Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Catfish (blue/channel)

Hey guys I had a couple of questions. I have a new 1/4 acre pond that I want to stock with catfish. I will stock with about 100 channel catfish but I always wanted to have a few large blues so I wanted to put about 5 blues in just to grow some huge fish for the kids. I will get a feeder to feed daily and will put about 3 lbs of fhm in 6-7 months before I stock the cats. With these amount of fish do you"ll foresee any issues? I plan to harvest fish every few weeks when they are eating size. With these numbers could I add some hybrid or copper nose for good measure and easy fishing? Thanks for you help.

Welcome to the forum
What part of the great state do you live in?
When your catfish get to about three pounds they will eat fish. I would get a BG crop started first so your cc can have a food source other than totally pellets. Blue cats can get pretty large also. One of the pros will come along and fill in the gaps fer you. Again welcome

Hello and welcome to the forum. Understand your intention on the Blue Cat stocking, sounds awesome! However, bear in mind catfish can become hookshy and wary after being caught - so those big blues might not serve the purpose you had hoped after you catch them a couple times. Just something to bear in mind. One of the negatives of a micro pond is fishery size for low density apex predators - for species that become wary it can significantly decrease angling success once you catch them a few times.

For cat fisheries it's generally recommended to treat them as a put and take fishery, and supplementally stock to keep population where you want it. If you catch it, harvest it kind of rule. Others managing cat fisheries will be along shortly to fill in the blanks.

I agree completely on the catfish being hook shy. At my pond it seems as though if you catch one fish around the feeder you can count on it taking several days to catch another catfish. And there is no way I've caught even 5% of the catfish in my pond.

1/4 acre, IMO, isn't enough water for 100 channel cats, 4 or 5 big blues, fatheads and some bluegills. I think that you might be able to manage 100 pounds of fish per acre. You could easily run into an O2 shortage with these numbers.

After you start catching them, expect them to become narrow minded and hook shy when they hear your foot steps.

Your goal should be what drives the choices you make. The one you are suggesting would be very hard to get good results. One large BC can eat out a 1 acre pond. FH , a few CC and HBG can make a good put and take fishery with pelleted feeding. Below is some info to consider.

While this is on Flat Head catss and not BC and there is some gape difference it's not a lot.

North American Journal of Fisheries Management
Article: pp. 198–202

Gape:Body Size Relationship of Flathead Catfish
Joe E. Slaughter IVa,,1 and Brad Jacobsonb
a) Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources Division, 2065 U.S. Highway 278 SE, Social Circle, Georgia 30025, USA
b) Arizona Game and Fish Department, Region IV, 9140 East 28th Street, Yuma, Arizona 85365, USA

Abstract.

The flathead catfish Pylodictis olivaris is a highly piscivorous ictalurid native to central North America whose range has been extended throughout much of the United States. With this range expansion, many populations of native fishes have experienced declines in the number of individuals due to direct predation by flathead catfish. Previous evidence suggests that flathead catfish are opportunistic feeders and may be the least gape limited of North American freshwater piscivores. To better understand the size of prey vulnerable to flathead catfish, we measured gape dimensions for individuals of various sizes to determine the maximum size prey a flathead catfish can kill based on its gape limitations. Our results show the relationship of total length to horizontal and vertical gape and the relationship of flathead catfish total length to the total lengths of ingestible-sized prey of different body shapes. Furthermore, comparisons of the body depth of three common fish species to the gape dimensions showed that no size of largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides, bluegill Lepomis macrochirus, or gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum would preclude predation by flathead catfish. Our results support the assumption that the flathead catfish is one of the least gape-limited piscivores.

Thanks guys , I'm in Missouri city Texas ,right outside of Houston. I will have some aeration also in the pond. Maybe I'll just will decrease the amount of fish by 30 or 40 %. Thanks for the info I'm sure I'll have more questions down the road.

Bob Lusk had an article in the May/June PBM where he states he is harvesting 600 pounds of CC a year from his 1/3 acre. Just saying it is all about the management IMO. You can raise a lot of pounds of CC per year if you harvest/stock as required....IMO I would forget the big BC and FHC though as they will just eat any small CC you stock. Ever thought about HBC, hybrid blue cats(BC x CC)? I understand that is what a lot of the commercial catfish farms are raising now.

...Just my 1 cent....

Bill, I saw that and was thinking that only Lusk could do it. That is
crowded. I know the pond. All of his ponds flow water continually to others down hill. But I couldn't do it.

Some catfish farms raise a lot of lbs per acre (way more than 1000) but are not managed anything like a pond. They run at a very high % of capacity and use lots of specialized equipment. They also have constant monitoring and still have bad events occur. Lusk can approximate that because of his knowledge and experience. I would never try to run a pond at 80% capacity - too much risk.