Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Too many catfish

Hello, I'm new to the forum and hope someone can help. We moved to a semi-rural property a couple of years ago - it has a pond about 1/3 acre in size and probably 5-6ft at its deepest. Early this spring we had torrential rains that brought run off - and apparantly many catfish!- into our pond. Although the herons help some, the catfish are reproducing like crazy and we're in a drought so the pond level is dropping fast. There are hundreds of baby catfish in the pond and I'm afraid we're about to have a big fish kill. Wondering what you would do if this was your pond. Thanks!

Pam near Dallas, TX

Hi Pam,and welcome to the forum.Unless the rain broyght pregnant catfish to your pond,they are probably babys that got washed in.Have you tried seining or minnow/perch traps?If your close enough to Dawson for travel to be convienant I could loan you some.
I,however,am just a lowly mech,lets wait for some of the experts to reply

Welcome to the forum
Couple questions first.
Are you sure they are catfish and not bullheads?
What do you want to get out of your pond? Bass fishery, bluegill???
Lets us know what you want so we can better help you out.

If it were my pond, I would take advantage of the low water level and rotenone it, if it were over ran with catfish, bullhead or any other undesired fish that you don't want in it.

Hold on and there will be some more opinions soon.

Howdy, Pam!

What else is in the pond? (other fish, ???)

You may be able to identify what particular catfish you have with help from the Archive Catfish/Bullhead Primer.

Pam,

a sein always works for small fish. Since the pond is down you could probably put a pretty big dent in the population with a sein.

like others have already said it would be nice to know what kind of fish are in the pond and any goals for the pond.

Looks like I found the right place - this is great! Last year I was looking for help with duckweed and couldn't find any pond resources. Glad to know you're here!

Okay, judging from Catfish/Bullhead primer, maybe these fish are black bullheads? I can take pictures tonight and post tomorrow. The babies are black and you can clearly see the whiskers and catfish looking features. In the morning and early evening we see these "black masses" just under the surface of the pond - schools of the babies - feeding off the surface of the water. There are some big ones in there, too - maybe 10 inches, greyish/black with white underneath.

There are also sunfish in there and quite a few turtles - mostly red eared sliders. Before the "catfish" infestation, we would see minnows in there, but haven't noticed them lately. Also a couple of varieties of frogs in there.

Since the pond isn't real big and we can't do anything about the water level, we didn't plan to fish out of it. We like it to be just part of our little backyard habitat. We like having the herons around, etc. Until this summer, we seemed to have a nice balance. Now there are so many hundreds of the little "catfish" that even if the pond was full to the brim, I don't think it would support them all. It really is like an infestation.

(Sein and rotenone are new words to me!)

Thanks,
Pam

I got some pics - if these aren't good enough I will catch some and photograph them. Thanks!

Look like bullheads to me...

Yep! Bullies.

That's not so bad. Welcome to the forum.

It is possible that the old owner removed or allowed others to fish and remove a fair number of the largemouth bass from the pond. Thus the pond could now be low on numbers of predators i.e. bass. For your goals a seine is not economical and practical. A little angling with plastic worms or some small fish should allow you to catch a bass or two to see if they readily bite. If you have a hard time catching a bass then it is very likely the pond could use some (8-12 for starters) bass 8"-10" long. Stocking fingerling bass (2"-4") supplimentally to an older pond ususlly results in poor survival of the small bass. I would seek a supplier of larger bass and go that path. Worst case if you have too many bass they will stay smaller 10"-14" instead of growing fast and getting big. Too many bass will result in them eating most all the small fish and those small fish that survive will quickly grow to larger sizes. Not a bad thing and close to your expressed goals.


Bass depending on size will usually eat and control the smaller (1"-5") bullheads, removing or thinning larger bullheads usually requires fishing or special larger fish traps. If you get the larger bullheads to eat that fish food which they should readily do then catching them with hook and line should be fairly easy when fishing properly. Bullhead fisherman here can explain how to do that.

Excessive numbers of bullheads will tend to keep the water roiled up thus making it always look murky - muddier than normal. BUT IF as you say the pond is only 5'-6' deep then a murky pond will not grow nearly as many weeds and filamentous pond scum as a clear pond. A maximum depth of 5'-6' is normally too shallow for a good healthy fish pond. With maximum depth of only 5'-6' the water body is getting close to being a glorified wetlands rather than a pond. Shallow ponds have many more weed problems than deeper ponds. Water weeds grow best in shallow water....

Rotenone is a chemical that is used to kill fish for fishery management or pond renovation.

Thanks very much for all the info. Alot to think about.

Yeah, one big problem with the pond is that it is at the mercy of the weather and at it fullest it probably only ever gets 6 ft. deep. A couple of years ago during a real bad drought, it actually dried up completely. It's down a lot now and I wonder if it's even 5 ft. deep - another reason I am panicking about having all those fish in there. If we don't get some rain pretty soon I guess we're in for a mess.

I'd put a couple flatheads in it and let them clean up on the bullheads. Of course that may reduce the chances of you ever having a decent gill or bass pond but the pond may not be big enough for that anyway. The positive would be that you would have the bullheads eliminated or thinned to a point that they are not a problem and you would have a couple lunker flatheads to catch or feed train and enjoy.

If their bullheads they will populate like mad, as you are seeing.
I think i would make or buy a large minnow trap, the best style ive seen is a square/X style with an opening on each side(4). Go to google and type in " bullhead trap" and click on images, you will see 2 pics at top of page. Put the trap out where you feed them. Dont throw back any bullheads ever. After you have trapped them for a while add some other fish and keep trapping periodically where you feed them. You can also make a fake trap and feed them in/near it and then swap it out to your trap when you feel like. You should catch alot fast. You could also try a minnow seine periodically, cabelas sells some nylon ones pretty cheap.

Has anyone tried to cast net them when they are schooling on the top like that?

I haven't tried a cast net but I caught a bunch of schooling bullheads fairly easily using a swimming pool net (you know the kind on the telescoping pole). Worked fairly good. The bullhead fry were slow moving and farily easy to catch (unlike sunfish fry, which are little rocketships).

I have been wanting to make a minnow trap for quite a while, I started on it today. I will test it on a lake i fish at times that is loaded with bullheads if we dont get cold weather before I can get there. I cant imagine it would work better than the 4 way trap but total cost was 4 SS bolts to attach the 2 bottles so far.

Looks good. Let us know how it works.

Do you have a way to get the fish out?

good point

Glad someone was thinking.

He was thinking.Hes gonna make one end removable.

Sunil,you need another beer,I thought you'd figgur that out by yerself

A way to take the fish out ??? LOL!!!
Yes Im basically done, I made a lexan door about 5x5 and heated it in the oven and former a door. All i need is a latch at this point for the trap to be complete. Unfortunately the trap doent split in half nor is it nestable. It did turn out really well though. Ill post another pic when i figure out a latch.

I meant glad one of us was thinking TOM G!

Seems like robbor has the thing done. Looks good.

My trap is done, I started a new thread in " Evaluating and adjusting fish populations" forum.

If your still having problems with the bullhead, let me know. I will be more than happy to come and trap some. Just let me know.

-Andrew