Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Channel cat stocking in an established pond???

So we have an established pond...LMB, BG, GSF, BCP...kind of a mutt pond. Wanting to add channel cats. My mom has some in a very small neighboring pond beside her house in town and people hand feed them. One of my daughters did it and it was memorizing to watch. We have a floating deer feeder that we have fed our BG with...optimal/aquamax...etc. that's fun...but nothing like the catfish. Catfish are great table fare, and are fun to catch. Feeding them will also be cheaper. Growing bass is hard and expensive and time doesn't allow me to keep the pond up to bass standards. Lol. So here are my questions.

The truck comes Thursday to the coop. The have two sizes I'm looking at. 6-8" and 8-11". I do realize I would be better off getting the 8-11...but the price jumps from 69 dollars a 100 to 199 dollars a 100. I'm on a budget. I could get 300 6-8 for the price of 100 of the larger...they also provide containers for the 6-8". Do you think the 6-8" will have decent survivability? The pond isn't super full of huge fish...but there are some decent sized bass. The cats will be started on feed within a week...so I would think a month or so of fed growth. At this point I think they would be ok for the most part. What do you guys think?

Goal is kid fun, table fare, family fish fries, and watching them eat. Probably harvest around and before 5#.

Been a while since I've posted...missed this place. Pond has kind of been on the back burner for a while.

Thanks in advance!!

The 6 to 8 inch, in my experience, will be closer to 6 than 8. Depending on bass sizes, a 6 inch, slow swimming, cat could end up as groceries. I would go with the larger size.

Maybe go with a ladder stocking put-and-take plan?

Put in 50 or 75 of the larger size. Keep track of what you take out and stock more every year as needed to keep the numbers where you want them.

Ok, so looking like I'll get the larger fish and add some each year. Although 100 will probably last a while if you think about it. Would 100 gal be ok to transport 100 of that size fish for about 30 min without o2?

Been there, seen that MANY times. The fish truck advertises 6-8 inch CC and maybe one out of 10 will be 7 inches. Most are 5 inch class. The 8-11 inch will be mostly 7 and 8 inches. In an established pond they will be bass snacks. I bought some last year that were advertised to be 14-16. They were actually 11-13, and barely big enough to survive predation. There is a commercial fishery about 20 miles from here that sells by the pound, and they have some CC in the 20 inch class. I have bought a very few of them for stockers, just for fun, but they are too expensive to buy many.

Well, I had my tank in the truck...full of fresh pond water I pumped last night. Was first to the fish truck. And lo and behold...no 8-11" fish. Said he will be back in a few weeks. Well stink. At least it will be cooler I hope. We ate still in the lower to mid 90s here! We will try again later I guess. Lol. THANKS AGAIN!

If it's who I think it is they won't have any 9 to 11 inchers the next time either. I bought some supposed 14-16's last year, and after I got them, they measured 11-13. Fooled me once.....

They assured me they would, but we will see I guess. I called the farm, as the website state's you don't have to preorder so I just showed up and he didn't have any. Acording to calendar this was the first or maybe second stop for this truck.

John, I know you have done the cc thing for a while. Do you put in any artificial spawning buckets or anything...or just let whatever happens happen, and stock some every year.

I have eight 8 gallon buckets, a milk can, four 12-14 inch culverts, and two brush piles in my first 1/4 acre pond. I have no evidence that they have spawned. I have nothing more than rock, brick, and a couple brush piles in my second 1/4 acre pond, and no direct evidence yet that they have spawned there either. If they have, the BG probably eat the fry.

If I catch a yearling CC, I will post on here.

I know Snrub has had CC recruitment in his largest pond, but it's 3.5 acres with lots of cover, and aerated.

Idea: If you have a forage pond, you could get some of the 3-5 inch CC in the spring, and feed them to satiation for about eight weeks or so until they are big enough to stock in the big pond.