Trading Nutrients for Fish by Bruce Kania (courtesy of Pond Boss

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Editor
Bob Lusk
Table of Contents
6
Know Your Pond Life
Catfish Behavior
10
Feature
Trading Nutrients for Fish
Using Floating Islands, Moving
Water and Microbes
14
Ask the Boss
20
Field Notes
Blue Catfish
24
Inside the Water Column
Bacteria, Algae…
What’s the Fuss About?
28
On Northern Pond
Channel Catfish: Picky Teenagers or
Opportunistic Generalists?
32
Feature
Some Clarity on Turbidity
36
Feature
The Fish Fry
38
Wildlife at Large
Agriculture and the
Future of Wildlife
42
The Fish Professor
Are They Bullheads or Catfish?
46
Managing the Mini-Pond
Myths and Misconceptions
About Catfish
50
Backyard Nature Notes
Tips for Purple Martin Success
54
Down to Earth
Building a Catfish Pond for
Fun & Food
58
Feature
That Ole Catfish Hole
60
Feature
Catfish are Different
64
Feature
So, I Wanted a Pond to Retire on…
Part One
66
Science & The Cutting Edge
Catfish Nuggets
68
From Pond to Plate
Connie’s “Come Back for
Seconds” Catfish
4 POND BOSS
Field Advisory Staff
Dr. Jeff Slipke, Greg Grimes, Dr. Dave Willis, Malcolm Johnson,
Mike Otto, Mac McCune, Dan VanSchaik, Mike Mitchell,
Mark Cornwell, Bill Cody, Dr. Bruce Condello,
Cecil Baird, Gary Valentine
Mike Otto cut his teeth working with
heavy equipment as a teenager and has
been at it ever since, for more than 35
years. Not only does he build fantastic
fishing lakes, he also travels the nation as
a pond building consultant. Reach him at
mikeotto@ottosdirtservice.com or on his
cell phone at 940.736.5333
Dan VanSchaik is a wildlife consultant
working the private sector. He helps
people design and implement wildlife
plans and works with people desiring
counseling about wildlife exemptions for
property taxes. He is a ‘hands-on’ wildlife
biologist and lives his passion to teach
people how to be better managers of their
wildlife resources. Reach him at danvtx@verizon.net
Dr. David Willis is head of the
Department of Natural Resources at
South Dakota State University. He served
as professor of fisheries and takes every
opportunity to bring students outdoors to
living ponds to gain practical experience.
He and his students manage a number of
private ponds in South Dakota. Dr. Willis
also spends a good amount of time helping pondmeisters who
dare venture into the Pond Boss discussion forums. Reach him
at www.pondboss.com.
Mark Cornwell is a professor in the
fisheries department at State University
of New York in Cobleskill, New York.
From foothills of the Catskills, Cornwell
teaches fisheries with plenty of field trips
for hands on experience. Cornwell works
with a handful of private landowners and
public waters, providing data collection
services and analysis. He also assists with aquaculture projects
with the college.
Eric West lives in Jackson, Mississippi.
He’s a natural resources attorney and
ardent pondmeister. On www.pondboss.
com, he’s known as the “librarian.” His
uncanny ability to quickly find an answer
is an asset to the website. He’s also a
strong researcher of scientific papers. Eric
manages several lakes and ponds on his
property near Star, Mississippi.
“Bird Man Mel Toellner” is the owner
of Gold Crest Distributing (The largest
“Wild Bird” distributor in North
America), and Songbird Essentials
(The fastest growing line of “Wild Bird
Products” in North America). Birding is
a passion, not just a business, with Mel.
He has given hundreds of talks across
the United States and Canada, and has been part of a TV Show
“Animal Makeover TV” on “RFD TV” for the past three years.
You can check him out at www.birdmanmel.com.
Matt Rayl is a passionate lake biologist
and currently the Manager of the Lake
Department at Aquatic Eco-Systems. His
experience running a fish hatchery and
pond and lake management company has
allowed him to help private pond owners,
municipalities and industry professionals
with solutions for water quality, fisheries,
nuisance vegetation, and aeration issues. Matt read his first
Pond Boss issue while riding shotgun on his first fish hauling
trip. He has been a follower ever since.
Advertising Director
Sherrie Nelson
Layout/Design
Jim Stroud
Contributing Writers
Bill Cody, Richard Peterson, Dave Sefton,
Bob McFarland, Beth Lahaie, Brad Wiegmann,
Dr. Michael Champ
March Hare Advisors
Roger Rabbit
“Miss Bunny” from Gomer Pyle, USMC
St Patrick’s Day Fish Seminar Sponsors
Diamond Shamrock
Cork Bobber Factory of Ulster
“Irish” Stew McKenzie
www.pondboss.com Website Moderators
Eric West, Dave Davidson, Dr. Bruce Condello,
Theo Gallus, Bill Cody, Sunil Ramchandran,
Chris Steelman, Scott Schillig, Ken Grymala, Josh Milczski
POND BOSS is strapped to the back of pack llamas and delivered
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does what they do, then throw up their hands and wish us luck.
Contents, etchings, drawstrings, fluffy photos and bubble gum
cards, words, sentences, periods, question marks, and not-to-exclude
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POND BOSS is paid by advertisers. No way, you say? Way! They
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call a few of our precious, precious advertisers and tell them you are
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Pond Boss cover to cover each issue and that you keep them in a pretty
box right next to the throne so you can read every day.
POND BOSS, Inc. reserves the right to refuse service to anyone
regardless of race, creed, politics, favorite rod and reel combo, favorite
fish or favorite recipe. Welcome, Spring 2012.
POND BOSS welcomes reader input. We actually got one last issue,
printed in Ask the Boss this issue. For real! Send electronic images,
photos, short stories, new ideas for pond management, and your most
favorite bottle of wine (seriously, still waiting for a good red wine to
show up in the mailbox, unannounced) to: Editor: Pond Boss, P.O. Box
12, Sadler, Texas, 76264. We are always looking for fun stories and a
mix of Wisconsin cheese to go with the wine. Or, e-mail the editor at
pondboss@texoma.net. Seriously.
Subscriptions: Home delivery is $35 for six issues per year in
the U.S., $43 in Canada, $77.00 in all other countries, free to the first
pondmeister from Iowa who’ll admit to voting for Rick Perry in the
Republican primary back in January.
Cover Photo: Dr. Bruce Condello with a giant channel catfish he
caught from our catfish pond at LL,2 near Gordonville, Texas. Photo
courtesy Bruce Condello.
March/April 2012
From the Editor’s Desk
Reflections
in the
Water
by Bob Lusk
R
eflections on ponds are fascinating.
Peering at the water’s surface, we
often first see reflections. If the water
moves, those reflections are wavy, sometimes
with a misty, blurry, cloudy cast. On a calm,
still afternoon in flat water, what we see is
the mirror opposite of what’s above. What
lurks beneath the reflection, however can be
more of a mystery...we think we know what’s
going on under there, but we’re never quite
sure.
