Need some brainstorming from bigger brains than mine. I have a small fish pond around 3\4 of an acre i have stocked around 2000 catfish in it over the last 5 years fed them well they were in the 1 to 1 1/2 lb in size. About 3 years ago I stocked 300 bream and shellcracker , all of a sudden I can't catch a catfish at all. Nothing but bream come to the feed. No sign of otters or tresspassers no fish kills no pond overflow. I am stumped I even talked to the DNR about water quality they said everything was perfect. This is a mystery to me. Help please....
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Where are my catfish??
- Thread starter xrayman
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Walking catfish
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We use to have a lake back in the day, keep it really stocked up. Had a similar problem, I ran a fish net out kind like a trout line but for catfish. To see what was going on caught a few and had them sent in for testing to see if there was anything going on and everything was fine. Stumped me.
This doesn’t quite fit your problem but could be of use.
I had some catfish disappear years ago. They were older than yours though.
When trying to figure out what happened, I was told catfish are very particular about where they spawn
The guy that came out and looked at our pond said they probably grew up and slowly died off but were not reproducing. According to him they really like holes in the side of the banks and apparently our conditions weren’t ideal.
Doesn’t exactly sound like your problem since they are disappearing before they’re dying of old age.
I had some catfish disappear years ago. They were older than yours though.
When trying to figure out what happened, I was told catfish are very particular about where they spawn
The guy that came out and looked at our pond said they probably grew up and slowly died off but were not reproducing. According to him they really like holes in the side of the banks and apparently our conditions weren’t ideal.
Doesn’t exactly sound like your problem since they are disappearing before they’re dying of old age.
They heard Academy had a sell on .556!
Got a floating turtle trap,catch a few little ones about fist size but nothing big enough to hold down a catfish and eat him. Please don't laugh at this but I got about 10 pink flamingos around the pond and they scare the herons off. I have watched them circle the pond to land but won't land they think it's another herons and fly away. Sounds weird but it works.....
