Nate -- a pond of average fertility in Iowa with no feeding would probably support about 50-60 pounds per acre of LMB and maybe 150-200 pounds of BLG. If you figure that allowable harvest is about 40% per year, then you can see that you can perhaps eat 20 pounds of LMB per year and 50-60 pounds of BLG per year. These are just averages -- ponds can vary a little, and actually be a little lower or a little higher. However, this should help you with your thought process. Sounds like you want to keep your channel cats at low abundance, so that is very doable.
