Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Catfish trap

I just ordered a catfish trap in order to try and remove more catfish. It is the hoop design and is made to hold up to 200 3pound catfish at a time. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to place and bait the trap. The manufacturer gave a couple of suggestions but I was hoping someone on here had used one before.

James:

I've never used one, but I'm leaning towards that because I cannot seem to catch the CC in the pond. What trap did you get, and from whom? I'm interested in seeing how you do with yours.

James, could you take a photo of the trap and share it with the forum? I think many would be interested in what it looks like, where you got it and of course how it ends up performing...

I have ordered the trap and it should arrive this week I will post pictures of it as soon as I get it. I will also include ordering info if it is successful and will hopefully post pictures of it full of catfish.

I'll be anxious to see yours and to hear how it's working for you. I'm drowning in bullheads from upstream, and I'm currently looking at the Frabill Crawfish Trap since most of my bullheads are small.

Hi Okie - I would suggest making a bluegill trap like this - they work very well for BH and are very cheap/easy to make:

http://brotherhood-of-catfishermen.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?tpc=43781&post=486783#POST486783

James - I think the CC will find themselves in your hoop net naturally. Otherwise I would recommend baiting with fermented grains, soy beans, liver, or fish pellets.

I looked at that and considered it! I may show it to DH and see if he wants to tackle it. He has a workshop full of tools (may even have everything he needs...) but he doesn't have much time these days. He had 25 hours' overtime last week and I'm not sure if that's going to change in the next couple of months.

I still haven't ordered a trap, so it's not too late for him to build it. But I told him yesterday that his FIRST priority was to fix the upstream problem so that we quit getting so many of these little &*#&@s every time it rains! Then again, I could always change his priorities...

I'm reviving this old thread to see if any more info has come to light. Holt, the OP, never came back with an update.


I am wondering if anyone out there has messed with catfish traps in their pond? (..or even in rivers). Seems like this might be a an option for those that get catfish in their pond that become hookshy. I am considering making one and trying it. Do you think the catfish would become wise to it, once one was caught and the others would learn? I am thinking for those big catfish, say over 8# or more that may be lurking in our ponds.

Any info will be appreciated.

fish n chips -

I know some folks think catfish get hook shy, but in my experience you can still land them. If nothing else using the fish they feed on has always worked for me.

For setting a trap, if you think you've got big cats I would imagine you would want a large trap that would be long for them to swim through and into toward the bait. I'd rig it like a safe trap and have the open end close behind them once they're on the bait. If you don't want them to cut or rub themselves up then I'd use rubber mesh in place of chain link fence.

Fish n' I'm just waiting for you to perfect one and report back because I have the same desire. I also would like a large trap for the CC.

One of my thoughts was to use a plastic 55 gal drum, cut the bottom end out and put the mesh cone in that open end. The other end would be a removable lid end. Then drill holes with a step drill all over the rest of the drum for water flow. Connect some of the holes using a jig saw to make slots big enough to let most BG out but slim enough to keep the larger cats in. Place it just off the dock with a rope attached and a 2" pvc pipe going down to the trap to introduce feed.

Feed through the pipe each day with the removable end off the drum for about a week. Pull the drum up, put the lid on and feed inside and see if it worked.

The other idea I had is take my 42" square fish holding cage and put a sliding gate with latch on the bottom edge. Take the floats off the cage so it would sink in about 5' water at the edge of my dock. Use a 2" PVC pipe to drop feed daily for about a week with the trap door open to get the fish used to going in. When I wanted CC, drop some feed in, wait till I saw muddy water and activity, pull the trip rope to drop the sliding gate.

I got plenty of ideas. Getting ones that actually work and actually implementing them is another story.

Necessity is the mother of invention. Try one or two of your ideas and report back your results. Your creativity may work some magic for catching and sampling fish.

I was wondering what size do you guys think would be appropriate for a 10# catfish, diameter and length? Would a different size trap be needed to entice different size catfish?

Good ideas snrub. I was thinking of some stuff similar too. It may have been just before you joined PondBoss, but there was a guy selling some catfish traps. He got discouraged and left. He was even a brief advertiser here. His traps were expensive, and was probably the downfall, but he had a lot of work in them. It was on a trailer that backed into water. You fed them and got them used to eating. Then one day at feed time you closed the door and had bunches of fish. It was mobile so it could go from pond to pond easily.

Since catfish are cave dwellers, do you think having a box in the pond they would go into it as a residence? Perhaps let them get used to it, without feeding, and then close a door one day and trap them?

I hope Holt sees this and jumps in with his trap experience.

no need to over complicate things...these traps work fantastic and have been in use for 100's of years

http://www.memphisnet.net/product/2755/traps-fish-wood

Just copy the design with whatever materials you wish to use. I'd wager more than half the catfish caught in these traps aren't there to eat but rather to seek sanctuary.