Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Catfish GSF and Grass Carp Pond Adjustment

Hello Pond Boss World,

I've been on this forum for many years and I FINALLY purchased a property with a 2/3 acre pond on it. I've been here about a month in North Central Iowa, fishing it most days and walk it multiple times a day to see what's hanging out on the shoreline. So here's the situation...

I have caught (and thrown into the garden) about 20, 10-12 inch long blue catfish that weigh less than a 1 LB, super skinny but really nice coloring. I have caught 1 2 LBer that I tossed back in that had good round shape to it and was maybe 2 inches longer than the skinny ones. There are 4 giant grass carp, I caught 1 and tossed it into the garden as well and it was about 7LBs. There are probably 100+ Green Sunfish making beds along the shore, I've caught a dozen or so of them with beautiful coloring very healthy looking good body width for their length, but they are all 5inches and under. There are huge schools of 1 inch fingerlings, looking like maybe 200 or so in the ball, so it seems like stuff is spawning and reproducing relatively well. Unfortunately... I think that's it for the ecosystem, I haven't seen any bass moving along the shoreline nor have I caught any of them. It may be early in the season for them but water temps are starting to climb so I would assume I'd have started to see something moving in there by now or snagged one, I fish 30 minutes to an hour a day in there with a wide variety of baits and usually hit most of the pond in doing so.

My primary concern is it seems like we are experiencing stunting, both in the Catfish and the GSF which is why I've started culling the tiny catfish out of there. I am leaving the GSF in there for now as I'd like to keep them around and do a WE, SMB, YP stocking this year and the fusiform GSF would fit in well with those other 3. We have 3 aerators and a well if I need to pump cooler water in in the summer time. It's mostly a sand/clay bottom with about half the shore lined with bigger boulders and gets to 25 feet deep in the center.

My questions for you all are, does this seem like stunting to you as well? Does my culling the smaller catfish out and adding in the SMB/WE as the primary predators seem like a reasonable approach? Should I take out all the Catfish and the Grass Carp? Should I start feeding them maybe to help boost size?

Thanks for the help! It's awesome to finally have my own pond to talk about on here.

~k

I am by no means an expert but I would remove the catfish as in my experience lead to nothing but problems. I would also leave the grass carp in but if you want aquatic vegetation removing them would be the way to go. Without bass your sunfish will continue to spawn and will stunt if they are not already. Green Sunfish are not ideal forage for bass ( and walleye? ) as they don't reproduce like bluegill and can eat much larger forage often competing with small bass for food. I have no experience with pearch and just use smb and walleye as bonus fish so my experience with them is limited. What is your depth and water clarity like?

The pond gets to about 25 ft deep in the center, visibility is about 2-3 feet.

Walleye is correct, I wanted to do Walleye and SMB for the predators. Not largemouth.

I forgot to mention the primary goal for me is to have a few big smb and we, with good size panfish and the occasional take a WE, GSF or perch out to eat. In general I want to bump up the size of everything and reduce the runts. Just a good fishing pond.

krsbigred, congrats on finally getting your very own pond. I wanted a pond all my life, starting at age 5, and only was able to move on to land with my own pond when I reached the ripe old age of 59.

I like the sound of what you've got and what you are trying to do. IMHO continue to reduce those catfish numbers. Try to find out how much spawning habitat exists for them and maybe reduce or even eliminate that habitat. I can't tell you what blue cats use for spawning; someone else on the forum can give you that info.

You may find that the GSF eat up too many of your YP fry. But as you seem to, I place a good deal of value in a healthy GSF population. Something you might want to try is to lower the GSF numbers so ther is more food to go around for the survivors. And, feed them. They love Optimal BG and meal worms. I keep my GSF numbers under control, partly by fishing for them, partly with predation. As a result, I have 9", 10", and an 11" GSF in my pond. That big one is right up there with the Colorado state record. They are quality fish.

Since the pond is still new to you, keep observing and fishing it for awhile before you really determine the proper course of action. I lived on and regularly fished my pond for a year before I felt I really understood what fish and what sizes were in there. Even so, a couple of years into ownership of the pond I caught a couple black crappie BCP. Initially I felt let down, as the pond is only 1/4 acre. Since then I've only caught 2 to 5 per year, so at least for me, the dreaded small pond crappie pestilence has not materialized. We've been here 10 years now. I like to think my bigger GSF eat the small crappie. They love 2' to 4" LMB.

Exciting times ahead for you. I hope you do not ever catch a LMB, nor a BG. You're way ahead for realizing your goals without those two.