YELLOW BULLHEAD (YBH)

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Omnivore. Readily eats just about any animal matter available including zooplankton, mollusks, small fish and will eat pellets when available.
Cody Note - The YBH in the above picture were raised in a cage from 3"-4" fingerlings.

High fecundity, however is subject to predation in clear waters, therefore will not be a prominent player when largemouth bass can see well enough to prey on yellow bullheads.

Can reach sizes of over one pound.

Good palatability, especially younger fish from clean waters. Cody has harvested larger YBH in mid summer from a low water mud bottom pond and surprisingly the flavor of the fillets was very good so good palatability does not necessarily have to come from clear water. Note those YBH were likely growing from eating lots of fish pellets. Unpolluted water is probably more important for their palatability than them coming from clear water. Clean water and clear water can be significantly different qualities.

Brown Bullhead (BnBH) FishBase http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=3022

Black Bullhead (BkBH) FishBase http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=291

Yellow Bullhead 9YBH) FishBase http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=3021


BLUE CATFISH (BC)

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Piscivorous, will sometimes scavenge, doesn�t readily take pellets.

Low fecundity

Can reach sizes in ponds of over 50 pounds.

Good palatability

http://filaman.ifm-geomar.de/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=3019Blue Catfish (BC) FishBase

Cody Note- In my opinion the Osage blue catfish are very reasonably priced due to the rareness of the species and lack of availability - a good value:
*8 - 10 inch = $2.25each



CHANNEL CATFISH (CC)

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Omnivore, eats fish, will scavenge and loves pellets.

Low fecundity except in the presence of specific types of cavernous structure.

Can reach twenty pounds.

Good to excellent palatability.


http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=290 Channel Catfish (CC) FishBase

Interesting CC Threads
This wisdom from Catmandoo from the thread How Many Catfish?
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=486283#Post486283

I may not be a catfish expert, but I sure learned a lot about catfish in the last 15 years.

Several things I learned very early was that:

Channel catfish grow really fast. In just a few years, 4-5 inch channel cats can become 25-30 inch fish with minimal assistance from humans;

Channel catfish, especially those over 16-18 inches, become extremely hook shy. The larger they are, the longer their memory, and the more wary they are of eating things, and;

Once channel catfish get to about 16-18 inches, they become top-level predators. They begin to eat nearly anything and everything that swims or seems like food -- except for baits with a hook in them. They swarm during feeding time like big vacuum cleaners. The can consume large amounts of feed pellets in a very short time.

I typically put 10-20 4-5 inch channel cats into my two ponds (0.7 and 0.3 acres) in late spring or early summer after I can see what is in the ponds. Some years I don't put any in. We still have plenty for neighborhood fish frys and for ourselves.

Don't overstock unless you want lots of catfish to eat!
Channel catfish will reproduce in ponds. Survival of fry and young will depend on density of habitat and what other predators are in the pond. CC a pond mainly by themselves without bass will surely produce year classes of catfish. They can create cavities in the pond bank for spawnind.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 12/02/20 11:33 AM. Reason: added notes

Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.