Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Transferring grown catfish to another pond

We finally got moved into our house with the 11 acre pond/lake. Our road was put in and Wild Life and Fisheries came and shocked the pond. He said the conductivity was not very good so the test may not be too accurate. He only got a few bass to float and no other kind. He said we have too many bass and not enough BG. We've been catching large BG almost everywhere we fish on it so that part is not accurate. We did a soil sample test and the recommendation was to put 2 tons per acre of lime then fertilize it. We are waiting for cooler weather to proceed and don't have a clue how to spread that much lime on an existing pond. Recently a friend of ours who has a catfish pond, asked if we wanted a bunch of cc as he was draining his pond because of a leak he has to fix. I want to know the best way to transfer them with the least amount of damage to the fish. we are about 4 miles from his pond. I'd appreciate any help you could give.

First of all, you very possibly could be overcrowded with bass, but if you like catching large bluegill, that's a good thing; that's why the bluegill are large at present. So if bluegill are a priority, don't keep any bass. If you think your bluegill are big now, wait until you've been fertilizing a year or two - you'll have some monsters. Probably most of the bass were on the smaller side, 14" or less? That's ideal conditions for growing big bluegill; those of us who manage ponds specifically for trophy bluegill purposely seek the state you have with your pond currently.

Unless you're a great fan of catfish, I would encourage you to skip them. The best way to maximize bluegill size is with a supplemental feeding program with automatic feeders; three or four feeders would be about right for your lake, and if you installed them you could reasonably expect, considering it sounds like the pond is already in an ideal state of balance for trophy bluegill and already has some larger specimens, to catch bluegill in the neighborhood of two pounds or better within a couple years, especially if you also fertilize. But even if you don't install feeders now, if you think there's any chance you might ever want to, a program of feeding bluegill will be severely sabotaged by channel cats. They eat pellet food with a vengeance, and when they get to four or five pounds they'll literally knock bluegill out of the way with their tails and bully them - even large bluegill - to the point that the bluegill get very little of the food. Further, the CC will eat you out of house and home - they'll open their mouths and just swim across the surface shoveling in the pellets. And then the piece de resistance - in ponds they quickly become as skittish as bonefish on a Florida flat, and probably harder to catch, so you'll watch them getting bigger and bigger day by day eating all your expensive food while they ignore your offerings whenever you try to thin their numbers. You can find lots of threads on here with pond owners saying less than nice things about CC in ponds.

If growing trophy largemouth is your top priority, the state guy probably was right - if you're bass-heavy, which it sounds like, you're not going to get many large bass unless you thin them out. One way is simply to catch and keep thirty pounds or so per year of the smaller ones; another method recently recommended by an article in Pond Boss is to stock an apex predator such as tiger muskie, two or three per acre at 12" each; the muskie will thin out the small bass, but they'll also keep the bluegill thinned out so the bluegill keep growing well, which won't happen if you thin the bass just by catching them (if you just thin them by catching, you will end up with larger bass, but your bluegill size will decline due to more successful bluegill reproduction and thus more competition among them for food). So it all comes down to the question, which species is your top priority?

A lot of co-ops that sell lime have spreader trucks that they send out to apply it for pretty cheap. Some pond management companies apply it as well. Make sure to get ag lime, also known as pelleted; hydrated lime will kill all the fish in the lake.

Thanks Walt. We will take your advice. I'm torn between the BG and the WMB but I think we're leaning toward the WMB. We are seeing some wakes in the water that look like the Loch Ness Monster has moved in . Not sure what could be making that and also some sounds like someone throwing a large rock hard into the water. We are having a ball exploring and asking people questions. We are so open to information from the experts. Thanks again.
Wes

What are WMB? I'm not familiar with that abbreviation.

Are there any grass carp in the lake? They could be making the large splashes, and would explain the wakes. If there aren't any GC in the lake the splashes could be large bass, which seems improbable considering the state of the lake but certainly isn't impossible.

Widemouths I believe. Same as LMB.

'gators, gotta be 'gators.

Sorry I mean LMB. We've seen large bass jumping but this was different. I haven't heard anyone say anything about there being any GC in there but guess it's possible.
We had the Alligator hunter out and he couldn't find any gators. He said the big ones don't hide and they make a mess. The smaller ones can hide better but he din't see any sign of them either. We called after we came accross 3 3 footers but they just disappeared. This sighting was 2 weeks after the AH left. I guess it could be more gators since he said they move around alot especially after a big rain. We certainly have had that lately.

Wes

Well esshup you guessed it. I followed the wake in my boat and up popped a 3' Gator. I hung around a minute and found another. With all the rain we've had lately I guess they started moving again. Oh well guess it's time for the Alligator Hunter again. Ain't it fun?

I got luck with a WAG. I figured that with no large fish showing up with the survey, and where you lived, the only other choice was beavers. 1/2 a chicken on a stout limb line should do it. Strong hook, light wire cable for a line, or heavy wire leader and 400# test main line. I've seen them caught using that technique.