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Post by fryguy on May 22, 2006 4:12:29 GMT -6
Posted this somewhere else but never really got the answers I wanted. Have an 11 acre pond (small lake) that the owner stocked with 1000 1lb blues and channels about 10 years ago. There are plenty of baitfish and other things for them to eat. How big do you think some of these catfish are now? Someone said the channels may only be 3-4 lbs?  They were 1lb when put in and have had 10 years to grow with no fishing pressure and PLENTY of food. The place I was at before had a small pond that had been stocked with fingerling for not to much longer and I was catching them between 10-15 lbs. Any inputs appreciated. |
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Post by Whiskers on May 22, 2006 10:39:55 GMT -6
It would depend greatly on what they have to eat and how much.A buddy of mine has a large pond like that and he stocked it about 12-14 years ago and he has alot of channels in the 10lb range but he feeds them pretty regular.They might be quite a bit bigger than that now because it has been 3 or 4 years since I was there.The person that said 3-4 lbs was probably thinking of the growth rate of channels in the wild because that is what it said when I done a search on their growth rate.It said in the wild they average 3-4 lb. at about 10 years of age.
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Sinker
Crappie
2005
Posts: 435
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Post by Sinker on May 22, 2006 10:48:17 GMT -6
Whatever size they are ya just as well enjoy them while ya got'em. A friend of mine stocked his pond with channels and fed'em fer years, no fishin allowed. Was saving them for his grandkids. Then the state released the otters. All gone. Them otters are cute an all but they're killers!
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Post by Whiskers on May 22, 2006 11:15:32 GMT -6
Yep,them otters can clean up on the fish in nothing flat,I watched em clean out a hole on the river in a short time back home.
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Post by Wolfman on May 23, 2006 20:51:32 GMT -6
Was talking to a biologist awhile back about growth rates.
On average you can figure roughly 1-2lbs a year in rivers and lakes.
In the first year in a healthy pond you can figure up to 1lb.
In the second year roughly 1-2lbs.
After that in a farm pond with pleanty of food and good water you can figure up to 3-5lbs a year on cats.
This dosent mean they all do this just that the cats have the potential to grow at a rate of 3-5lbs a year in a healthy farm pond.
My experiance in my ponds saw more of a 2-3lb a year growth rate.
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Post by fryguy on May 25, 2006 0:37:09 GMT -6
Went and fished it last night without much luck. Got there a little before dark and got set up. We were ther for about 15 minutes when my buddy got a reel good hit and got a good fish on. While he was trying to get it in though it got hung up and after a while had to break the line. Turns out some jackass put a trotline down the entire length of the pond about 40ft out?? Yea that sat well with me. So we had to relocate to another spot. Just caught one small channel and one crawdad the rest of the night.
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Post by Whiskers on May 25, 2006 8:30:16 GMT -6
Maybe you'll have better luck next time in there.I bet there is some pretty decent size cats in there by now.
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They were 1lb when put in and have had 10 years to grow with no fishing pressure and PLENTY of food. The place I was at before had a small pond that had been stocked with fingerling for not to much longer and I was catching them between 10-15 lbs. Any inputs appreciated.
