If you would like more help on a wise stocking plan then please lay out for us your goals for the future.

Channel Cats are one of those things that can really upset the balance since they are very voracious predators and depending on your balance of forage vs how many you stock (or how many you remove to eat) it can get predator heavy very quickly.

You have a nice pond size congrats! However if one day you woke up and decided you had not enough snacks for the CC or suddenly wished you had stocked 50 instead of 500, that size pond is very hard to 'undo' through fishing them out and eating them. They also may find plenty of places in your structure to spawn which compounds the problem.

Most pondmeisters who have CC want to be very careful on initial stocking numbers and timing of that stocking vs how much forage is there for them to eat. Don't forget if you add LMB that is even more hungry predator mouths to feed.

On the other hand if the goal is to pellet train lots of CC so that you can catch them out freely at about the 2-3 pound range and eat them then the balance act might be a little easier.

Most of us wish she had spent more time in the stage where there was a new pond with plenty of structure and let the forage get to be quite diverse and plentiful. Then many of us added the MIDDLE of the food ladder next (consider if you are planning alternate predators with smaller mouth size and smaller appetites like HSB or Walleye which could go in with the middle rung fish as well) But the middle rung would be your panfish (RES? Tilapia? YP? Crappie and what type?) A few predators along with the middle rung is fine. In the correct area, YP can be considered your top predator for some time and meanwhile can create their own young YP which saves on your stocking budget come the next spring.

If crayfish are in the mix then consider adding a predator along with the crayfish to help control their numbers given the concrete refuges and the size of your pond.

Again, if your goal is trophy LMB you go one way, if it is steady catch of platesized YP and Bluegill you go another route.

I also didn't recognize where your pond is and the rules are different in northern ponds vs in the deep south.

Last edited by canyoncreek; 08/15/23 01:48 PM.