Lots of Fish and Smiles!!!!

Took my 6 year old daughter out friday after school to catch a few fish. We had a blast. Nothing huge but the excitement she had with every fish and the smile she got was priceless and is what makes it all worth it. On Sunday I took my niece from Seattle to the pond and she had a blast. Again nothing big, but being a city girl who never gets to fish she had so much fun. I now have plenty of Catfish bait in the freezer and a couple hundred fish out of a overstocked pond. It was a Win Win all the way around.

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Nice job SC!!

Mm mm Good!

Good job Josh! WTG!

Those are not bad sized gills for an overstocked pond SC. If you get tired of pulling them out of there I have a couple of 40 lb Blues I can loan you!

Didn't one of them blues make an appearance at Burn Camp? ROFL

Didn't one of them blues make an appearance at Burn Camp? ROFL[/QUOTE]

Cant get my boys to confirm that rumor Papa but I thought I recognized one of my pets in a prize picture from camp! I guess that's why they forgot to insert the drain plug- they were distracted sneaking Lil Blue on board!

those were my favorite thing to put on a stringer when I was a kid...kept our freezer full of those good eating fish...of course I haven't eaten any since I was a kid so I am not sure if I would still think they taste good :)

They are still tasty Rivie. Good to see you back.

CC....I was just talking to a buddy yesterday that catches a ton of catfish, I am thinking I may put some cats in there to help out. Small bass are just as plentiful as the perch are. Its around a 8 or 9 acre pond and no matter where you drop your hook you dont have to wait to get bit, so its definitely overstocked. Visibility is approx 4' and its roughly 1400' long so its great to get my daughter out in kayaks on it and when big enough, I will get her fishing out of a float tube on it!!!! Catfish should do real well in it. What do you recommend for species of catfish? Channel, Flats or Blues?

When I added channel cats nothing really changed. I don't see them as great predators. When I put in 2 big blues totaling about 80 lbs everything in the pond looked fatter a year later. It's possible I have overdone it in a 1 acre pond- time will tell. To complicate the formula a little more my 4 year old grandson caught a 20 lb flathead from my pond last week. I put it in as a 4 pounder years ago and never saw it again til they sent me the picture! So don't listen to me Swollen as my ponds balance is a mess I'm sure! My goal is to have a place in my backyard where kids can always catch good fish and we have achieved that. I add more black crappie every year and its a bonus to me that they seldom weigh under a pound when I catch em and they look healthy. I also threw about 30 smallish hybrids in there just for excitement and they always get a big reaction when caught. ( striped hybrids) Add a few hundred bluegill hybrids and lots of natives and you can see why I add 30 lbs of breeder pond shiners and a few big bags of crawdads every year. Real scientific approach to pond management I have going here right?

Swollen ask Cricket George, he has a lot of knowledge on pond management and maintenance!! I would go with the Channels!

I would suggest some 5 pound+ blues and stock no more than 8. You want to trim the "grass" not put a big dent in the pond

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Originally Posted by cricket george

I would suggest some 5 pound+ blues and stock no more than 8. You want to trim the "grass" not put a big dent in the pond

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Or maybe 2 or 3 40 pounders- lol! Good luck!