Originally posted by Bill Cody:
Sunday I saw a very interesting CC characteristic. I was sampling in a 0.5 ac heavy, dense, clay lined, dugout pond . . .
Anyway I saw this big, very dark spot in the stone ledge about 16"-18" deep. When I went to the spot in my boat and probed the spot with my paddle it turned out to be a cave dug into the bank. Cave was around 14"-16" wide and about 3 ft deep back into the bank. The large catfish (30"-36") in this pond had dug through the stone ledge and into the compacted clay liner to make this large cavity. . .
This pondowner said that he also has a very hard time catching these big catfish. Catches one and they all quite biting! I have heard about CC digging washtub sized holes into the stone ledge but never a fairly large cave.
I am having exactly the same problem with my big catfish (30 to 36 inch), except that I don't have the limestone. My dugout pond is also exactly 0.5 acres (140 x 160 feet, rectangular).
I have very heavy compacted clay. The big cats have dug large caves in the north bank of my pond. I was going to take pictures of the caves when the pond was down about 18 inches two weeks ago -- then it started raining, and my pond has been a few inches above the standpipe for the last couple of weeks. This is about my normal water level for about 9 months out of the year. The top of the caves are about 6 to 8 inches below the mean-water level.
I don't dare drive my tractor in that area. The biggest hole is at least 18-inches in diameter, and at least 24 inches under the bank, maybe 36 inches. I warn visitors not to walk in that area.
I've posted elsewhere about my difficulty catching these things -- same problem reported above. I left jugs near one of the caves, and got a snapping turtle. When I fish in this part of my pond -- or any part of my pond -- with liver, dough, or night crawlers, I get bass (no luck with Cecil Baird's pantyhose either).
When the pond draws down again next summer, I figure I will use my tractor and front-end loader to dig out the area and fill it with rocks.
I'd certainly appreciate any ideas other might have about stopping this problem. (We're having another fishing party tonight -- but the last three have only resulted in bass taking the catfish bait. Oh, and I did get a 33 inch grass carp on bread last Sunday.)
I'm not going noodling! If somebody wants to try, contact me. I'm about 25 miles west of Winchester, VA.
Happy fishing,
Ken
