Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Catfish Conundrum

I have a 1 acre 19 year old pond. I stocked this with cats in 2002, but never added any since. There are only a few left at this point as we have eaten a lot of them. I like them and want to add more. I can get 5-6" cats off the truck that stops here a few times a year. 200 cost about $145.00. I fear these would be morsels for my bass though. I have some bass over 5 pounds. I can get larger cats, 6-9" from a different distributor, but they cost more, AND you have to get $350.00 worth for them to deliver. I would have to get 270 of them for them to deliver them. Would it be better to get more of the smaller cats, and hope for the best, or will my bass eat all of them which would make them a lot more expensive than the bigger ones?

Stocking 200 5"-6" CC would be quite risky as you point out. It's a wild guess how many you would have left after bass predation, but my wild guess is 10% or less.

6"-9" bass would be nearly as susceptible to predation. My suggestion is to go with the 11"-14" CC@$5.99 (or, if you're feeling gutsy, the 9"-11" CC @$2.49) from the same distributor (we know who they are ), stock as many cats as you want to remove in the next few years, and suck up the delivery charge (unless the total runs $350). You might be able to pick them up for free at the Cincy, Columbus, or Medina locations (you might possibly be closer to Indianapolis, I suppose).

Call them up and check out the pickup options for CC.

Thank you for the response. I am over 1.5 hours from their closest pick up point as I am right on the PA line. They used to deliver for $300.00!

I think it was $250 before that, back when I first stocked a pond with them (2002)