Channel catfish are very adaptable to a variety of environments. If you stock them lightly they will get bigger faster but will also be somewhat harder to catch.. if you stock them heavier you can harvest regularly as they get bigger to keep the population in check and their growth rates high. If you ever see a fish that isn’t healthy and fat than your balance is off and you need to harvest more fish. Fortunately channels don’t tend to over populate and can tolerate high density of fish.

Channels are one of my favorite fish in my pond and are by far the largest with lots of high protein supplemental feeding and stocking lots of forage fish I have about 8-12 CC in the 15-20 pound range in my 1 acre pond.. I have LMB, HSB, YP, GSH, FHM, Female BC, Male WC, RES, BG lolol. But they are just a variety of types of forage fish for the catfish. Seeing how big I can get my CCs is one of the main focuses of my pond. On top of the 150-200 bucks a year in Aquamax MVP and 500 and the 150 pounds of FHM and GSH I stock each ear as additional forage has gave me incredible growth rate in these fish and they are only 8-10 years old. Their growth has slowed the last couple years but every single year I break the previous years record still!

My strategy is keep the CC stocked very lightly so they have ample food opportunity. If I catch a catfish under 15 pounds it is harvested every time. Regardless if you want just a few nice trophies or lots of fish for lots of action CC will adept well to the environment. I think about 100 catfish would be the top end(if you are feeding even less if you aren’t) for a 1/3 of and acre unless you plan on harvesting within the first year or two. Some ppl like to stock a class of fish every year or two if they are consistently harvesting. But whatever your goals are you need to consider more types of forage fish. If you can’t get Shiners in your area what species of sun fish can you get? You can buy different species online. Stock your fat head minnows and other forage species first let them get established unless you can get very small CC in the 2-3 inch range.. they grow so fast a lot of times 5-7 inches is the smallest and they are already eating small fish.

If you don’t plan on continuing to feed(which I recommend against if possible) than getting your forage fish established is critical.