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Thread Like Summary
catscratch
Total Likes: 5
Original Post (Thread Starter)
#547500 05/05/2022 6:25 PM
by catscratch
catscratch
19 acre pond. Ultimately we want to catch heavy bass.

We've caught some 7-8 pound channel cats, never a small one. I suspect they are not reproducing but to be honest we don't fish for channels much so maybe they are reproducing and I just don't have examples. We do catch a couple of bullheads every year but not a lot.

My question is; how important are channel cats? Should I restock some or just let them go and eventually die out?

I'm currently culling every small bass, any sized crappie, and green sunfish I catch. I will admit that I'm probably not making a dent on a BOW this size though.

Thoughts?
Liked Replies
#547505 May 5th a 08:33 PM
by jpsdad
jpsdad
catscratch,

The interesting thing about CC is that can grow large even when the LMB can't. Just provided there aren't too many CC. But I agree with Sunil, they are not helping you grow large bass. All the same it would seem that your pond is notable example of large CC even while the LMB are too numerous. Not sure why this happens but CC are great generalists and they'll eat the annual turnover of old age and sick BG too which might contribute.
1 member likes this
#547510 May 5th a 09:43 PM
by Pat Williamson
Pat Williamson
Your bass will eat the bullheads also , bass have a big mouth….
1 member likes this
#547532 May 6th a 01:32 PM
by esshup
esshup
I'd try and harvest all the cats out if the goal is to grow bigger bass. The cats, once over about 3# start targeting fish to eat, so every pound that a cat puts on could theoretically be a pound of weight that a bass could put on.

Keep yanking the smaller bass, Crappie and Greenies out when you can, I'd also print out a relative weight chart and remove any of the larger bass that are less than 80% RW. The bass need a lot of forage to grow bigger, so anything you can do to boost the forage base for them will help.

How's the BG population in the pond?
1 member likes this
#547536 May 6th a 01:39 PM
by Sunil
Sunil
Originally Posted by catscratch
From the posts above I could either let it ride, or throw 50 fingerlings in and not have a worry in the world.


With mature LMB in your lake, fingerling channel cats have a much lessened chance of survival, so it's really tough to know how many fingerlings would be needed to get survival. But if you've got various types of cover and plant growth, some may make it.

Regarding bullheads, my experience has been that LMB will eat them until they get to about 14", and then those bullies are a bit too big for the majority of LMB, so you end up some larger adult bullheads, and very few if any juveniles. In my main 4.5 acre pond, we remove all bullheads caught.
1 member likes this
#547562 May 6th a 10:50 PM
by jpsdad
jpsdad
catscratch,

I see Pat asked all the right questions and you gave him all the right answers. Hey you have some very good LMB already. You just need to keep the population of smaller LMB in check. 7 lb CC are definitely Competing with your >20 " LMB so removing some of them should help. Smaller CC aren't as formidable predator so you could replace them for clean up crew duty. Also culling your smaller LMB should help. Its got some big fish already so you just need to maintain and improve.
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