Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations small pond>can i add catfish?

Hi,

this is my first post, i have enjoyed reading here as i love fishing and am a scientist by profession and enjoy the learning.

i live in a neighborhood that owns/shares a large lakefront park. in that park is a small pond which was created in the 1910's when a local company used to mine marl in the lake nearby and they dug a test hole to see if the spot which became our park might become the next mine. It did not.

i would like to put some catfish in that pond for the kids to play catch and release with and wonder if it would work out?

here is what i can tell you about what's in there now:

Bluegill, well really a collection of bluegill, sunfish, and redear from little guys that i see in the weeds near shore to eating size 7" & up.

crappie, we have caught crappie, both white and black of around 6"

large mouth bass, two year ago one neighbor was fishing the pond for bluegill fairly regular and took out a 3.5 pound bass, i had previously seen a spawning bed in the spring i have not seen one since, perhaps this was the only one??

i also caught a 12" northern pike in there once when i was a kid and snuck in to fish the pond sometime around 1973. may not be relevant any more but i put it back in.

the pond is about 1/8 acre has a 10' wide strip of shallow water on the long side(150') and steep banks the rest of the way around. the depth is at least 10 feet, but i would have to drop in a boat and take some readings to know for sure. when standing along the steep side you can see to a depth of 6 or 7 feet, and the water is a bit tannic colored.

this pond is fed by a spring and has a small outflow into the lake, the outflow is about 10" wide and less than 1" deep.

no one is currently fishing there on a regular basis, most of the neighbors ignore the pond but one neighbor said he would split the cost of some fish to stock it so that our kids could all fish there a little more. i do not think we are interested in feeding at this point. though the kids might enjoy feeding the fish so i won't rule that out.

thanks for any input.

cheers
jerry

You could stock a few (8-12) catfish although they may not grow very fast in the Sturgis MI area unless they were fed on a regular basis. If you feed them you could probably stock 20-30 cats in 1/8 acre (150'x40'). Do not stock any cats less than 8" or better 10" long since you may have a 2 or 3 lb bass in there that would enjoy having some 6"-8" catfish in its belly.

I completely agree with Bill. I would encourage feeding the catfish. You have a short growing season for warmwater fish, but the season boasts perfect temperatures for it, so you will get exceptional growth for the short term.

Thanks guys,

the is a grower who dilivers to my town a few times each year and offer 6-8" cats for a buck or two each. that is what i was thinking of buying. next time he is due to come around i'll give him a call and see if he can bring me some 10-12 inchers and try a dozen.

i know the local feed store sells fish chow so that will be no problem.

in the mean time i'll fish in there a bit and see what comes out!

cheers
jerry