Reflections. They cause me to pause and
reflect on my life. I wonder if you sometimes
reflect like I do.
For me, some of those reflections are
vivid. For instance, I’ll always be thankful
my parents bought that little eight-acre
sandy plot with 22 giant pecan trees and a
thousand feet of frontage on the Brazos River
below Lake Granbury. That exercise in 1969
opened my 14 year old eyes to a passion
which thrives today. Several years later, my
professors at Texas A&M convinced me there
were no decent jobs and prodded me to look
at something different in the way of a career,
maybe something out in the private sector. A
banker in Wichita Falls advised, “You have
to make more than you spend.” A fish farmer,
who invented things and always called me
to question about fish stuff I thought I knew,
made me think through our frequent friendly
debates. Another fish farmer, from Kansas,
quietly spoke volumes about how to properly
handle fish through his and his son’s actions.
Another banker said, “Good pay makes good
friends.”
Reflections. Some are foggy and some
make me misty. During our life’s journey,
many paths could turn a different way, a
different direction. It just amazes me to sit and
www.pondboss.com
think about all the paths I’ve crossed over the
last three decades. My amazement centers on
the people whose paths I’ve crossed. One in
particular that I’ll always remember began in
1986. As a fledgling private sector biologist,
trying to ply a trade in an industry that didn’t
exist – pond management – I really needed
a good client; at least one. Back then, if I
stocked one pond a month, or maybe treated
some runaway vegetation, or fertilized a
favorite fishing hole, I could randomly
scratch out a living, but it was never easy.
Besides, I hadn’t been around long enough
nor did I have enough gray in the beard for
anyone to really believe what I told them.
That changed one day when the phone rang
and the gruff, gravely voice on the other end
began a conversation that would lead to many
new paths and a whole new way of thinking,
“Buck, this is Ray Murski. I found out about
you from a buddy down in Austin, Kenny
Dryden. He says you know how to raise fish.
I need your help.” My heart stepped up its
beat. “I just bought this ranch near Meridian,
Texas and it has a nice lake on it. I want to
grow huge bass. Can you do that, Buck?” He
called everyone “Buck.”
Next time you and I are around a campfire,
ask me about Murski. There are tons of
stories to tell, tons of them.
I met him at his ranch, got to know him
a little bit, studied him a lot, and went to
work with this caveat: “Treat this place like
it’s yours,” he said. “I don’t mind spending
some money, but I want good value.” That
statement and his actions spoke to me and
gave me a perspective which I still use today.
He still wanted big fish, which we did, but
that’s another story for the campfire. Ray
Murski literally touched the lives of tens of
thousands of youngsters by providing them
the opportunity to get outside. He helped Ray
Scott start B.A.S.S. (Bass Anglers Sportsman
Society). He fished that circuit in its earliest
years and sponsored them. He owned Strike
King Lure Company for years. Sam Walton
was a good friend of Ray Murski and Ray
was a manufacturers rep to “Mr. Sam” for
many, many years. Ray Murski was always a
friend to the outdoor industry…and to yours
truly.
One other significant thing he did…when
this Pond Boss magazine thing was born, it
was a little bitty newsletter, twelve pages of
black and white simplicity. As Pond Boss
was being conceived, we knew we’d need
a few dollars to print the first issue. I knew
who to call. Murski answered the phone with
his usual, “Hey, Buck!” I told him what we
wanted to do and asked if I could borrow
some money to use to print this little ragtag
magazine. I told him I’d work it off at the
ranch. He only had one question, “How
much ya need, Buck?” I told him, “$2,500.”
The next day, a hand-written check, signed
by Ray Murski, was in the mailbox.
The week before Christmas, a great friend
to the entire outdoor industry, Ray Murski,
age 72, was killed in a central Texas car crash
on his way home from his south Texas deer
lease.
We miss you, Buck.
Fish on!
POND BOSS 5
Know Your Pond Life
Catfish
Behavior
by Bob Lusk
C
atfish act funny – not at all like what you
might expect as you watch their gaping
maws swivel back and forth, vacuuming
feed off the surface of the water beyond the
feeder. Make one little move, or a tiny bit of
noise and they’ll bolt, sending a giant splash of
water several feet away.
To predict catfish behavior,
one must understand
a hissing Coleman lantern held over the bow
so we could see, we’d spot a dark fish sailing
past every few minutes beneath that pristinelooking, clear water. But, when the moon was
full, we’d not see one catfish on the prowl. Not
one. Ever. Occasionally, we’d see the tail of a
nice sized catfish sticking out from under one
of those big rocks. They weren’t moving at all.
As a matter of fact, we could slip out of the boat
into knee-deep water, sneak up on that fish,
kneel down and put both hands on it before it
figured out it was time to go. If we were quick
enough, we’d have a flopping catfish hoisted
into the boat, but that didn’t happen very often.
Most of the time, the critter moved as soon as it
was touched and was long gone.
The instinctive behavior of Channel catfish
can usually be summed up into one word…
cautious. While fish like bass and sunfish
usually come to movement to investigate,
channel catfish tend to be wary. In fact, channel
catfish run. But, when things settle down,
their nature
To predict catfish behavior, one must
understand their nature. Catfish prefer the
night…the dark of night. I’ll always remember
our place on the Brazos River when I was a
teenager. We’d arrive Friday afternoon, unload
groceries, put them up, and then I’d disappear
to the river. I’d only come back to eat and
sleep…unless my parents had something else
they wanted me, ‘er made me, do. Usually, a
buddy would tag along with my brother and me.
We’d drag our ten foot aluminum jon boat to the
river, climb in with long poles that happened to
have big frog gigs on the end, and pole all over
the river. When the sun set low enough that we
couldn’t see, it meant it was time for supper.
We’d quickly eat and then head right back to
the river, poles/gigs in hand. The river was
normally very shallow and along the outside
of the biggest bend were some huge boulders,
as big as a Volkswagen bug. The river swung
around that bend, with water flowing around
and through those weather-beaten rocks. We’d
almost always see some big carp there and they
would receive the blunt-force trauma exacted
by what a testosterone-laden teen could offer
with a bamboo pole and gig. Into the boat with
them, and on we’d move. During the dark of
the moon, pitch black outside, we would see
channel catfish everywhere, it seemed. With
6 POND BOSS
Catfish, by nature, are wary, cautious.
March/April 2012
Protecting aquatic ecosystems.
For our future. And theirs.
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they’ll come back and see what’s up. That’s
why crusty catfishermen tell you to fish on the
bottom, be patient, and wait until the fish runs
with the bait after it picks it up.
