Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations newbie to the site and also to pond management

FOrgive my stupidity, but I have always wanted to own a pond to fish in, and a month ago I bought a farm with a nice 2 acre lake. spring fed from 2 sprongs it only dropped 5 inches in the drought this summer. THe previous owner has a home made aerator he installed as he stated her had a fish kill 2 years ago. He has only been stocking Channel Cats for several years and never fishes the lake, but hand feeds them and it is like feeding alligators at the zoo when he does. I have caught 8 fish so far that are longer than my leg. Bluegills are feisty and chunky but bass are about 1 pound and sparse. A fair amounf of crappie that a friend has put in when he catches them in Lake Weiss. I am concerned that the fish kill is related to the vast amount of channel cats and they are huge. I want to thin them out or eliminate tyhem all together, but I am concerned about upsetting the balance of the pond. It has no algae problems at all thusfar, nor has it according to the old owner. WHat is my best approach to getting this pond with no catfish, lots of bass and keepong the lake healthy? Thanks jim

Welcome to Pond Boss, jimmyt!

Taking out as many cats as you can is a good start to regaining "control" of the pond.

This will also enable you to have more options in moving towards your goals for the pond.

Let's hear what others have to say.

We love to discuss these things.

Jimmy, what are your goals? and what would you like to manage for?

Big Bluegill?

Big Bass?

Big Crappie?

Other?

Wecolme to the forum!

Howdy, jimmyt.


If that's stupidity, I doubt anybody here wants to be smart!

Large CC can take up a lot of a pond's available biomass; you are correct to suspect that this fact may have had something to do with the previous fish kill.

Removing some/many/all of the Channel Cats (The last option may be a Sisyphian task, especially if the CC have managed to reproduce and recruit in the pond. Ya seen any little CC?) should not have a overwhelming influence on the balance of the pond. While CC this big are undoubtedly having an impact as predators of BG and Crappie, the LMB population (after a year or two of spawning; those CC won't be coming out instantly) should be capable of taking over any predation affected by a reduction in CC.

We have had a few threads concerning the catch and removal of large CC (a subject not far from my own heart), and if you are interested in some other baits/techniques to try they are good places to look for ideas. Catmandoo my be our champion great big CC remover.

Jim � You sound like a smart man to me; having always wanted a pond!

You will find a lot of knowledge here though most of us are still learning. Welcome to the Forum!

Jim welcome to the PB Forum. There is a lot of info here and I suggest you order PB magazine to provide some very good how to pond info on matters such as carrying capacity and balance - two of the issues you mentioned. See the top of the page to order.

Thanks for the warm welcome. As to what I want, well... I don't really know. I want my grandkids and ather children to be able to catch fish. I don't want to necessarily catch lunker bass, I personally enjoy the heck out of catching 2-3 pound fish. I would like to be able to fish for bluegills on a flyrod, and the crappies are a nice bonus that I had not allowed for. THere is virtually no structure in the pond. I have made an area in 8 foot deep water with some brush wired to concrete blocks and in just a few days the crappie had migrated to it. I guess, I am just interested in a general fishing pond where most anyone who fishes there will have a good time. The occasional 5 pound bass caught would be a nice bonus! What about the aeration? HOw do you determine whether a pond need aerated? My gut tells me that he stocked small cats that have not been fished out and now the average size is 6-10 pounds and they are creating the Oxygen shortage.

Jimmyt I'd like to help you out but personally I don't see that you have a problem. I have had ponds for 12 years now and I still dream of catching cats as long as my leg. I'll trade you my over stocked bass pond for the cats anyday of the week but I'm a bottom feeder guy most here are not. Welcome aboard.

I fished on Saturday for the first real catch since I have bought the pond. Here are my observations:
1 The Bluegills are uniformly large fish
2 The bluegills are very aggresive and will hit rebel silver minnow crank bait. I caught 8 and they were all large fish
3 I caught only 2 bass and they were about a pound
4 I caught 25 crappie and again, on the same crank bait. THey were holding in the new cover I put in only a week ago. THey are all very nice fish, 10-12 inches.

As stated before I have many large channel cats and they are hand fed with fish feed. THe bluegills also eat this feed. It seems the bluegills are dominating the bass in this pond as well as the catfish. Opinions please?

jt - It sounds to me like you may have hybrid bluegill and not true bgill. Is there a way for you to post a photo here so we can see it?

THanks for the response, Bill. I will take a photo next opportunity. So far I have been just trying to get stuff done at the new farm, etc to take any photos! I will soon though jim