This is my first posting, but I've been lurking in the weeds for quite some time. I apologize in advance for the length of this posting.
About a year-and-a-half ago we bought a place in northern West Virginia that has, what appears to be, a very well designed and professionally built half-acre pond. The pond was built about 15 years ago.
Unfortunately, before we bought the place, the pond was not mangaged for over five years, possibly as many as eight or nine.
My goal is to manage it for big bluegill and a reasonable channel cat population.
Right now, I believe I have a problem with way too many really big catfish. I don't know how to get them out!
There are at least 10 channel cats in the 28 to 36 inch range. The last one I was able to catch was 28-inches, and 8-1/2 pounds. There are probably another 15 to 20 that are 18 to 24 inches long. The taste you get in your mouth when you change a vaccuum cleaner bag is kind of how the big ones taste. I'm fairly certain it is they who have burrowed big holes in the north side shoreline of my pond. They've got to go!
There are also at least four grass carp. One is about 18 inches, one about 24 inches, and then there are two bruisers that are somewhere between 3 and 4 feet in length. I think I'd like to get rid of the two big grass carp.
There is also one black and orange koi that is about 24 inches long and fat as an old pig. He is kind of pretty, so I'd kind of like to keep him.
There isn't a weed or plant anywhere in the pond.
The pond is a lot muddier than I think it should be.
I've got a good selection of very skinny bass that range from this year's hatch to about 14 inches. I'm worried about how skinny the bass are that are over 10-inches. All sizes of the bass are very aggressive biters, but they don't fight very much.
I seem to have had a reasonable selection of good fat bluegill, but, I'm worried about them too. Between March and mid-June, I harvested about 40 BG that were 9 to 11 inches. I hope I didn't take too many.
There are also some black crappie, and over the winter I harvested about about a dozen in the 11 the 12 inch range. I wish they weren't in there, but they are pretty good eating, and there doesn't seem to be an overabundance of them -- yet.
I started feeding this spring using farm pond floating fish food from Tractor Supply. Before it really warmed up, lots of bluegill were feeding every evening. Since about mid-June, it has been almost exclusively the catfish and the grass carp that are feeding. Although, several bass are also feeding on the fish food. (I mostly stopped feeding about two weeks ago when I got serious about trying to catch the catfish.)
Now the dilemma. I can't catch the catfish. Instead, I keep getting the bass, and it is hard on them.
I've tried chicken liver. The bass grab it within seconds of it hitting the water. I've tried cut-up bluegill. The bass grab it. I've tried medium sized live bluegill (5 -7 inches), and the bass grab them. I've tried chumming and a 5-foot casting net. More bass and a few little bluegill. Nothing bit the dough balls I bought, nor the dough I made.
Last night I tried a hot dog on one of my smaller saltwater rigs. I put the rod in a holder and set the drag loose. I went up to the house to get something. When I got back, I found a 12-inch bass that choked to death on the hotdog! (I was going to put up a picture of the hot dog stuck in the fish's throat, but couldn't figure out how post a photo.)
How do I get the catfish out of my pond so I can start over with smaller ones?
I'm about to try either my 12-gauge shotgun with buckshot, or my .22.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Ken