That doesn’t mean that catfish won’t be
aggressive. They certainly will. A hungry
catfish becomes aggressive enough to hunt for
its food. Regular reports come from anglers all
over who have caught big channel catfish on a
spinnerbait or crank bait while bass fishing.
Contrary to popular opinion, they’re not
scavengers. Channel catfish would much rather
eat meat, and as they grow to larger sizes that’s
often what they do. But, if they can’t eat what
they prefer, they’ll settle for something less
substantial, like vegetation.
Channel catfish have a big advantage over
other species because not only do they have
These catfish, at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, Texas, are
predictable in their environment. Plus, they are fun to watch
www.pondboss.com
excellent eyesight, they have a strong sense of
smell. They can smell minute amounts of some
amino acids from long distances. While activity
spooks them, some smells attract them. That’s
a big reason channel catfish can be trained
to eat fish food. It smells good. That’s also
why they are attracted to different odiferous
bait concoctions. Their whiskers, also called
“barbels,” are covered in taste buds. There
are also taste buds scattered over their bodies.
That’s another huge advantage. Catfish can
taste their food before they eat it. As they home
in on a smell, they can taste it, too. Think about
that as you plot your strategy to catch the wily
critters.
Their day-to-day life centers around feeding
when hungry, avoiding the sun (except when
the feeder goes off), seeking consistently safe
places to hang out, often in big schools of likesize fish, especially when the water is cool.
Each spring, as the water warms, these cold
blooded animals become more active, feeding
in the shallows, sometimes during the day, but
more often at night. It’s not unusual to catch a
big catfish in water that barely covers its back
during spring and early summer months.
When the water warms well into the 70’s,
usually the end of May, into June or later,
channel catfish begin their spawning rituals.
The male looks for a cavity or place where they
POND BOSS 7
Randy Smith caught this nice channel
catfish with a shrimp. He cast it out, let it
sit and before long this catfish accepted
his offering. Catfish tend to flee from
noise or disruptions and then return to
investigate later.
Oct.
- 13th, 2012
11th
can hide and protect the eggs. The male swishes
away the bottom of its nest to form a hard
substrate. He’ll go out, find a ripe female, bring
her back to the nest and bump her to force her
to lay eggs. As the eggs come out, he fertilizes
them with his milt, immediately making the
bright yellow eggs form a sticky mass that
settles to the bottom of the nest. Then, he runs
her off and sits on the eggs until they hatch,
stirring and moving the water, and doing what
he instinctively knows to do. After a few days,
the eggs form little eyes and begin to turn a
reddish-yellow. The eggs hatch into what looks
like two little black eyes, a constantly moving
little tail, and a round little yellow belly. As the
yolk is digested, a little bitty fish is formed.
When the yolk-sac is gone, the little fry swim
up and are ready to go find some food. That’s
when daddy escorts them out of the cavity and
wishes them luck. Since spawning time is in
water temperatures in the 70’s, all the other
species of fish in the pond have reproduced,
so little channel catfish often have a short shelf
life. They quickly become a snack for other
young predators on the prowl.
During spawning season, it’s common to see
big males with scars on top of their heads and
scratch marks along their sides. Big, hormoneladen males will fight over the best spawning
cavities. It’s not unusual to find a big, old male
floating in late May, early June, death resulting
from a bout with another big male catfish.
Channel catfish can live well into their 20’s
with some reports of fish much older than that.
Typically, channel catfish in ponds can make it
fifteen years or more.
Channel catfish can live in harmony in a
community of other fish, but they will compete
in the food chain. Minimize that competition
by feeding them. If you want to stock channel
catfish into an existing fish population, be sure
to buy fingerlings large enough to escape the
dominant predator.
Catfish behavior is interesting. They aren’t
curious and they are shy. But, they’ll train easily
to come to a dock to eat fish food, even eating
out of your hand if you are patient enough to
condition a few individual fish. But, do anything
radically against that conditioning and they’ll
bolt…and it will be a long while before they
show up and get back into that routine.
Understanding the way catfish behave goes
a long way to understanding your management
style of them. Know how they will act and
respond, and you’ll be more successful as you
culture these fun creatures.
Pond Boss V Conference
& Expo Dates Set
M
ark your calendars and save the date! Pond Boss V Conference and Expo is set for
October 11-13, 2012 at Big Cedar Lodge near Branson, Missouri.
With a new, innovative program being developed and the experiences of four
Big Cedar
conferences
under our belt, PB V will be one you
ge s Missouri
d
o
L
won’t want to miss.
A gorgeous setting with great organization and attention to guest services, this
event is one you absolutely want to attend.
Here’s why. This is a national ‘family gathering’ of the Pond Boss faithful. It’s
an energetic time with many benefits. Not only will you hear from many of the
nation’s leading experts, you’ll have hands-on opportunities pondside. Plus, this
conference promises to have a celebrity or two on hand. Add some cutting edge
information with a full house of vendors and the stage will be set for you to take
home much, much more than the cost of attending.
Throw in some real-life testimonials from landowners who have “been there,
done that” and you’ll have a variety of new ideas, techniques and thoughts on
how to be a better steward of your land and water.
Plus, we know how to throw a fun party.
With the professional staff and wonderful amenities at Big Cedar, it promises
to be a wonderful time with people of like interest.
Mark your calendars today!
®
8 POND BOSS
March/April 2012
We provide all of the lake
services you need to produce
a fantastic fishery!
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TLM would like to assist you
from the planning through
the angling!
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POND BOSS 9
Feature
Trading Nutrients for Fish
Using Floating Islands,
Moving Water and Microbes
by Bruce Kania
W
ith the January-February article on
regional fertilization strategies as
backdrop, based here in Montana,
we are operating in some of the northern water
mentioned. For us, if phosphorus is not quickly
transitioned into fish, it becomes an explosion
of something less palatable. Think interesting
and colorful filamentous algae! Or weed beds
of underwater plants which choke out a system.
We needed something that grows faster than
the undesirable forms of algae and we needed it
to be something that works for fish. In our case,
the fish are northern yellow perch, black
crappie, and Yellowstone Cutthroat trout. The
waterway in question is 6.5 acres, 28 feet at
its deepest point. We call it “Fish Fry Lake.”
Before introducing fish into this man-made
pond, we measured water temperatures as high
as 88 degrees in the top six feet during August,
and dissolved oxygen levels in the three parts
per million range in the cooler stratified zone
below.
As with most pondmeisters, we didn’t figure
out all the answers at the same time. It’s like
we evolved into a solution. I run a research and
development effort centered on floating
treatment wetlands, otherwise known as
floating islands. So our floating islands have
figured into our strategy of trying to remove
or sequester excess nutrients in our water from
farming practices in this part of the nation. The
islands are made of a plastic filter-like
matrix, every cubic foot of which provides over
300 square feet of surface area for beneficial
???
10 POND BOSS
microbial growth. This surface area is habitat
for microbes, one of the only life forms that
grow faster than algae.
