FEEDING CATFISH IS COOL!

[JHFV]

I have a 2 acre pond and just bought some fish chow for the catfish about a week ago. Ive been going down to the pond every night at 7:00 at night and there they are waiting on me. First night I feed them there was about 10 showed up. Then 20, 30 and last night I counted about 50! All channel cats. all look about the same size 3 to 5 pounds. Theres even a solid white one with pink eyes. The kids love it! The pond is about 40 years old and Ii figured there's got to be a big one in there. Will big ones not come up and eat the pellets? How do yall think i would need to catch to feed about 10 people?

 

[jinman]

I have a 2 acre pond and just bought some fish chow for the catfish about a week ago. Ive been going down to the pond every night at 7:00 at night and there they are waiting on me. First night I feed them there was about 10 showed up. Then 20, 30 and last night I counted about 50! All channel cats. all look about the same size 3 to 5 pounds. Theres even a solid white one with pink eyes. The kids love it! The pond is about 40 years old and Ii figured there's got to be a big one in there. Will big ones not come up and eat the pellets? How do yall think i would need to catch to feed about 10 people?

Some of my neighbors catch and eat catfish out of our lake, but they have told me they taste a little "muddy" because they are in a lake. For eating, I prefer the fish-farm raised catfish like you can buy at Sam's. We love to feed our catfish and also catch them, but we toss them back. Most of the ones we catch are 5 lb to 15 lb and terrific fun to catch. They have heads as big as shovels.

Anyhow, I'd say you'll need about 1 lb of dressed catfish fillets for each adult. If there are a lot of women or children, you can figure 1/2 lb for them. I'd also say that your dressed meat out of the catfish will be 1/2 or less of the total weight. By the time you remove the head, entrails, skin and bones, you will loose at least 50% of the weight. So for 10 people, I'd want to catch 15 to 20 lb of live fish - 25 lb would give you some "insurance."

 

[EddieWalker]

We've been feeding our catfish from the day we put them into our small pond. That was in April of 2006, and they have gone from the size of your pinky finger to an average of almost 2 pounds, with a few hogs in there that might be real close to 3lbs.

We feed every night and since my Mom has been here visiting, she's taken over the feeding of them. The kids really love to do it, but they fight over whos turn it is. They aslo lack reliablitly, so Mom does it every night, and really enjoys it.

Of the 200 channel catfish that I've stocked in there, I guess we've cought about 50 of them. Every one that we catch, goes down to our 4 acre pond.

I'm told that they won't start reproducing until they are five, but a few might start as early as 3 years old.

We haven't tried eating them, but have been told the same thing Jim said. It's more fun to catch them, then eat them anyway!!!!

Hotdogs seem to be the best bait right now. It changes, because a few months ago, cheese was working the best, but now they don't touch cheese, but love hot dogs.

Eddie

 

[Soundguy]

You can get the muddy taste out a bit by leaving the filets in a pan in the fridge overnight. various concoctions i ahve heard about.. but only tried 2 of them. water with some lemon juice mixed in, or milk.. etc.. I've done this with mullet.. etc.

Soundguy

 

[Bird]

You can get the muddy taste out a bit by leaving the filets in a pan in the fridge overnight. various concoctions i ahve heard about.. but only tried 2 of them. water with some lemon juice mixed in, or milk.. etc.. I've done this with mullet.. etc.

Soundguy

It's been so many years since I tried the milk method that I'd forgotten about it, but for the last 30 years or so, any fish we've caught to eat, whether fresh water fish around here or salt water fish at Port Aransas, are filleted, then the fillets are left in a bowl of salt water overnight (or until time to cook them if we're going to eat them the same day), rinsed, and frozen the next day.

 

[N80]

Here is a trick. Get a piece of plastic pipe or counduit. Bend it into a circle like a hoola-hoop. Then, tie a rope or chain to it. When you feed the catfish, throw the hoop into the water real close to where you are standing. Then, throw the fish food into the middle of the floating hoop. This keeps the food in a small area and makes it easier to watch the fish since they have to come to that spot to get anything. This works especially well from a dock.

 

[SnowRidge]

Will big ones not come up and eat the pellets?

There may not be any big ones. If there are no natural predators, critters tend to increase their population until they run into the limit of available food, which limits the amount of food available to individuals, and they don't get very big.

On the other hand, to get big, critters have to stay alive a long time, and that often means being smarter and warier than the rest. You may not be seeing the big ones, if there are any, simply because they are more cautious than the others.

 

[jinman]

Here is a trick. Get a piece of plastic pipe or counduit. Bend it into a circle like a hoola-hoop. Then, tie a rope or chain to it. When you feed the catfish, throw the hoop into the water real close to where you are standing. Then, throw the fish food into the middle of the floating hoop. This keeps the food in a small area and makes it easier to watch the fish since they have to come to that spot to get anything. This works especially well from a dock.

George, here's a "catfish cafe" I made out of thinwall PVC pipe. I still have the thing, but I don't use it anymore. It works pretty good, but my fish are so violent when they are feeding that the ring gets pushed around and food gets splashed out of it. Our big fish open thier mouths and go around on the surface of the pond like vacuum cleaners, sucking up the food in a hurry. When I have 50-100 fish, they consume the food just about as quickly as I can throw it out. I use a 1/2 gallon scoop and normally feed 10-15 lb of food at a time.

 

[czechsonofagun]

George, here's a "catfish cafe" I made out of thinwall PVC pipe. I still have the thing, but I don't use it anymore. It works pretty good, but my fish are so violent when they are feeding that the ring gets pushed around and food gets splashed out of it. Our big fish open thier mouths and go around on the surface of the pond like vacuum cleaners, sucking up the food in a hurry. When I have 50-100 fish, they consume the food just about as quickly as I can throw it out. I use a 1/2 gallon scoop and normally feed 10-15 lb of food at a time.

I remember the pictures of your fish you posted here - it was very cool.

Thats where I am trying to get with my pond, it will take few more years. There is a big difference between blue gills and catfish eating. Our cats eat like yours - like a hoover, fun to watch. Blue gills snatch the floating food with a turn and a splash.