fencing in a pond to protect fingerling catfish ?

[Bdavis]

I have tried to restock my pond with catfish a couple of times but not much luck. I bought the property about 3 years ago and it had been stocked with catfish, bass and hybrid bream ( by the time I took possession of the property the bream were gone - fished out by anyone that wanted to stop by)

I have started feeding my catfish and taken out some real big ones. I have tried to restock the catfish a couple of times but out of 200 I only got about 20 that are still alive and feeding.

I am pretty sure the bass ate most of them. I am trying to provide more habitat for forage fish and have introduced fat head minnows for the bass. I have read where you should just kill off everything and start over but I really don't want to do that.

The last 100 fingerling I put in were 6-8 inches (about as large as I could get locally for a decent price)
I think if I could give them enough time to grow to get between 10-12 inches they would be fine.

My pond is gently sloped and I have included some pictures to show the overview and the bank.
So my real question is what kind of wire or fencing could I use to make like 20 X 30 pen to hold them and keep the bass away for about 6 months. My pond is artesian well fed and about 1 acre in size so really no oxygenation issues are involved. The depth of the area would probably not be over 36 or 48 inches

By the way the picture of the hose and sump pump is just something I use to water the top of my levee during the summer to keep the grass growing.

Thanks

[Ted Summey]

Check with your Agriculture Extension for aquaculture services and advice - they will be able to help. You might find that they use "baskets" made from hardware cloth for that purpose, but I don't know for sure.

[brin]

Bdavis...build some boxes using 2x4's and hardware cloth...maybe 4x4x4 with a hinged top with a latch...set these in your pond ...off a dock if possible and start your fingerlings in there and feed them there until they are 6 to 8 inches long to survive and then let them go in the pond....We have a 2 Ac. pond that was stocked with bass, bream and catfish...way back on our farm not even visible from the road..but I caught many poacher back there with buckets full of my fish....We finally gave up...they sneak in through the woods....I can't sit out there 24/7 so the poachers won...I lost....Better luck to you

[Western]

You could get some netting, weight it down and use "floaties" or "noodles" on the top to float.

You need to look into Coppernose perch/bluegill, better than hybrids, heavy breeders and dont consume as much food as other in the bluegill family. Flatheads wont last any time at all if they dont have good cover. Pallets are great flathead "brooding" areas sunk around 2-3'.

Might spend some time over at Pondboss forums too
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[the old grind]

Depends on which cats, too. Channel-cats are good eating but voracious predators like blues. It's no fun watching ducks & goslings get pulled under by 'em. My bass don't often grow as big as the cats since Herons thin them at up to 10-12" or so. Fished out 45+ 'channels' and no longer have to stock fathead minnows .. for now. btw: Bleugills (bream) seem to be the feedstock here, for the most part. I'm heqq on muskrats year 'round, since they devour cattails that small fish rely on for cover. (~3.5 ac, shallow & oddly shaped, 2000'+ shoreline)

btw: a bigger problem in the Midwest anymore is 'Phragmites australis', or common reedgrass. It displaces other plants and it's a rhizome that's tough to keep down. (Hope you never see the s__ in the South.)
Background Information
Invasive Plants of Ohio - Factsheet 5 - Common Reed Grass
PCA Alien Plant Working Group - Common Reed (Phragmites australis)
Phragmites - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Natural cover is best if water levels are close to uniform seasonally and general maintenance isn't made more difficult. Wrap chicken wire around old Christmas trees and drop 'em around for more. Good for 5-10 yrs easy here in MI, I'd guess 3-5 or more in warmer southern ponds. Wading and diving birds have to be shooed off daily, so watch out for them, too. Fingerlings in shallows don't have much chance to survive. If you're lucky the birds will only stop by when migrating. Good luck!

[Bdavis]

You could get some netting, weight it down and use "floaties" or "noodles" on the top to float.

You need to look into Coppernose perch/bluegill, better than hybrids, heavy breeders and dont consume as much food as other in the bluegill family. Flatheads wont last any time at all if they dont have good cover. Pallets are great flathead "brooding" areas sunk around 2-3'.

Might spend some time over at Pondboss forums too
Pond Boss Forum - Forums powered by UBB.threads™

Yes the netting or some sort of coated wire (like chicken netting) might work with some T posts. It would only need to last about 4-5 months until they get up to about 10 - 12 inches. ( I can purchase
6-8 inch fingerlings) I would love to put some coppernose in there eventually but from what I read you really should not mix the 2 (bream and catfish) because they compete for the same food sources.

My plan is to raise catfish for the next couple of years for my family to eat. (I have too much work up there to do a lot of fishing right now). Then I will trap seine the catfish. Then I want to hopefully make it into a bluegill honey hole for my kids and grandkids

[SPIKER]

Are you thinking about just fencing off part of the pond and putting the small fish there & feeding them to gain size?

Sounds feasible to me, would need something like fine chicken wire and probably a solar pump to move water in/out of the area.

The fencing should be fine enough so fish wont get caught (gill net) would be one worry. Keeping BIGGER fish out is easy enough but keeping the little ones IN would be a bit harder.

For the pump if possible I would put it 20 feet away and move fresh water into the pen area with a spray pattern to help air/water quality the area.

You might try some of the Window Screen type material it is cheap and can be had in metal (S.S.) or nylon fiber type stuff which you can maybe find some old screen door type screens and sink them with some posts?

Mark

[jinman]

I would say to not be so quick to blame the bass or poachers. From my experience, great blue herons do a tremendous amount of fishing in shallow areas of my ponds. I have several catfish with divots taken out of their backs from being semi-speared by the herons. These catfish were over 12" long and I'm constantly finding big catfish bones/skeletons on my shoreline. Have you seen gray or white herons around your pond?

BTW: That's a sweet lookin' pond. An artesian spring fed pond is awesome. It also has a clear shoreline mostly free of trees.

[Western]

Jim makes a good point, most of the fish I have lost have been to Great Blue Herons and have no love for them.

The Coppernose perch ARE the food source for channel cat and bass. Part of the beauty of the Coppernose is they eat very little compared to other "perches/brim" The flatheads are good for the smaller CC's and bass. Plus you have the option to buy a fish feeder and provide floating fish food, if your worried about feeding. The Coppernose and CC will eat the fish food.

[Bdavis]

Are you thinking about just fencing off part of the pond and putting the small fish there & feeding them to gain size?

Sounds feasible to me, would need something like fine chicken wire and probably a solar pump to move water in/out of the area.

The fencing should be fine enough so fish wont get caught (gill net) would be one worry. Keeping BIGGER fish out is easy enough but keeping the little ones IN would be a bit harder.

For the pump if possible I would put it 20 feet away and move fresh water into the pen area with a spray pattern to help air/water quality the area.

You might try some of the Window Screen type material it is cheap and can be had in metal (S.S.) or nylon fiber type stuff which you can maybe find some old screen door type screens and sink them with some posts?

Mark

That's what I am thinking . the catfish fingerlings are about 6 - 8 inch so it will not have be that fine.
I could be wrong but really not worried about water quality at this point . Usually have enough wind to move the water one way or another. Also my pond is artesian well feed all year round . It is not real deep but I would say 8 months out of the year I have it going over the overflow
The well feeds it from the north end and the over flow is at the south so really stays oxygenated most
of the time
Thanks