So, armed with some prototype floating
islands, we combined the concentrated surface
area of the islands with circulation, using a
variety of air diffuser systems. This meant that
we were able to both aerate and bring water from
depth into, and through, the islands. The island
matrix grows a coating of biofilm. This is the
sticky slime that pretty much covers any surface
area under water. Whatever’s suspended in
the water tends to stick to the biofilm. This
includes nutrients, like phosphorus, ammonia,
and other forms of nitrogen.
Initially, when we filled Fish Fry Lake, water
clarity was fourteen inches. But the islands
and their sticky biofilm changed that. In fact,
this winter water clarity is at 19 feet. It can
vary a bit, but it maintained at around 11 feet
all last summer. The change in water clarity is
because suspended solids are being captured
as our diffusers move the pond water through
the islands. This could be a problem in a setting
without floating islands. It would set the stage for
sunlight to hit the bottom of our system and
trigger that underwater plant explosion some of
us know about. But here’s the trick: the biofilm
and particulates that stick to it grow a different
form of phytoplankton called diatoms. These
guys are a form of phytoplankton that get by
under low light conditions. They are perennial
and are great oxygen generators. This blend
is called periphyton and it provides choice
habitat for zooplankton.
In Fish Fry Lake we have fathead minnows,
five pronged stickleback, and two forms of
chubs. We also have three kinds of snails. The
pond is buzzing with a lot of other invertebrates
too, including backswimmers, all of which
eat periphyton, and all of which we find in fish
gullets. The snails are what we find in the perch
March/April 2012
My aeration system has run flawlessly with only simple maintenance at the end of the year. Many thanks
to Vertex for the great advice and superior system, I haven’t had any more stressed or dying fish!
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???
the most, also in the trout.
Last summer, three and half years into the
pond fill-up, we tagged 280 fish. We also did
both otolith and scale aging. Then, over the
course of a four month study, we tracked fish
growth rates. The home run here is that, based
on some extrapolation, we seem to have kept up
www.pondboss.com
with our projected phosphorus inflow rate. Of
course, this does not account for the phosphorus
already present in the pond, and tied up
in literally every living cell as well as any
organic accretion on the pond bottom. But with
the air diffusion going on, we have been able to
maintain aerobic levels above 6.5 parts per
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million down to 22 feet, maybe even deeper. It
just happens that 22 feet is our deepest, easily
accessed measurement point. When diving the
pond, I can’t find any organic accretion.
Bob Lusk was here again this summer. We
discussed the pond, and he snorkeled it
with me. We have northern milfoil and
coontail happening...with about 70 percent
coverage. But both of these forms of native
underwater plants are staying green. They are
perennials. So they aren’t decomposing at the
same level that annuals would.
Another interesting tidbit from this summer
is that we fished the pond hard and we tracked
the hours of fishing time. During the four
month period, we averaged a fish caught for
every two minutes of fishing time. And, in
spite of this harvest of 1,920+ fish, we just
barely kept up with the calculated phosphorus
inflow.
Yes, I love to fish! I love to share the pond with
others, too. But this whole experience has me
thinking about what we’re up against. We don’t
feed fish in Fish Fry Lake. We really are being
gifted with free feed in the form of agricultural
nutrients. These mix with carbon, which is
very easy to come by here, and now we have
this explosion of fish! In fact, young of the year
perch grew to 7.5 inches between April and
late October, at which time water temperatures
dropped below fifty degrees. Per Dave Willis
and Mike Brown’s article on aquaculture, this
means our perch are achieving a harvestable
size in roughly six months.
Maybe Fish Fry Lake needs to go
commercial?
???
I Support Outdoor Education
As many in the Pond Boss family will remember from the conference at Big Cedar Lodge,
Alan Warren provided a moving keynote address to the faithful in attendance. His message of
connecting kids with Nature resonated with everyone in the room.
More than a lifelong sportsman and popular TV/Radio Host, Alan’s passion is in getting
kids connected with Nature through Outdoor Education classes in public and private schools.
Recently, he’s founded the National Partnership for Outdoor Education, Inc. a 501c3 nonprofit
that is spearheading the I Support Outdoor Ed public service campaign nationwide. Their
mission is to help make Outdoor Ed classes available for every child in every school in every
state.
Similar to other successful public awareness campaigns like Don’t Mess with Texas and “Got
Milk?” the I Support Outdoor Ed campaign is raising the awareness of the disconnect between
young people and nature and draws attention to the benefits to children that are exposed to
outdoor education in their schools.
We at Pond Boss salute the I Support Outdoor Ed campaign and encourage our subscribers,
advertisers and their families to get behind this movement to reach our Youth with this important
initiative. Although our collective interest and passion is about ponds, we all recognize the
importance of connecting our Youth with all of nature.
Those who are on Facebook can help spread the message in social media. Just log on to
Facebook and “Like” the I Support Outdoor Ed Page.
We hope you’ll share YOUR personal story of why you love nature and share your story with
others. To learn more about the I Support Outdoor Ed campaign and to become involved in
connecting our Youth with Nature, please visit www.ISupportOutdoorEd.com.
12 POND BOSS
March/April 2012
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Ask the Boss
into the air during the print drying process, but
are totally absorbed into the substrates being
printed on. That is part of the reasoning behind
creating lower VOC percentages; therefore
the oils might be what you smell. The older,
petroleum-based inks would release larger
percentages of their oils into the air during
drying process and hence the possibility of less
smell.” Unfortunately, being good stewards of
the environment, the strong vegetable ink odor
is something we’ll just have to tolerate.
Q: Dear Gentlepersons, May I just first say
that I absolutely love your magazine. I make a
point of driving to BassPro Shops in Foxboro,
Massachusetts to buy an issue when the current
ones are released. However, I’ve noticed that
the printing ink tends to give the magazine a
VERY strong, chemically-type smell when I
open it. Is there any way you can get rid of that?
Amy Padden
Massachusetts
PB: Greetings, Amy! I forwarded your
email to our printer, Nittany Valley Offset, in
State College, Pennsylvania. The Production
Manager sent this response via our contact
there, Jim Stroud, who is our layout/design
guru. Here’s your answer, “...Regarding the
ink, we are using a soy ink that falls within in
the highest standards in regards to the VOC%
(Volatile Organic Compounds) levels. This
ink was created to meet the environmental
regulations of Hawaii and California (strictest
in the U.S.) and we were actually one of the first
printers on the east coast to start using it. We
switched to this particular brand in September
of 2011, but we have actually been using soy
inks for several years prior to that. A VOC% of
3% is an excellent rating and the current inks
are falling between 1.6-2.6%. Each different
color ink has a different rating. We would even
be happy to provide the MSDS sheets for the
inks if it would help alleviate concerns for the
reader. One thing that can be causing the odor (I
am basing this on research I am doing right now)
is that vegetable-based ink oils do not evaporate
14 POND BOSS
Q: I recently did a search for Leo Pachner
because his name was on a return address of
an envelope sent to my great-grandfather in
February of 1943. The envelope was mixed in
with a large collection of historical documents
my grandfather has maintained and we have
tried to slowly organize over the past 15
years. Leo sent a letter to my grandfather’s
father, Richard Hart aka Vincenzo “James”
Capone (my great-grandfather). Leo sent this
letter to Richard Hart while he was living with
his more famous brother, Al Capone, at 93 Palm
Ave in Miami Beach, Florida. We don’t have
the contents of the envelope unfortunately. In
1942, my grandfather was also living in Cicero.
