I also have done well with shrimp. Cooked shrimp worked even better, got a fish every time. Not cats, pacu, but I am jealous, my five only weighted 30 pounds.