I too agree that 200 is an awful lot of channel cats in that size pond. They can easily get out of control. They become very hook shy and smart in a very short period of time.

I have a real love/hate relationship with channel cats. They are very hardy. They grow really fast. They are delicious. But, once they get to about 24 inches, and have been caught once or twice, they become extremely difficult to remove from a pond.

I don't plan to put them in my main pond again. It doesn't take long before they are 24-36 inches, and they become the very top predators in a pond. As they get larger, they can also do a lot of destruction to a pond by digging caves in the sides and banks of a pond.

From now on, they will only go into smaller "put-and-take" pond that I can drain and seine. I put in about 25 each year, which provides us with about 35-50 lbs. of fillets each year.

Being where you are, think about trout next winter. They can really eat a lot of year-of-young and fingerlings. Also, think about adding a number of largemouth bass. They too can really do some damage to a large population of small sunfish.

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