I came across a biographical entry about Leo
in the Pond Boss forum that interested me.
I’d like to know more about Leo and what his
connection was to our family. If you would be
able to shed more light on the subject, I would
sincerely appreciate the conversation. Kind
regards,
Corey Richard Hart
Florida
PB: From your Internet searches you have
probably learned some about Leo Pachner. He
founded and published Farm Pond Harvest, a
niche magazine that went out four times a year
to help landowners with their farm ponds. As I
recall, he started it in 1967. Biologist Al Lopinot
helped him with it. Last I heard, Al Lopinot is
flourishing in Litchfield, Illinois. I think Mr.
Pachner passed away in the late 1980’s, but
his daughters continued the publication until
sometime around 2007. If you’d like to speak
to his daughters, one of them, Judy, is married
to Roland Martin, the famous angler who lives
in Florida. Roland’s had a television show for
years and should be easy to find. It’s amazing
what happens on the Pond Boss forum and how
it could lead to this inquiry. By the way, tell us
what you find.
Q: I saw in the latest issue you are considering
doing a kids section in PB. What are you
thinking? I noticed and it keeps coming to mind,
so I suppose I might be interested. Before I
made a commitment, I would want to be sure
it was something I could do. (I am a New York
state certified science teacher and a mom, so I
guess I am qualified...). My questions are along
the lines of what age groups, what content
intensity, what is the space allotment and/or
is it more ‘professional freedom’ like Mark’s
articles?
Christine Cornwell
Cobleskill, New York
PB: Chris, thanks for volunteering! Let’s
start with two pages and see where it goes.
We’ve had several requests from people over
the last few years. Let’s start simple, see what
people think and we’ll expand it if the demand
is there. So, folks, let us know what you think
about this idea and what you see in the pages of
the magazine. Christine and I have known each
other for several years. We exchanged several
emails and spoke over the phone to get things
rolling.
Q: Thanks for your article on fertilization
in the January-February issue of the magazine.
Excellent! We’ve done the numbers on fish
growth here at Shepherd. Young of the year
yellow perch averaged 7.5 inches by October
20th, the point where water temperature
dropped below 50 degrees and we assume
growth for the season stopped. (We were
just a day or two short of six months of water
temperature at or above fifty degrees in
2011.) On one of our age classes of perch
we are growing at 36% higher than the 95th
percentile of wild perch growth rates. This has
a four year old fish at 13.5 inches, weighing 20
ounces. Water clarity hit nineteen feet a couple
weeks ago. Perennial diatom-based periphyton
happens even a bit further down than that in
our 28 foot deep system. This is what keeps
the dissolved oxygen levels so high, and
zooplankton happens heavily in the periphyton.
Your appropriately fertilized southern pond
experience parallels what’s going on here,
except we focus on these diatoms instead of
free swimming phytoplankton. The northern
milfoil and coontail is also perennial, so without
it breaking down our BOD (biological oxygen
demand) has been fine. We harvested 1,928
perch in four months, averaging a fish for
March/April 2012
every two minutes of fishing effort...a bit better
than you and I did that day. Great stuff! And
Dave Willis and Mike Brown’s piece was also
exciting!
Best,
Bruce Kania
FIoating Island International
Shepherd, Montana
PB: Bruce, thanks for the update. Exciting
stuff. Readers, Bruce is an inventor and quite
cerebral. We snorkeled his pond in Montana last
August. His water comes from the Yellowstone
River and is notoriously full of nutrients from
agricultural land in the vicinity. Not only is he
growing many, many yellow perch, his fertile
fields of food plots and natural plants grow
more pheasants per unit that most anywhere
else in the country. Oh, and he submitted a story
immediately following this note. See that in this
issue, too.
Q: Due to your offer of free subscriptions
to inmates, I was able to receive Pond Boss
magazine while incarcerated in Palestine,
Texas. Do you still have that picture I hand
painted on a cloth handkerchief back in the late
1990’s for you guys? Pond Boss helped keep
me sane and in touch with my property back
then. We’ll I’m out now and need to renew my
subscription. Please sign me up for two years
and use the rest of the money for other people
who need a subscription. Thanks for all you do.
Michael Besch
Former inmate
Cibolo, Texas
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PB: Wow! I don’t quite know what to say.
Mr. Besch donated $200 to “pay it forward.” I’ve
always believed in “what goes around comes
around.” Here’s proof. That picture he painted?
Founding editor, Mark McDonald had it, in a
frame, on his office wall. I rang his number and
he thinks it’s in a box, safely stored until he sets
up a new office, since his move to west Texas.
Q: We have a farm pond that has always
been good bass fishing - considering no one has
ever (over 30 years) harvested it properly, fed,
or fertilized it regularly - because no one lives
out there. It is 70 miles west of Houston, TX, so
gets ample rain. This year it is as low as it has
ever been, by far, due to the drought. A relative
had it dug out a bit and raised the dam/spillway
so it would hold a little more water-but they
cut down all the trees that surrounded it while
working on it. Outside of in-water structure, do
fish need the cover (shade) of overhanging trees
or is that just a “bonus” for the fish? Also, in
a farm pond less than two acres, is there any
www.pondboss.com
POND BOSS 15
kind of aquatic plant we should or could plant
on the bank, water’s edge or in water to help
with oxygen/habitat for forage fish, etc?
Bruce Kirby
Fort Worth, Texas
PB: Fish don’t necessarily need shade
in order to thrive. Actually, they’ll choose
underwater structure or cover over shade almost
every time. Shade is a bonus for fish. The main
thing you want to do is prevent erosion. Plant
good local ground cover-type grasses around
the edges of freshly disturbed, or bare, earth.
Regarding aquatic plants, I typically don’t
recommend planting any, simply because
nature provides that for you as the pond re-fills.
However, if you want to plant some things, look
at native plants such as American pondweed.
Eelgrass is another good one for your part of
the country.
