Stocking a pond

[hotbiggun]

I have about a 1/4 acre pond full of blue gill but want to introduce channel cats. I have several questions but first is there a fishery in La to buy cats?
Im in Kaplan and we have shepards in Maurice but they dont sell catfish.

 

[SGT ROCK]

Estimated 100 per 1 acre surface area…

https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/assets/Licenses_and_Permits/Files/Fingerling-Vendor-List.pdf

FISH PRICES

Find current fish pricing for our fingerling pond stocking fish, fish prices are subject to change

www.dunnsfishfarm.com

 

[hotbiggun]

I thought 25 catfish would work maybe 50? @SGT ROCK DO YOU HAVE A PONd?

Oh and Thanks for the info!

 

[pandabear]

Dunn's Fish Farm have everything you need
1800 433 2950

 

[SGT ROCK]

2

I thought 25 catfish would work maybe 50? @SGT ROCK DO YOU HAVE A PONd?

Oh and Thanks for the info!

Nope, just lending a hand……I remembered the state had stocked my Grandmother‘s pond and started an info search.

 

[hotbiggun]

Dunn's Fish Farm have everything you need
1800 433 2950

Thanks, ordered 30 catfish, 25 bass and 3000 flathead minnows. They deliver to Lafyette!
Now to catch a few hundred goggleye to thin out the competition.

 

[Magdump]

Dunn's Fish Farm have everything you need
1800 433 2950

+1 on Dunn’s. They’ll swing by your local feed stores almost weekly in some areas. Channel cat do not reproduce in a pond. If you feed them they can grow up to 2 pounds per year eating 3% of their body weight per day in warmer months. 6” fingerlings are generally keepers in about 2 years and if you feed them they still eat great up into the 8+ pound range. I routinely stocked 500 in a 1/4 acre pond and ran a 2” gas powered pump for 30 min to an hour on warmer days. Reduce the out pipe to 1.5 inch and point down the bank at an angle to circulate the water counter clockwise. I had healthy fish that could snatch poles off the bank.

 

[hotbiggun]

+1 on Dunn’s. They’ll swing by your local feed stores almost weekly in some areas. Channel cat do not reproduce in a pond. If you feed them they can grow up to 2 pounds per year eating 3% of their body weight per day in warmer months. 6” fingerlings are generally keepers in about 2 years and if you feed them they still eat great up into the 8+ pound range. I routinely stocked 500 in a 1/4 acre pond and ran a 2” gas powered pump for 30 min to an hour on warmer days. Reduce the out pipe to 1.5 inch and point down the bank at an angle to circulate the water counter clockwise. I had healthy fish that should snatch poles off the bank.

500? Why so many? Was the pump for oxygen?

 

[pandabear]

Since we at the topic, I can use some input. I have a pond that's over an acre. Spoke to dept. Of wildlife, and they're happy to help stock the pond with whatever
i wish. However the pond must be made available to the public. So that ended the conversation. We caught a few ugly bass every so often. However it's full of mud cats. The question is how do I get rid of these mudcats without draining the whole pond? The last couple of years, every chance I get I catch as much snapping turtles, & softshell turtles in the 7 to 10lb range and release into the pond with the hopes of eating some of the mud cats. What else can I do???

 

[hotbiggun]

Since we at the topic, I can use some input. I have a pond that's over an acre. Spoke to dept. Of wildlife, and they're happy to help stock the pond with whatever
i wish. However the pond must be made available to the public. So that ended the conversation. We caught a few ugly bass every so often. However it's full of mud cats. The question is how do I get rid of these mudcats without draining the whole pond? The last couple of years, every chance I get I catch as much snapping turtles, & softshell turtles in the 7 to 10lb range and release into the pond with the hopes of eating some of the mud cats. What else can I do???

Snakes, i watched them several times eat my catfish. Pretty cool to watch. Also i spoke with the guy at shepards in Maurice and he mentioned a certain poison you can use but cant remember the name.

 

[Magdump]

500? Why so many? Was the pump for oxygen?

The water would continue to move counter clockwise long after I’d kill the pump. Oxygenated the water great. When you go to harvest fish that don’t reproduce, 500 is a small number. I’ve seen cage operations in shalllow ponds with much higher ratios. You really only have to feed them about 1% of their body weight daily to see gains. The generic “catfish floater” at the feed store is about 32% protein. I raised channel cat on my place years ago as a home farm project/tax write off. You learn a lot as you go.

 

[Magdump]

Since we at the topic, I can use some input. I have a pond that's over an acre. Spoke to dept. Of wildlife, and they're happy to help stock the pond with whatever
i wish. However the pond must be made available to the public. So that ended the conversation. We caught a few ugly bass every so often. However it's full of mud cats. The question is how do I get rid of these mudcats without draining the whole pond? The last couple of years, every chance I get I catch as much snapping turtles, & softshell turtles in the 7 to 10lb range and release into the pond with the hopes of eating some of the mud cats. What else can I do???

There is a legal deoxygenating agent you can use but poly wogs are usually the last thing to die.
Muscats can live in a ditch for years and unfortunately the eggs can hitch a ride on the legs of water birds right to your pond.
Maybe read up on walnut husks…

 

[Manimal]

Could you run a trot line on a pulley or something, just catch them all over time?

 

[pandabear]

Snakes, i watched them several times eat my catfish. Pretty cool to watch. Also i spoke with the guy at shepards in Maurice and he mentioned a certain poison you can use but cant remember the name.

Ironically the pond is infested with snakes. Every time we put out any type of traps, we always catch a snake or two. The catfish just simply out number the snakes by a large margin.

 

[Gator 45/70]

I have about a 1/4 acre pond full of blue gill but want to introduce channel cats. I have several questions but first is there a fishery in La to buy cats?
Im in Kaplan and we have shepards in Maurice but they dont sell catfish.

I've been out to Shepards with a gent buying bream fingerlings, Nice place!
You put catfish in a pond with bream and after a few years you won't have any bream.

 

[Roadhog]

I just drained a pond about 1/4 acre to enlarge it. I was surprised at how few fish there were in it. Two bass over 5 lbs and around 10 smaller ones. Less than 30 eating size bream.
I’ll restock with hybrid bream and crappie. No bass

 

[hotbiggun]

I just drained a pond about 1/4 acre to enlarge it. I was surprised at how few fish there were in it. Two bass over 5 lbs and around 10 smaller ones. Less than 30 eating size bream.
I’ll restock with hybrid bream and crappie. No bass

Why no bass? Ive heard crappie arent a good pond fish

 

[hotbiggun]

I've been out to Shepards with a gent buying bream fingerlings, Nice place!
You put catfish in a pond with bream and after a few years you won't have any bream.

Currently i have either green sunfish or goggleye, they seem to big for green sunfish. hopefully food for the bass and catfish. I will catch a few and post pics maybe you can identify them.

 

[Manimal]

there is also bait & a cast net, and a woodchipper...

 

[simplepeddler]

Crappie need a ton of room, When I built my pond 20 years ago there was a guy, Bob Lusk I think, that was recommending four acres are more for Crappie. I will say this, you cannot keep up with a pond using only a rod and reel. I stocked 200 copper nosed bluegill, and 50 bass in a 1/2 acre. They fish are now overstocked, even after the flood in 2016. Take EVERYTHING you catch OUT!