Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Bullheads

Howdy all.

So we bought a property about a year ago that had two established ponds. One is about an acre, 8'-10' deep and full of goggle eye perch and shiners, and the other is about 2 acres, 10'-12' deep and full of shiners and largemouth bass. The bass pond was "stocked" with mature fish from other locations and has developed into a fun pond to fish. Some bass in the 6lb range have been caught. Lots of bass of all sizes, and lots of forage in the shiners.

BOTH ponds however are full of bullhead catfish. Thousands of them I'm guessing. Every so often I see pods of bullhead fry near the banks. If you try and catch perch with a worm and a bobber, you catch bullheads every single cast.

Both of the ponds are fed by creeks, and this is probably a repeating issue.

So the question is....do I just live with them since otherwise the ponds are performing as required? Or would "relocating" as many of them as often as possible be a better solution?

Any opinions are appreciated.

tb

tb6440,
I think that someone said bullheads made great forage for LMB or CC. I don’t remember who but someone will probably let you know. If you have them in the creek that feeds the pond and you wanted to reduce the number of bullheads you could try fishing, trapping, trot lining and jug fishing to remove them. I don’t have bullheads or LMB but I am trapping what I think are unwanted BG. I hope this gives you some ideas!

tb 4660,

Every pond is different and many factors play into population dynamics.

Some of the history is missing, but I don't think I would fight them too much. Keep them and eat them ... or use as fertilizer ... Do a you tube search for "shucking bullheads" in case you would be interested in eating them. They are easy to clean and good to eat from relatively clear ponds. A holding period of a couple days in a kiddie pool will cleanse muddy taste also.

I would set a rule that every bullhead caught from either pond is removed, whether eaten or thrown on the shore.

Having the ponds 'connected' to streams can continue to create populations of 'new' bullheads, but depending on the make-up of your bass populations, you may see those 'new' bullies getting eaten as the existing 'in-pond' population of bullies gets reduced by culling.

I had a plethora of bullheads get into my lake somehow shortly after it was built. I tried all manners of trying to get rid of them. Posted here (probably around 2004). Was advised not to worry about them as the LMB would eliminate all new ones. Sure enough, they were right. Went from catching lots to only catching exceptionally large ones to never seeing one. Probably haven't caught or seen one for at least 10 years now.

Same happened in my old refurbished pond. I left a puddle in the middle when I cleaned it out with a dozer and the GSF and BH got the upper hand on the fish I stocked at some later date when the pond filled. About all I could catch was GSF and small BH. I ended up stocking some adult LMB from my main pond. Once they spawned in a couple years the BH problem pretty much went away. Took a few years but the problem self corrected once enough predation was there. Hardly ever catch a BH now.