Q: Your bride, Queen Debbie, indicated
you might want some pictures of what we are
doing with adding cover to our pond. Here are
a couple of pictures. For background, as we do
every few years, we lowered the pond about 6
or 7 feet. We’ve had a lot of rain, so it has come
up about two feet. We put the cover in at present
lake level, so they will be in about five feet
of water when the pond fills. I am using what
I would consider a modified version of what
Ray Scott recommends. I put a 5 gallon bucket
in, add a cedar or pine, and then surround it
with hardwood, locust, oak and hickory in my
case. That is basically what Ray recommended
in his video. But then I add a Porcupine Fish
Attractor on each side of the bucket and standing
just a little bit lakeside of the bucket. My theory
is that will provide good cover, but also keep
you from getting hung up in the cedar cover if
you cast too close. I stabilize the buckets a little
differently than what Ray discussed. I use two
¼ inch steel electric fence post rods to secure
the bucket straight on the bottom, then add the
cedar and hardwood and then add about 1/3 of a
bucket of cement and a little water. This keeps it
in place and it doesn’t lean or fall over. You may
notice that there is an old bucket with a single
stump sticking out of it. These have been in
about 10 years and are just about deteriorated.
However, I still catch fish around them. I just
didn’t remove the buckets this time. One that
is on the point in the little cove down by the
dam where we shocked up our biggest fish,
was installed in 1999. This year I consistently
caught bass around it, including three or four
around four pounds this year. Once this summer
I caught a bunch of nice bluegill around it, 20 or
so in an hour until I ran out of worms. I returned
about ½ of them because they were over 8 or 9
16 POND BOSS
inches long. I have never used the porcupines
before, so don’t know if it will work or not. You
may notice that some of the spines of the cover
are green but most are white. I used one kit, but
bought the balls and used ½ inch water PVC for
some, too.
Fred Bingaman
Brownstown, Illinois
a large competitor and effect the growth of the
bass? We do not know perhaps how many green
sunfish were included in with the 100 bluegill.
Thank you so much for your assistance. PS:
Have been getting your Pond Boss Magazine
now for two years and thoroughly enjoy it.
Great help!
Chad Spence
Ohio
PB: Sounds like you bought your fish from
a reputable company. In my opinion, your
stocking plan won’t be cause for concern
regarding green sunfish. Even if there are a
few, the bass won’t allow them to become
established or become a dominant species.
Your bass will become the dominant species,
eating everything that will fit into their mouths.
The bluegills will grow fairly rapidly there and
spawn once or twice each year at your latitude,
providing bass with more forage fish. If you
happen to catch a green sunfish, it’s okay to
remove it.
Q: I have been begging my husband for
years to build us a small fish pond now that we
live in the country and have enough acreage.
He’s built just about everything else you can
imagine. Perhaps your magazine will give him
a bit more incentive and direction. May I please
receive your sample issue? Many thanks!
Mrs. Leslie Skipper
Semmes, Alabama
PB: Done! Please spread the word. Our next
mission is to get the magazine into the hands of
every pond owner in the United States and then
the world. In the meantime, the magazine will
help our readers accomplish their mission.
PB: Thanks for the update, Fred! I’ll thank
the Queen, too.
Q: We had a pond built last summer. It is
about 1 acre and it is about 1/2 to 2/3 full. We
purchased 1,000 fatheads, 100 bluegills, and
50 bass. We put these in about a month or two
ago. Our concern now is that perhaps there
were some green sunfish intermixed with the
bluegills. We called the fish supplier and they
said there “should” not be any green sunfish
in with the bluegill, but...there may have been
some mixed in. We are wondering what effect
these green sunfish could have on our new pond
as far as the growth of the bass? Will they be
Q: I have a few questions to ask. I’ve got an
odd shaped pond. It used to be part of a creek
that got cut off. It may be half to a full acre. It’s
narrow at most spots, but is real deep. I have
stocked about 25 crappie that are 5” to 6”, and
also ten to fifteen crappie 13” or better. There
was just a little bit of water in it when I moved
in. Now it’s half full. I didn’t know there were
bass in there as well. There were two 10” to
12” bass in there that I didn’t know about. They
spawned this past spring. So now I have small
bass. I’m looking to make it a mainly crappie
and bream pond. I just need to know what kind
of forage I should stock in it. I have been putting
fathead minnows and regular shiners in there by
the pounds. I was wondering about crawdads
or anything really. Any helpful input would be
greatly appreciated.
Drew Downs
Paragould, Arkansas
March/April 2012
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PB: Crappie are predators, just like
largemouth bass. Mouth size limits what they
can eat. So, crappie are famous for eating small
fish. They’re also famous for overeating the
food chain and over-reproducing, especially
in small waters. The bass are a blessing in one
way. They’ll help control crappies’ tendencies
to overpopulate. Crappie definitely eat fathead
minnows and golden shiners. They’ll not thumb
their noses at crawfish, either. If I were you, I’d
make sure bluegill were plentiful, add crawfish
and cull your bass. If your crappie aren’t gaining
weight as you think they should, budget enough
money to supplement the fishery with fathead
minnows and more shiners. You live in an area
of the world where you can do that affordably,
since the largest sportfish hatcheries in America
are within reasonable driving distance.
Q: This is a bass my son, John, caught a
while back using a circle hook. I don’t know if
any other readers are using them, but if anyone
is concerned about their bass swallowing
worm hooks then the circle hook is the ticket. I
actually am hooking and landing more fish with
the circle hooks than the regular EWG hooks
that we have always used. I still bend down
the barbs on all my worm hooks including the
circle hooks. The brand that I like the most is an
Owner Brand in a 4 or 5/0 hook. They are tricky
at first to hook in a worm but once you do a few
they become easy.
Johnny Tanner, III
Carrollton, Georgia
PB: It’s always fun to hear from our longtime
friend, Johnny Tanner.
Q: I’m still loving my magazine! Quick
question for you. My lake is in Beaumont,
Texas. Can I stock Walleye or will they survive
in our warm waters?
Kenny Vaughan
Beaumont, Texas
PB: I doubt they’ll survive there. They
certainly won’t reproduce, even if they survive.
I know of one guy who’s had marginal luck with
18 POND BOSS
walleye near Ardmore, Oklahoma. I know they
lived there for at least three years, but I haven’t
heard from him in more than a year. Stocking
them won’t do any harm, but unless you have
perfect habitat (deep, oxygenated, cool water)
with rocky areas, don’t expect much. Throw in
the fact that largemouth bass can outcompete
them (and eat small, newly stocked walleye)
and your odds of success are pretty low.
Q: Bob, Hello. Hope all is well. I’ve been
reading every issue of Pond Boss. The drought
in Texas is certainly alarming and the trade
winds supporting it seem to be hanging on.
BUT, my question, if you could take a few
minutes to answer, is about bluegill. First:
What sex bluegill at a comparative age is
bigger or are they equal in size? Second:
At spawning, which sex gets the brightest
coloring? And the indentation in the forehead
of those largest fish—is this a characteristic of
male or female, or both sexes when mature?
