Record Catfish from Alissa Pond

[EddieWalker]

One thing that I recently learned about bass is that they will only eat a certain sized fish. If your bass is of a certain size, then it will only eat blugill of a certain size. You need to have larger bluegill for the bass to get bigger. If you have too many fish in there, they will stop growing and you end up with a stunted pond. Less fish in the pond is better for fish to get bigger. Bluegill reproduce like crazy, so they are a great food source, but if there are more bluegill then food available for them, then they will overpopulate the pond and you end up with what sounds like your situation.

This is my concern. I'm worried that I'm going to have too many catfish in Alissa Pond and not be able to continue the growth of my catfish. I suplement them every day with flaoting catfish food. I really enjoy this. I pour out the food and the fish are there instantly to eat it. Of course, I have three times as many catfish in there as I want, so the problem for me is to get more people to catch them.

As for you silt problem, the only way to fix that is with heavy equipment. A long reach excavator or draining it and going in with something like a tracked loader that can scoop up a load and carry it out. Then getting rid of the silt is the big challenge, but that's another topic after you get it out. If it was me, I'd look for a long reach excavator first. I've been thinking about doing the same, but still want to get my grass doing better around the pond before putting money into silt removal before the cause of the problem is fixed.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[jinman]

Eddie, I've had my pond stocked for just over two years and I don't feed but a couple of times per week. Last week, we took two of our grandkids fishing and caught four catfish. Two of them were about 2 lb and full of eggs. The biggest caught was about 4 lb and also a very fat looking belly. They also caught several more that managed to get off the hook just as we got them to the shore. There's nothing like the excitement and pride on a kid's face when they catch fish.

 

[Maxfli]

Eddie,

Thanks for your view. We do have access to a excavator with a 45' reach. Problem is no real place to put the spoils. We are trying to find a landscaping company that will take it off our hands. I think you are right the pond is probably over-populated. Nobody fishes with any frequency. If we find a way to excavate the silt we will drain it off any how. It has a push up dam with a 22" stand pipe, being 50 years old the pipe it is starting to corrode under the dam. I think it I am in for a fair chunk of change to fix the problems. Ultimately the stand pipe will need to be repaired for safety reasons.