Tips on how to get channel cats to spawn?

[DCD123]

I have a farm pond that is approximately an acre in size that includes LMB, BG and some Channel Cats. The LMB and BG both spawn and have done very well, with good numbers of LMB's up to 5 lbs. or larger and BG's in the 8-9 inch size with a variety of sizes smaller for both. A number of years ago we also planted about 100 channel cats and they are now probably 5 lbs. or so in size also. Its my understanding that its more difficult to get Channel Cats to spawn in a farm pond. Any suggestions on what we might do to help facilitate the cats to spawn in our pond would be appreciated.

[holdemplyer]

pipe some barry white tunes down to the pond?

[Shorty]

Channel Catfish (CC) like to spawn in cavities so adding buckets, barrels, or large pieces of pipe might work. The reason that I say "might" is that LMB are very efficient predators on young of the year CC, most will not make it into adulthood even if your CC do successfully spawn. CC that are large enough to escape predation by LMB are inexpensive and are likely your best best bet at having more CC present in your pond, be carfeull not to overstock. Periodic stockings of 8-10" or larger CC would be recommended.

[OldBaldGuy]

Shorty, wasn't there a recent post in this section about using clusters of PVC pipe, oriented vertically, as "snag-proof" structure? Your post about using pipe for spawning habitat makes me wonder if you've seen any dual-purpose plans using PVC that would provide both structure and spawning habitat? (I'm thinking the typical small farm pond owner probably would be working on a very limited budget...)

[Shorty]

CC spawning structure pipe need to large enough that the CC can go inside of it, 5 gallon buckets, 55 gallon drums, old culvert pipe cut into sections, that sort of thing.

[DCD123]

Thanks for the input, sounds like my best bet may be to just plant some larger size CC in the pond to assure a better survival rate then if the existing CC do spawn in structure I might add. With the size of some of the LMB in the pond, I would guess that most would not survive otherwise. I have added quite a few cedar trees as structure in the pond which would probably help some with the survival rate, but just adding 8-10 inch CC's would probably be the best approach. If that doesn't work, I will try piping in some special music that might also encourage their spawning activities!!

Thanks for all your help.

[holdemplyer]

DCD, you'd most likely do better listening to Shorty than me..... Welcome to the forum and good luck with your pond! keep us informed on progress!

[bigjigs]

Just curious, but could you catch a couple CC in may or as close to spawn as possible and then keep them in a horse tank until they spawn and then raise the fry. I'm just wondering if it would work at all. Sorry for the run on sentence OBG, but I couldn't figure out any other way to word it.

and then..............and then..................and then

[Catfishsteve]

Pour a couple bottles of Chardonnay into the lake and put some lighted candles around the bank... ?




What? Don't look at me like that!

[MA Machine]

We have some CC's in our lake and as far as I can tell none of the YOY ever survive. They get gobbled up. That's a good thing for me. I can control how many CC's are in the lake with supplemental stocking of CC's if I want more or selective harvest if I want less. My preference is to have just a few big CC's in the lake. If you get excessive numbers they can muddy up the water and some other bad things. Catfish do like anything they can lay in. drain tile tubing, buckets, culverts large PVC pipe. They will spawn in the structure and also hang out around them.

[MA Machine]

Here's what I found for a catfish den. 30 gallon drum. Point the open end North East with the open end tilted up 5 or so degrees. Line the inside of the barrel with pea gravel. Sink some cedars to what ever type of trees you want around the sides and rear in a path to the shoreline. The trees will provide cover for the small YOY to reach bank and feed. Not many will survive if you have a good bass population but some might. If nothing else it's another food source for your bass!

[Omaha]

I've read that temperature of the pond is important for channel cats spawning. 75-80 degrees, so that shouldn't be a problem in the early summer. The NE handbook suggests you restock 10 inch channel cats periodically, but I'm not sure how often, or how you would tell when you need to restock.

[OldBaldGuy]

Received the following message today from Daryl:

There is no problem getting channel cats to spawn in farm ponds. You can add some cavity structures of some type if you want to provide additional spawning habitat, but that probably is not the reason you do not see small, young channel catfish.

You have said you have plenty of largemouth bass and in any waters where you have a healthy population of predator fish like largemouth bass, channel catfish will reproduce but RECRUITMENT is typically low. What I mean by that is that the channel catfish have no problem spawning and producing small catfish, but those small catfish do not survive because they are munched by the largemouth bass.

So, if you want to add catfish spawning structures, spawning habitat, go ahead, but as long as you have a healthy abundance of largemouth bass, I would NOT expect any more small catfish to be produced. For that reason we recommend that occasional stockings of channel catfish will be necessary to maintain a catfish fishery in small waters in Nebraska. You will need to stock channel catfish large enough to survive bass predation. I would recommend channel catfish at least 10 inches in length and even larger if you can get them. You will probably not need to stock any more than 10/acre of those fish. The frequency of stocking and the numbers you stock will be determined by how many catfish are harvested from the pond and what your objectives are.

Let me know if you have any other questions I can help you with.

Daryl Bauer
Lakes and Reservoirs Program Manager
Nebraska Game & Parks Commission
daryl.bauer@nebraska.gov