Third: Certainly there are a lot of smaller,
paler bluegills around at spawning time. What
are they? Male, female or just immature? So in
conclusion, are bull bluegills the biggest and
are the biggest really males? Please help me
out, Bob. I tried researching but the answers
weren’t clear. I’ll attribute your answers in any
story I write.
Vic Attardo
Outdoor Writer
Red Hill, Pennsylvania
PB: Bluegills tend to be equal size (genderly speaking). Boys and girls are similar in size.
But, as they grow, you can take a random 100
of either sex and they’ll grow at different rates,
just like most other animals (litter of puppies
for example). There’ll be runts, aggressive
ones, passive ones, shy ones. That means some
of the girls will outgrow some of the boys and
vice versa. After they grow several years...
four or five years, we begin to see a slight size
advantage to males. Females spend a lot of
energy developing eggs. That’s a disadvantage
for them because it can certainly affect their
sizes...energy devoted to reproduction affects
growth rates because energy for eggs diverts
energy that could lead to growth...although an
egg-laden female at 10 inches can sure outweigh
a 10 inch male, simply because her ovaries are
full and heavy. So, here’s my short answer...
after 4 years, males have a slight advantage in
size. Males are also the most brightly colored
of the sexes. Only the males get that big bulge
in the top of their heads. They get that bulge
primarily due to hormones. It tends to shrink
a little bit when they aren’t spawning. Most
of the time, the small, pale fish are immature
fish. The biggest males dominate the nests and
smaller fish wait on the sidelines. But, there is a
phenomenon with bluegills. Some mature males
which aren’t large and appear much weaker,
will try to slip into a nest and fertilize eggs.
This is called “cuckoldry.” Biologists think this
is an attempt at genetic diversification. One
really important fact here...when the largest
males dominate the nests, younger males don’t
mature sexually as quickly. That means more of
their energy goes to growth. Once they become
large enough to move into the nests, they are
typically slightly larger than the ones currently
on the nest. Pond managers (at least the smart
ones) tell their landowners to leave the biggest
bluegills in the pond and harvest the next size
down, so they’ll always have a freshman team
growing into a junior varsity and then varsity.
If you catch and remove the largest bluegills,
odds drop that you’ll be able to grow any more
as large as those you remove, because the
smaller ones then become dominant and they
stop growing as fast. Plus, bluegills only live
six to eight years in most places. Of the largest
bluegills I’ve ever seen, I’d say 75% of them are
males.
Q: I am a High School Senior in Spotsylvania,
Virginia. I have always been interested in
Biology and Environmental Science and I have
always loved fishing, specifically bass fishing.
Last year I conducted an experiment in which
I created my own custom fishing lures, which
were more cost effective than commercial lures.
This year I plan to research the ideal ecosystem
to foster the growth of trophy largemouth bass,
and one requirement for my project is to have
an expert in my field of study. I wanted to know
if Pond Boss could help me with this or aid me
in the research process.
Hunter Hatcher
Spotsylvania, Virginia
PB: Pond Boss will be extremely helpful.
Spend time on the website, especially the
discussion forum. We also have a book called
“Raising Trophy Bass”. We’ll be glad to send a
copy.
Q: Here it is, November 30, and I still
haven’t received my November-December
copy of Pond Boss. Any idea where it might be?
Paul Haughton
Virginia
PB: Pond Boss was delivered to the post
office in State College, Pennsylvania October
31. I have no idea why you haven’t received it
a month later. Here’s the follow up…We sent
out another copy of the magazine, first class,
March/April 2012
immediately. Then, he received the original
magazine, in the plastic bag, December 6. And
the postal service wonders why they are going
bankrupt. Seems like we receive one or two
inquiries each issue, people wondering where
their magazine is. Sometimes it’s a clerical
mistake, but more often it’s because the postal
service is slow…and getting slower.
Q: Bob and staff, there comes a time in your
life, we’ll call it Phase IV, when you can no
longer maintain your property well. We have
reached that point and have sold to Tim Jones
and family. We left behind for Tim some items
which had value and would add enrichment
to his care and wellbeing of the lake. Among
them were several years’ issues of Pond Boss.
We know he will enjoy and benefit from the
information packed issues as much as we
did. Thank you for making privately owned
ponds and lakes relevant to us and, indeed, to
the nation. I suggest you send a subscription
invitation to Tim. I have a hunch that he will
take you up on it. Again, many thanks.
Wayne Heatherly
Knoxville, Tennessee
P.S. By the way, reading AARP magazine
will be a poor substitute for reading P.B.
We’ll reach out to Tim. Thanks for being a loyal
Pond Boss fan for all these years.
Q: Dear Bob, I’m writing in relation to a
question in your “Ask the Boss” section (Jan/
Feb, 2012). Terry Traster of Mowequa, Illinois,
asked, “Has Pond Boss done any articles on the
fact that once you start feeding catfish in ponds
it conditions them to only eat the pellets?” I
hope the following story will prove interesting;
it was sure new to me. We stocked a new pond
with nothing but catfish. Then, 18 months later,
I decided to see if any stray bream had found
their way into the pond (eggs on legs of birds,
so I’ve heard). I was quite surprised when I
found myself catching catfish on crickets and
on a white crappie jig. No doubt they like the
pellets better, but I’ve found that fish can be full
of surprises. I would have never thought bass
would eat cutbait either… Thanks for another
great magazine
Steven Eggers
Inmate 878965
Panama City, Florida
PB: As you’ll see, this issue of Pond Boss is
focused on catfish. Enjoy the read and thanks
for sharing your thoughts.
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(512) 396-1231
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POND BOSS 19
Field Notes
Blue Catfish
by Bob Lusk
I
t wasn’t long ago when a new world record
blue catfish grabbed the attention of the
angling world. That fish, a 121.5 pound
monster, was caught a few miles from my
house, in Lake Texoma, Texas in January,
2004. It was kept alive, transported to the Texas
Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, Texas
and put on display for all to see. But, alas, that
world record stood for all of sixteen months,
when it was broken by a 124 pounder caught
in the Mississippi River. That record has been
broken twice since then. Now it holds at 143
pounds, a giant from a lake bordering Virginia
and North Carolina.
Blue cat grow to huge sizes.
They’ll grow large in your pond or lake,
too. Maybe not world record large, but huge,
nonetheless.
“Blue cat have better
meat, they’re much more
aggressive to catch and
they grow faster than
channel catfish.”
Kenneth
Henneke,
from
Halletsville,
Texas, has been commercially raising blue cat
fingerlings for many, many years. He has a fish
hatchery at his place west of Houston, Texas
and has been a steady source of supply for local
pond owners for years.
He believes in blue cats. “Blue cat have better
meat, they’re much more aggressive to catch
and they grow faster than channel catfish.”
