Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking I may have a BH problem. NOT BH - CC BLESSING???

My new 1.25 acre pond is about 2 years old now, it took a while to fill due to the drought. I stocked CNBG last May. I am waiting for this next spring to add the LMB. I also plan on adding RES and some FHM before the LMB if I can locate some.

I began feeding the CNBG a week ago, the ones that are close enough to the dock for me to see are now 4-6" (stocked 1-2"). They seem to be doing great. After they have been eating for a while, another type of fish shows up to eat. It rolls at the surface rather than 'hitting' at the pellets. Last night they got close enough for me to see what they are and I am certain it is some type of catfish, most likely bullhead. They have a very light almost white belly (other BH I have cought have a more yellow/golden belly) and are 6-8" long. I am going to try to catch a few this evening so I can ID them.

If they are BH, how big of a problem is this? I have not noticed the giant black pod like I have before in other ponds. Is it safe to wait until the spring to add the LMB or will I be over ran by then? Is there any chance this is possibly another type of cat?

Do you have another water source flowing into your pond?

BH can come from anywhere. However, in my experience I have never seen BH come to the top for feed. I unfortuantely have 1000's in my 1.5 acre pond and I have never seen them come up to the top other than during a period of extremely low oxygen a couple weeks ago. My Black BH have more of a white belly than the Brown BH with more of a yellow belly though.

Try some shrimp this evening, if it's a cat of any type, I bet you can catch it on a shrimp either on the bottom or a few inches off the bottom. Good luck.

There is no water source flowing into the pond. There is little watershed that hits the pond which is mainly rain filled.


I picked up 1100 CNBG from a fish farm, they were 2.5" at the largest. I did not see any other fish mixed in. Even if there were a few CC mixed, I doubt they would have already spawned and have offspring the size I am seeing.


Here is a video showing them rolling at the surface. This was the first day I fed them. About 15 minutes after I threw the food out.

Not a BH problem. While feeding yesterday, I threw out a line with a piece of cheese on it. A minute later I caught what I think is a small CC. She was about 10" long and full of feed or eggs.










I doubt I had any CC mixed in my BG, I looked through them fairly well. If they were mixed in, could they have grew to this size (I have seen bigger in the pond) since 1-2" in May?

How should this change my plans for management of a BG/LMB pond? I still plan on aeration but is it more important now?
I just began feeding Purina Sports fish chow since it was all that is locally available. The owner of the local feed store said he could order whatever of the AM I want if that would be better.

How many do you think are in the pond? If they were mixed in with the BG or possibly mixed in with your FHM or GSH if you stocked those, you probably don't have many. Just a handful will not be an issue. Even a a couple dozen won't be. Remove any you catch and once the bass go in, their YOY will be gobbled up with few to no surviving.

That is one Fat Cat!!!!

I would wait until you put the bass in to harvest the channel cats. They're not really a nuisance in my opinion until they start eating the fish that you would rather eat yourself. You might as well get a little size on them before you harvest them. They are tasty after all.