Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Bullhead?

Out for a walk and saw a 8-9 inch cat just off the bank. Leaned in for a closer look and noticed this mass swimming next to it. Ran and got the camera and when I got back the cat was gone but I did get some shots of the mass.









I don't think that a CC would be this close to shore so is it a Bullhead?
Good, bad, or indifferent?
I have GS, LMB, some river chub and these in my pond, all natural that I am assuming came in through the outflow during highwater a couple of years ago. I have since added baffles to prevent this.

Looks like bullheads to me. Looking at the tail farthest to the right, I see no fork. The black color is another tipoff.

I'm new to this fish thing. Are bullheads good for a pond? Are they good to eat? They seem to get mixed reviews and I was wondering what direction I should go with these fish.

They're pretty good eating IMHO.

Angling and LMB are your best control. Bullhead are fairly slow swimmers, and LMB catch them easily. An 18-20" LMB can eat a full grown bullhead, so for best bullhead predation, release your biggest LMB.

Our state Game & Parks Commission has been stocking bullheads in lakes around here intentionally, apparently bullheads have become quite scarce over time with good populations of LMB present in our public lakes. Bullheads are also very good eating.

Is the vegetation in your pictures muskgrass/chara?

Thank you for the feedback.
I'm not sure what the vegetation is, it surronds the pond up to the banks and appears to disappear when the water gets deeper then several feet.

This is a photo of the pond just after it was redug in 2002. The shoreline is at the level of the brown dirt. Where the shoreline dips away is where this vegetation disappears. The pond is up to 35', maybe 40' deep.

My intention is to add some grass carp when I can. If it is muskgrass, will the grass carp help control it?

they look like baby cc to me, most of them will become scooby treats for the bass in upcoming weeks

if they are bullheads, let them grow to 1-2 lbs and you will have some very good fish fries

dont let them overtake the pond though, you must catch and remove all the little ones you catch

I despise the durn things. They have limited growth potential and, unlike CC, somehow survive early predation. Handle with care. If they fin you, the poison seems to last quite awhile.

I consider them all take and no give. They occupy a space that could be better used by CC. However, once you have them, they can be somewhat controlled by fishing and trapping.

What is so bad about Bullheads? I know people don't like them for some reason. I have been told that they are bad for ponds but why? Just wondering for knowledge sake.

People look at them differently, sort of like they do crappie and GSF.

Personally, the only reason I don't want them is they would use pond resources I would rather reserve for more desirable species. But when (not if) they invade my pond, I won't panic. They're fun and easy to catch, taste good fried, and large LMB feast on them too.

I have heard that bullheads can over run a pond but I never talked to anyone whose pond has actually been overun with them. Has anyone had expeirence with bullheads being a problem in their pond?

I had the same thing happen on my pond Headhunter. In the three years that we've owned the place I had never before saw them on the pond, then suddenly this year they appeared (I wonder if had anything to do with the fact that my pond has much less weeds in it than in prior years?). The stayed close together in a cluster. Occasionally they would find something at the surface and start a feeding frenzy (I was not able to identify what they were eating that go them so excited, Pop Tarts maybe?).

One interesting item is that when we first saw this cluster there were several adult GSF circling around the mass, it almost seemed like they were herding them. Occasionally a GSF would rocket forward and eat one of the litter fellers.

DIED identified the adults on my pond as Bullheads so I figured that these were Bullhead fry.

My pond is a haven for the oppressed with Green Sunfish, Bullheads and Turtles.

"Come see the oppression inherent in the system." <--- Monty Python quote just for Theo.

Growing up we had two ponds next to the house. One was ours and the other belonged to my grandpa. Both were full of bullhead. The water was always muddy and when you when fishing you could catch 6 inch bullhead all day long. Nothing bigger. After much coaxing by me, Dad decided to drain the pond and hire a earth mover to dig it out and renovate it(around 1986-ish). I heard him state years later it was the best investment he ever made (I agreed). Anyhow when it was drained we found thousands of bullhead but I don't think a single one was over 7 inches. Totally stunted useless fish. We when to great length constructing the overflow to keep bullhead from swimming up the overflow from grandpa's pond into the new pond.

Some years later when granda passed the land the 2nd pond lies on was willed to my folks and I immediately suggested renovating that pond also. Nothing happened until Dad retired then he thought about doing the project himself with his loader tractor. We drained the pond and found the exact same thing, thousands of stunted bullhead not a single one worth cleaning. The bottom was in the drying process when Dad had his first heart attack. Of course the project was abandoned and the pond refilled. After recovering Dad never tried to tackle the project again and then passed in 05'. Some bullhead must have buried themselves in the mud because they came back and in the process of a few years the pond was again muddy, shallow, and overpopulated. The pond remains this way today. Someday I will renovate that pond and hope I never see another bullhead.

Boy, this is the stereotypical black ball of baby bullheads caught on camera:


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"Join the expected crowd, gathering now!"
-The Firesign Theatre

I was fishing at my pond on Wednesday. I have a lot of bullhead along with a lot of other kinds of fish.

I throw out every bullhead I catch. So far this year, I may have removed 70-100.

I did catch a LMB that was around 3lbs. and he had the tail of what I think was a 8" or 9" bullhead sticking out of his gullet.

I was glad to see that.

IMO, they are just a nasty, nasty fish. They hog feed and disturb fishing when using live bait.

It seems that they have some type of sanction from Mother Nature to just show up when there's water. Kind of like squatters...

I caught quite a number of these in a fish trap that was placed in a small creek running thru my place. I'm guessing that they might be bullheads also.

I hate the things too. In addition to everything else, you can count on two things from a bullhead. First, they will swallow the hook. Second, they'll fin you when you try to take them off the hook and it will hurt.

As for ponds being taken over... You can probably count mine in that column. I think they (and green sunfish) got in there and became dominant before I added bluegill, redear, and bass. I suspect that most of those baby bluegill, redear, and bass then became fish food. The last two times my wife and I visited the lake, we caught a total of two bass and three bullheads on bass type lures. The last fish I caught there was actually a bullhead on a 1/8th ounce spinnerbait (I think 1/8th, it may have been 1/4).

Some people like to eat them. I prefer bluegill or something else.

Hey experts, are the photos posted by Squeeky actually Bullheads?

I'm trying to learn here, the tail looks forked too much for a Bullhead.

I'm thinking Channel Cat or Blue Cat? In the first photo it appears that the outer margin of anal fin is more rounded like a Channel Cat.

So what type of cat do we have in the photos?

The long anal fin and forked tail does look more similar to a channel or blue cat, but the color is not like most channel cat that I've seen. They apparently washed down from an old government conservation lake that's upstream of the creek.

Coloration on the bottom pic looks the most like CC. Any spots?

Something in my head just screamed "bullhead" when I saw squeeky's pictures, although the tail does look too forked. By then again, they are very young.

I love bullheads and GSF, they are good flathead bait and trapping bait as well.

If you ever make it out near Somerset, PA. fishtech, I will help you get loaded up with some bullies.

See, that was just uncalled for.

May the Blue Bird of Happiness poo on your favorite shirt.

JHAP, that is one of your best one-liners!