Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Where are my Catfish (CC) ????

Thanks for any advice in advance. I bought a house last year that has a 1/4 acre pond on it. The pond is spring fed and around 12 years old. It was stoked with bass and bluegill at that time. The original owner did not stock catfish, he didn't like what they can do to a pond. I put 200 three to five inc cc in the pond May 31 last year and feed them every day until winter when they quit coming up to eat. Late summer last year they where in the 8 to 10 inch range and would bite a cricket at any time. I started feeding again about 2 months ago and have yet to see one CC. I have fished hard for them , Nightcrawlers Crickets Chicken Liver and Gizzard Powerbait and Red Meat Hot dogs . NOTHING..... If they had died they would float????? HELP.....

Please see my thread about the same subject. I stocked about 60 six to eight inch CC in a nearly new pond in March, only found two floating a day or two after stocking, and have not seen any since, despite throwing a few handfuls of feed into a ring each evening.

Many fish that die do not float for various reasons, size, age, stomach contents, scavengers, predators (in water and land).

That size is still easy for a Bass to eat. Also if you had an otter get in they could decimate the population. I dropped a 1000 into a pond once that had been bucket stocked with Bass and never seen another Catfish after the first winter. No dead fish do not always float and here in the deep south quite often become turtle food.

One of the ponds I take care of is also 1/4 acre.

Granted, I only put in (10) Channel Cats, but it took a long time before I ever saw one.

Have you tried feeding late in the evening when the sun is going down?

The CC in this 1/4 acre pond don't usually show up during the day time.

If you're still feeding and BG are coming up to feed but CC aren't, I'd be pretty sure you have no CC left. If you still have LMB of a lb or more, I'd be surprised if otters are the culprits. Otters wiped out all my LMB of a lb or more, but not my CC.

Are you still catching and seeing bass and bluegill?