# Giant Catfish in My Pond??



## iJabo

This is going to be a larger than average post, so hold on.

Fifteen years ago, (five years before we moved in), the previous owner of our house stocked our pond with bluegill, bass, carp, and catfish. I don't know the exact numbers, but before Ivan, I counted 30 or so cats that would come to the dock for food. After Ivan, I counted 0 catfish or carp left. It was a shame too; they were old cats, all at least 7 pounds and the carps were even bigger.

However, I'm led to believe that some catfish survived Ivan... giant ones. Our pond has always had a milky brownish color, while our neighbor's is much clearer. Our neighbor told us that he removed about 10 35+ pound catfish from the bottom of his pond to clear it up. He claims that we have the same problem. 

Basically:
1) Do you believe that I have several 35+ pound catfish at the bottom of the pond.
2) How do I go about removing them?

Color comparison of the two ponds. Ours is the right as you can tell.


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## Catchin Hell

Easy way to find out on a pond as small as yours would be to throw out a few jug lines baited with liver wrapped up in panty hose to keep it on the hook. You should get your answer pretty quickly... I know this is a stupid question, but you did clarify with your neighbor that he is not fertilizing his pond or aerating it, right???


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## hjorgan

Fishing club I was in had a really muddy pond. A pond mgmt company recommended a high rate of lime application. It "bound" to the particulates and forced them to sink. Made an amazing difference, but was a lot of lime (40 acre lake). Might be an option for your smaller pond.


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## flukedaddy

You need this dude lol.


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## WW2

Usually you can get the county to shock it and get you a population idea. At least the do back home in Illinois.


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## Woodenchief

I guess you've come to the right place if your problem is catching fish! The jug idea should certainly work but I'd want to try hook and line for them just for the sport of it. If you have small fry bream, bass in there just get a couple and rig them grouper dropper rig style. Live or fresh dead. If they're smarter fish (assuming they're in there at all) you might want to go with lighter leader material like 20 or 30 mono / floro. Doesn't look like there's anywhere for them to run off to or much to get tangled in so use lighter tackle. 
I sure wish I had a neighbor that needed this type of help!


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## ctgalloway21

Noodling!!!!!!!


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## Jason

Heck invite all the neighborhood kids to have a fishing tourney!!!!


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## iJabo

Catchin Hell said:


> I know this is a stupid question, but you did clarify with your neighbor that he is not fertilizing his pond or aerating it, right???


No extra fertilization or aeration on either of our behalf, but I did forget to mention that he does have a different species of water lilies in his pond. I doubt that makes all that much of a difference though.



hjorgan said:


> Fishing club I was in had a really muddy pond. A pond mgmt company recommended a high rate of lime application. It "bound" to the particulates and forced them to sink. Made an amazing difference, but was a lot of lime (40 acre lake). Might be an option for your smaller pond.


Tried the lime. It worked marginally but gradually went back to how it is now.

I'm going to try out the liver thing. If I find something down there, I may open up our pond for catfish wrangling :thumbup:


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## ThaFish

Honest question here: would you mind if a couple people came & fished it to find out?


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## iJabo

I'll test it out myself. If its true, I don't see a problem there. I want them gone if they're there and everyone here wants them. I'm still skeptical that there's anything down there, but I'll test it this weekend.


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## NoMoSurf

My grandfather stocked his pond with cats and it stayed like chocolate milk for 15 years. He applied "Rotenone" and killed them all. Then he stocked it with bass and it is a beautiful blue/green to this day. 20 years later.


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## skiff89_jr

iJabo said:


> This is going to be a larger than average post, so hold on.
> 
> Fifteen years ago, (five years before we moved in), the previous owner of our house stocked our pond with bluegill, bass, carp, and catfish. I don't know the exact numbers, but before Ivan, I counted 30 or so cats that would come to the dock for food. After Ivan, I counted 0 catfish or carp left. It was a shame too; they were old cats, all at least 7 pounds and the carps were even bigger.
> 
> However, I'm led to believe that some catfish survived Ivan... giant ones. Our pond has always had a milky brownish color, while our neighbor's is much clearer. Our neighbor told us that he removed about 10 35+ pound catfish from the bottom of his pond to clear it up. He claims that we have the same problem.
> 
> Basically:
> 1) *Do you believe that I have several 35+ pound catfish at the bottom of the pond.*
> 2) *How do I go about removing them?*
> 
> Color comparison of the two ponds. Ours is the right as you can tell.
> View attachment 106809


1) I'd call Shananigan's on that one. Not saying it isn't possible, but that's far from the norm. It would take a lot of forage to produce 10 35+ channel cats. I mean there are only a few channels in our rivers don't reach that size. He probably just pulled out 10 cats and looked and gave them the ol' cousin billy guestimate "hmm dem look about 40 pound or so." Plus those ponds don't look huge. Looks to be about 5 acres. I just don't see 10 35+ catfish coming out of there.

2) Put some cutbait on some milk jugs and throw them out there over night. That'll catch a catfish if they're in there.


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## johnf

Considering the size of the house, it looks like his lot is about 1-1.5 acres. I would guess the pond is 1/4-1/3 acre an acre is 210x210'. I highly doubt that you have anything bigger than 10lbs in there. If you think it's catfish start feeding. If they are in there, they will come to it.


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## Catchin Hell

Yep, hang a deer feeder over the water and you'll soon know exactly what you have in there, but you'll also change the ph of the water from all of the new excrement... My son keeps catfish in his pond to help control the bream and bass population, but his is spring fed and only about a 1//4 acre.


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## CatHunter

I can come over and see if you got 30+lb cats. All I need is a few hours after dark and some silence and the mystery will be broken:thumbsup:

On another note I will say you have a very very low chance of having 30+lb channel cats in your pond. That just does not happen. However you could very well possibly have some 30+ Flatheads or blue cats in your pond that was put there by some one. Especially if you cant seem to keep good numbers of bass and bluegills.


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## Collard

Wirelessly posted (Not the droid youre lookin for)

What's the verdict?


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## Mike aka FishWerks

Here is something to consider. 
A guy up the street has a 1/4 acre pond. Its nicely done and he takes care of the thing. It has always had a nice light green color, very different than mine... which is a more typical brownish color. When I asked him about it he said that he added a dye to it. I've considered this but never took the step. It does make a difference regarding appearance and may be worth it if this is important to you. Here is a link to one of the products. 

http://www.solarogen.com/pond-dyes/


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## johnsonbeachbum

nobody has to stock anything in a pond.
Thanks to ducks, etc. they will arrive and thrive naturally.


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## CatHunter

johnsonbeachbum said:


> nobody has to stock anything in a pond.
> Thanks to ducks, etc. they will arrive and thrive naturally.



That process takes to long


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## Collard

Wirelessly posted (Not the droid youre lookin for)

I wanna know what if any he's caught yet jughing


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## iJabo

Heading off the college today, so I haven't had the chance to. I'll get a friend to try it out when I'm away and tell y'all the verdict.


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## FishinSpot

I'll take some of them catfish if you do catch any or I'll come get them out. I need some for my ponds.


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