I am gong to stock channel catfish in a 1/2 acre pond that is not fertilized, but I feed the bream. I can get 4-6" catfish for $.45 each. How many should I stock in this pond?

Thanks for the advice

Turkeyfootnc,

Do you know how many bluegills are in it? Are there any other species of fish in it? Do you want it to be mainly a catfish pond?
If u feed the bream then maybe you could up your feeding rates a little. If you did this you would be able to double the amount of catfish you could have in your pond.
When i get a little more info i can help more.

-Jighead

Like Jighead said if catfsh pond...then stock more. Too high numbers will mess with balance of others. As high as 500 but I suggest about 250 for better growth rates. Also seems kinda high we sell the 3-5 for $0.25

How many catfish can you eat or give away? If fed, they will get to good eating size (1 - 1.5 lbs) pretty quick. If you can use all those catfish, go with Greg's stocking rates.

@$.45 is a better price than I could get up here - maybe with all the catfish farms they're cheaper the farther South you go.

Sorry it took so long to get back here. The pond I wish to stock catfish in is exactly 20 yrs. old. In April 2003, I had an accidental fish kill caused by too much bluestone(long story and I learned a good lesson). The pond was originally stocked with bass, bluegill, shellcrackers, and a few hybrid sunfish. After the fish kill, I caught a pile of bass, bluegill and shell crackers and probably a few hybrids from my other ponds to restock the one with the fish kill. Today I have a bunch of 5-6" bream hanging around old Christmas trees washed around the pier. They suck up the pellets I throw out like a vacuum cleaner. There are a few bass about foot long and slightly longer that hang around too, but they don't put a whole lot of pressure on the little bream. I have always wanted to have catfish in my own pond and I want to do it right and not have major problems years later. I feel like if the bass are not putting any pressure on the little bream when they easily could, it seems to me now is my best chance to stock 4-6" or bigger channel cats. However, I don't want to overstock. And I plan to eat what I catch and if I can't keep up, I have some friends that will help out.

Hope this helps!

Turkeyfootnc,
You mentioned you plan to keep what you catch, does that mean your managing for eating size 1 to 2lb catfish? If you plan on eating alot of the fish you stock then you could stock up to about 100 with a feeding plan. But, if your goal is the occasional fish for table fare and more for the sport than you should stock alot less probably up to about 60 or so. Doing this also will allow your fish to grow faster.
Also, if you have bass up to a foot long and some even longer then you may have a problem with stocking 4-6 inch catfish. I recommend at least a 8" catfish. A bonus to this is you will be able to start harvesting sooner.

One last thing, are you going to encourage your cats to spawn or will you replace the catfish you take out every year?
The problem with encouraging your cats to spawn is that they may overpopulate your pond.
Better go the easy way and just stock new ones every year.

- Jighead

Hey Greg

How much are your 8" channel cats? How far can you deliver?

turkeyfootnc
As noted above, stock only the amount you intend to harvest, and restock every year with larger stockers.

We overstocked our pond and they are now 6-8# pests and scoop up fish food like vacuum cleaners.

Since HSB and LMB are now our goal - I wouldn't stock any - they are available at the supermarket at too low a cost to fool with, unless you want to catch them for sport. They are a blast to catch on a 5wt flyrod using pellet flies....!

George Glazener

I have to second what george recomends. When I started out, I wanted to stock as many cats as my pond would take. Now I got around 100 CCs that are about 24" and 4.5lbs, and another 100 that should reach that size next year. From what I read, CCs live around 7 years. Most of mine are going to die of old age.

Make that tri-ditto on george's post I stocked 200 in a .4 acre pond and even though we have taken about 100 out I now have the big vacuum cleaners of 7-10 pounds coming up. One other note is I put a couple of old hollowed out logs about 10 ft long in the pond and I have had several spawns so we are getting a bunch of nice eating size cats also. The bass seem to keep them in check as I am not getting over run with little one's. Guess I have been lucky.

turkey foot sorry, depends on how many. I sell the 8-11 inch size for $.75 (1,000) or .85 (500) or $1.00 (100-500). We are not far form Murphy if that helps out.

Greg
I am in the Statesville area. How far can you deliver and when will you have 8-11" CC's? Would like to have about 10 to guarantee that I have some to catch next year or year after. For the record, I stocked 50 6" CC's July 12.