Channel catfish have a huge disadvantage. They spawn last every year. Their babies are tiny, yellow morsels. People assume since channel catfish have three sharp spines they are hard to eat. Not true. When a catfish is first hatched, it is about twice as big as the head of a straight pin, yellow as a chicken egg yolk, and soft. As they come out of the nest, a baby channel cat is less than a quarter inch long. At that point, they enter the world in the same habitat as baby bass, baby bluegill, baby crappie...all with mouths big enough to suck down a baby channelito like a teenager eats a tootsie roll pop. Except, fish eat in one gulp. Channel catfish do live in a pod, that's partly the reason they are so vulnerable. Plus, they never come to open water. Reclusive and nocturnal, little channel catfish stay close to shore, underwater, in a wad. They are decimated, unless they have a place to hide, like in riprap. We never see schools of channel catfish fry because they are skittish, and stay deep. The only place I ever see recruitment of channel catfish is ponds or lakes with dense cover, especially rock piles or riprap.
Bullheads spawn much earlier in the season, and head for open water in big schools. One big advantage bullheads have is the ease of reproduction. They don't hide to lay eggs. Many, many fish can spawn, resulting in big numbers, and clouds, of bullheads. They move around in one tight school, all over the pond, on the prowl to eat and grow. They stay in that pod until about four inches, or until they are eaten. Bullheads can survive because they range into different habitats. Watch those pods, they move hither and yon, up and down. Channel cat don't do that.
