Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Catfish Highs and Lows

Just curious to here from fellow pond enthusiasts, what are your opinions on catfish, channels to be specific. What are the pros and cons, I'm preparing to stock my new pond, I'm on the fence for catfish.

CC grow quickly under the right conditions, are good to eat, and I think they put up a good fight. I think they may keep the size of of your bass down. If you want big bass I wouldn't add many CC. I catch them on artificial lures and have had some spawn in my bass heavy pond in Southeastern Indiana. I haven't noticed that they have muddied up the pond too much.

What is too many for a 1/2 acre pond? How many would I have to take out each year to keep the population down. I do like catching catfish. Thanks for the response.

I like catfish. Some don't. Stock about 50 and eat them at 1.5 to 2 pounds. Restock 10 to 12 inchers.

Mine are too big at 5 to 8 pounds. However, I'm trying to save them for kids.

I stocked 200 channel cats in my 1 acre pond next to the house. I like to fish from my lazy boy recliner.

I fed them the first couple of months but nothing after that. They reached 4 to 5 lbs in the first 4 years. We caught a couple around 12 lbs after about 7 or 8 years. They are my favorite fish to catch and eat.

I'm considering stocking Blue cats next. I know in the wild( lakes and rivers) they put up a stronger fight than the channel cats. How do they do in a pond environment compared to channels cats? Same growth rate etc..?

Well, after hearing from you guys, I'm leaning towards stocking about 50 of them in our 1/2 pond. Anyone have a good reason not to?

In my experience blue and channel catfish grow at similar rates, but blues reach a larger max size if the forage fish population is adequate. They prefer crawfish and shad as forage, but will other prey as well. Blues fight harder no doubt. Stocking rate for blues or channels in bass ponds is 50-100 per acre.

The biggest real problem I have with CC is that I haven't found a way I like cook them that the family considers edible. This means my wife, who has 2 or 3 ways to fix catfish we like, has to do the honors. The resulting bottleneck in CC consumption has led to a backlog in the freezer I will try to talk the cook into eliminating this winter.

I like having them in the pond and watching them feed and catching them. Since my original CC are up to 7 pounds and have successfully spawned 2 or 3 years, I have to stay on top of them to keep them from tying up more biomass in the pond than I want.

Theo,

Fried catfish filets? Yum-yum. They are a close second to Crappie for me.

Gator

If I stock 50 in my 1/2 acre, and pull some out each year at 2 pounds to eat. How many will I need to pull out each year and eat to keep them from becoming over-populated, that is my biggest issue, that and the possibility of them clouding up the water.

Gator I agree, crappie Rule. I've been told that BG's are even better. Anyone had both to determine if this is so.

I put 17 Channel cats at about 8 inches in the late winter. I feed all my fish. These catfish are confirmed between 4 and 5 pounds in less then one year. If you dont mind feeding them I would say you can put more then 17 more like 50 just like the guys are saying. I have not noticed any muddying from them. I like them in there and am going to put 25 more and 5 albino cats. The good thing is you can get them out pretty easy if ypou dont want them anymore. My thought if they spawn, the bass love baby catfish so more forage for the bass and I am sure my neibors wouldnt mind a catfish dinner or two. I like them at least they bite. Hold your pole because channel cats will rip the pole right in the water.

At the end of the second year, start eating. Keep eating all you can. They can get hook shy so I generally use BG or GS cutbait on the bottom.

Thanks alot for the info.

If 1"x1"x1/2" pieces were cut from filets of black crappie, white crappie, GSF, BG, RES, bass and catfish then egg washed, battered and fried, I wonder how many of us could correctly identify the species. Except for maybe the catfish, I don't think I could.

I'm with Dudley. Catfish I feel sure I could tell, the rest??? I think I'd have the best chance on the bass.

I just did almost the exact thing a few nights ago. I floured, egg washed and dipped a few fillets in bread crumbs. I did LMB and Crappy. 2 each. I kept them seperate so I know which was which and could not tell which one was better. They tasted the same to me. Fish that is this fresh tastes like no fish you can buy at the store. My friend asked me if he could eat it susi style.. I just said I guess so, I never ate susi and wont ever either, my fish has to be cooked.

Along the lines of what Dudley said, I was watching 20/20,I think it was, the other night, and they were doing a story on food psychology (sp?). A food scientist did a survey with his own college intern staff where he asked them to sample two types of strawberry yogurt.

Both types of strawberry yogurt were merely normal yogurt mixed with chocolate syrup.

When questioned later, all 5 or 6 of the interns were convinced that they had been eating strawberry yogurt. One of the funny things is that all of these interns worked for the scientist and were familiar with the "angles" of his work, and even so, none of them knew the jig was up.

I'm sorry for that.... I never get threads off-topic.

Originally posted by rockytopper:
Gator I agree, crappie Rule. I've been told that BG's are even better. Anyone had both to determine if this is so.

IMO-they taste the same, they're both good.

To answer the topic, the only thing I don't like about catfish is they don't seem to be much of a predator fish. Now I feed fish so I can only fault myself, but this year I have noticed tons of fingerling bream and the catfish don't seem to want to thin them out. Same thing with the bass. Maybe next year I won't feed them and see what happens.

I can easily distinguish crappie, bass, catfish, and bream. I can tell some difference in the taste, but the texture is the dead giveaway.

To me...black crappie, white crappie, GSF, BG, RES are excellent eating...but I always have to clean a lot of fish. I stocked some catfish so I can fish all day sampling my pond, and keep the occasional CC's in the ice chest for dinner.

When "the guys" are all out fishing and hunting together, it's always a special occasion...we generally drink and brag about how big the fish was...not how it tastes

My personal taste chart goes Crappie first, and Crappie second...all the rest tie for third. I stocked twice as many crappie as CC

I stocked 150 6-8 in. CC two years ago in my 1.75 acre pond. Most of them are around 3-4 lbs. with a few up to 7 lbs. (fed 2x daily). Only problem, they will not leave my bait alone when I am fishing light tackle for BG!

Dave, did you ever stock your YP and smallies that you were interested in?

I caught a group of fish out of my pond not too long ago and decided to have different people sample the fish without telling them what they were eating to see which fish they prefered. All of the fish were panfried the same way. The order of preference was as follows. 1.Tilapia 2.small catfish less than two pounds 3.lm bass 4.larger catfish Sorry I didn't catch any crappie on this day. In fact I rarely do catch any crappie and I don't know why.

Yep, I've had both on the same plate, as far as taste they are pretty even, however I think Crappie have fewer bones or bigger bones or something like that coz the meat is easier to get off the Crappie. I think Crappie get a lot bigger then BG if they have the forage and the room to grow. As far as a pick, give me either one or both and throw a CC in there and I'm hooked. LOL (Pardon the PUN) :p