Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Catfish spawning question.

Haven't posted in a while. I was at a pond in the California foothills that I help out on and noticed some CC sitting on beds in the shallows. I planted 50 CC last year in this 3 acre pond and they were in the 7" range. Today I observed 5 CC's attempting to spawn in different areas around the pond. They were just sitting on small finned out areas in about 2 feet of water. Do you think anything will come of it or are they just wasting their time? Thanks for the advice.

It kinda depends on what else is in there. Bluegills and other sunfish do a pretty thorough job of eliminating CC fry.

Are you sure they are channels? Channel catfish don't spawn in nests like many other fish do. They want a rock or log to get in/under. Bullheads spawn in fanned out nests.

CC's prefer a hole, a cave or a log. A one way entrance place they can back into and guard facing out. That's where the noodler's get a lot of them. They will swim around the shallows and maybe even nest there is nothing else is suitable, but that just does not work well with them. Odds are bad for many reasons if they lay eggs there.

I would look into those fish closer. Both yellow and brown bullheads will spawn in depressions, while CC usually use bank holes and other hide-type nests. Catch one of the fish and accurately ID it to make sure you don't have a bullhead problem.

You guys are probable right. That is why I asked because I didn't think they would spawn like that. My guess is they are bullheads that were in the pond already or came from the pond on the property above.

When I saw them I noticed they were darker than the channels in my pond and they were also smaller than they should have been. After looking up my records I realized they wre planted in 2008 at 7" and these were only about 12" long. If the channels grow in that pond like everywhere else we put them they should be easily 3 pounds by now. We caught one a couple months ago that went 5 pounds that was planted in another pond at the same time.

Thanks for the help guys. Not what I wanted to hear but the truth hurts some times.

It's not the end of the world... If you have a healthy bass population, they should help manage your bullheads. Larger CC are also nasty bullheads predators. Using traps can also help you keep the bullhead numbers under control...