Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Channel Catfish

I was at the local hatchery today. I think they have 10 ponds and the owner said he keeps the vegetation under control by stocking grass carp and channel cats in all of his ponds. He went on to say that the channel cats help because while rooting around for food they help keep vegetation from getting established. He also said they are great in a LMB/BG/FH pond because they don't comptete for the same food as the larger LMB/BG. Now I'm thinking of putting some in the pond for added fishing fun.

I know he is in business to sell fish but does anyone have any thoughts on this? Agree/disagree? Will it mess up the food chain? Will the cats muddy the pond?

I do not agree. When the channel catfish get large they do compete with the bass. Also I have seen ponds with high density of channel cats and plenty of submersed vegetation.

Having said this I love a low density of cats say 50/acre or so as long as you plan to pull out most by the time they reach a couple of pounds in size. Also at numbers this low they will not muddy the pond.

Avoid overestocking CC at all costs - stock only the numbers you intend to harvest each year and restock annually.

I am not giving advise, only sharing experience...
Worse pond mistake was over stocking CC and ending up with monster hook shy catfish, addindg excess biomass to our pond.

CC may cloud the water in a pond, but only if stocked at tremendously dense (wrt a normal LMB/BG/CC pond), thousands of pounds of cats per acre.

They are nice to have at low numbers in a mixed species pond, but need not be stocked heavy initially as they are about the cheapest fish to find in larger sizes (needed for restocking in ponds with established predator populations). I always say figure how many cats you would like to have based on the number you think you'll remove in 2-3 years, then stock no more than 1/2 that number. Greg's upper limit of 50/acre is good advice.

Based on his comment, I would suspect anything he says.

My channel cats had a good spawn or if you are me a bad spawn. I had enough catfish before they spawned. I thought that unless you gave them specific structure it was difficult for channel cats to spawn in a pond? I have way too many catfish now and am fishing them out every time I go to the pond. I agree with Greg that they will compete with the bass and other fish since we catch them on the same lures that we catch the bass on and they love to eat other fish. They don't seem to keep the vegetation down but I often find aquatic plants in their stomachs. Our problem has been that we don't eat enough fish out of the pond each year.

James, get 'em outta there or add emergency aeration....
BIOMASS....!!!!

That was also one of my concerns. The hatchery guy made it sound like a no-brainer (is anything in pond management a no-brainer?). I'm not inclined to add anything that requires too much added maintenance.

(is anything in pond management a no-brainer)

I have not come across any yet. There is almost always a trade-off.

I put 200CC, 200LMB, 700BG, and 2000 FHM in new pond at initial stocking. The fish supplier said to put them in at the same time so they could "grow up together". I have not caught or trapped a single CC yet and I have tried hard. I did see one small school of CC fry last month but i'm sure they got eate. Stuck out too much and moved slow I thought.

Is it possible all the original CC were eaten by the bass? I do have a lot of small BG and FHM swimming around. I added another 2000 of them last monthe for good measure.

The pond is 2 acres and I was thinking of buying 50 4-6" CC and stocking to catch and eat. What advice can anyone give me?

I would put my money on the catfish still being in the pond. You can really get them to stay in a small area if you will use a feeder with a timer. It makes them easier to catch and you can watch them feed and check how they are growing. How big were the cc when you stocked them?

All fish were fingerlings. I have tried fishing with livers, bloodbait, worms and a baited trap and not a nibble or catch. I havent been able to put a feeder in because bears are very numerous and would wreck it immediately. I just got and idea from another topic to build a plywood and foamular floating platform and put it out in the middle with a feeder. Might work.

I would leave out the cc unless you just want some to eat and to have fun catching, from experience if it were me on a 2 acre pond I would put in 6 or 8, they will compete and win against bass, put em in take them out though my bet is you will never get them all, I put in 25 in my pond still trying to get them I should be down to 4 but I cant swear to that.I personally would just leave them out. Mine our about 28 inches and a pain,though my daughter loves to catch them. At this size the competition is tough for the bass.