Blue cat, Ictalurus furcatus, grow at rates
almost parallel to channel catfish…for a few
months. Henneke says, “4 to 6 inch blue cat
fingerlings, stocked in the right numbers, fed
properly (heavy on the word ‘fed properly’),
will grow to three pounds in the first year after
stocking. They’ll hit six to seven pounds in two
years. After that, they can grow large.
Hatchery owner Kenneth Henneke shows off a large hybrid catfish, a cross between channel catfish and blue cat.
Photo courtesy Larry Bozka.
20 POND BOSS
March/April 2012
Asked how long it will take to grow blues to
30 or 40 pounds, he said, “With plenty of food
and space, expect them to grow that big in six
or seven years.” There are caveats, though.
“We don’t recommend our customers allow
their blues to grow so large. At that point, they
completely dominate a pond and will eat it out
of house and home.” He suggests his customers
begin harvesting their catfish in the second or
third year and then restock as needed.
“I also recommend stocking a pond similar as
you would a bass pond, to build a food chain for
blue catfish. They’ll eat fathead minnows and
sunfish, too.”
What about stocking rates? “Depends on the
goals of the landowner. I’ve had them stock as
few as 100 per acre, up to 1,000.
“If you want to grow big fish, focus on the
food chain and selectively harvest your fish as
they grow. They have voracious appetites.”
Can you grow a hundred giant blue catfish in
a three acre pond? “Yes, you can. It’s similar to
managing a bass lake. Build a substantial forage
base and cull your blue cat. Feed them and they
will do even better.”
How is the taste different? Henneke said,
“Blues are predator fish by nature, especially
as they grow larger. The texture of the flesh of
a fifteen pound blue cat is much, much better
www.pondboss.com
POND BOSS 21
Blue catfish grow very, very large, if you let them. Photo courtesy T.J. Stallings, TTI Blakemore Fishing Group.
than a six pound channel. And, its flavor is off
the charts, compared to larger channel catfish.”
What are the upsides to growing blue cat?
“They grow to large sizes, fast. You can control
the numbers of them by how many you stock.”
What are the downsides to them? “They
grow to large sizes, fast. That means they can
eat you out of house and home. Pay attention
to the food chain.” He said that no less than ten
times during our telephone interview.
How much do they cost? “We sell the 4-6
inch fingerlings for $.65 each at our farm. 6-8
inch fish go for $.75 each.” See Henneke’s ad in
Pond Boss for contact information.
Other pertinent facts about blue catfish? They
live in the upper part of the water column, not
toward the bottom as channel cat do. When
fishing for them, know they’ll alert the other
fish, just like channel cat do. Blue cat are three
or four years old before they mature sexually.
My favorite axiom Henneke offered was,
“You can help Mother Nature, but you can’t
fight her.” Meaning? Like all other fish, you
22 POND BOSS
must abide by key principles. Good, clean,
healthy water, plenty of food, and manage the
This is the size blue cat Henneke recommends harvesting to eat. Photo courtesy T.J.
Stallings, TTI Blakemore Fishing Group.
March/April 2012
Blue catfish love to eat crawfish. Blues
are top line predator fish.
????
Credit Paul Miles.
population. Don’t overharvest, but don’t underharvest, either.
Blue catfish look different than channel
cat. Most strains have what locals call a
“humpback,” where there’s a rise behind the
fish’s head, up to its dorsal fin. When you look
at it from the side, its angle is almost a straight
line through the dorsal fin. It does look like a
hump. On the bottom of the fish, the anal fin
is squared off at the front. A channel cat’s head
is flatter and its anal fin is curved. Blue cat,
except for one strain native to the Rio Grande,
don’t have black spots on their bodies like small
channel catfish do. Blue catfish are a slate-blue
color, hence the name. Channel catfish range in
color somewhat.
Over the last eight to ten years, a cottage
industry has formed, centered on fishing for
blue cats. It seems where they exist, they thrive.
For you, the key points to understand about
stocking blues are focused on their aggressive
nature, tendency to grow large, and regional
availability.
One last thing…if you stock blue cats,
upgrade your tackle.
www.pondboss.com
POND BOSS 23
Inside the Water Column
Bacteria, Algae…
What’s the Fuss About?
by Kevin Ripp
S
pring is an exciting time of the year. The
yawn of winter yields to longer days as
the sun starts its annual earth warming.
Flowers blossom, pond water warms and comes
alive. Geese and ducks make their treks north
and spring showers stimulate life in our ponds.
A pond waking from winter slumber is a
wonderful experience. Fish move shallow and
begin to spawn and feed. Plants begin to grow.
Taking the right steps, as a pond owner, can
really make your pond’s year a lot smoother. As
plants along the shore begin to bloom, so do the
algae in the water column as well as the weeds
in the muck.
Algae…that little prehistoric plant seems
to strike fear, even in the most grizzled pond
managers.
A better approach is
about balance.
As pond managers, it’s important we learn to
harness nature to our advantage and understand
water quality, rather than just the traditional
methods of running around trying to kill
algae and plant life. For a long time it’s been
kill, kill, kill. Essentially, what that gets us is
exceptionally hearty, hearty, hearty strains of
algae and plant life that become immune to
traditional chemical treatment protocols, not to
mention fish you may not want to eat.
A better approach is about balance. In the
laboratory I run we strive to discover what may
balance each individual pond by studying all
the forms of nitrogen and phosphorous, some
iron, silica, manganese and alkalinity and
taking a look, via microscope, at algae species.
When you can identify water’s ‘ingredients’ and
then algae species of consequence, you stand a
better chance to develop a custom protocol to
deal with unwanted plants and enhance the ones
24 POND BOSS
we might prefer.
For ponds with a history of poor water
quality, find a local biologist who studies
neighboring ponds who can prescribe a
good, healthy treatment for your individual
pond. What works in one pond may not work
in a pond 50 feet away simply because of
differences in soils, plants and age. What works
well in a pond in Illinois may be completely the
opposite approach that a pond owner in Georgia
may take. In Illinois, pond managers tend to
prefer to remove nutrients and in Georgia,
pondmeisters often add minerals and nutrients
into some ponds. Each has its own competitive
ecosystems.
Green Algae versus Bacteria - Battle
Royal at the Base of the Food Chain.
Generally, each spring, green algae take
off. At the same time algae begin to thrive,
so does bacteria…sometimes faster and
sometimes slower, but both are competing
for many of the same nutrients. There are
thousands of types of green algae. They are
green because they use chlorophyll to harness
the sun’s energy to produce sugars. In this
process of photosynthesis, algae use nitrogen
and phosphorous. The levels of nitrogen,
phosphorous, muck, hardness, iron, and a
plethora of other materials present influences
what type of algae will grow. Each type of
algae prefers slightly different conditions. One
may prefer high nitrogen and low phosphorous
while others may like high phosphorous and
low nitrogen.
Algae’s competitor, bacteria, has two
general types in pond water. The first type we
call ‘heterotrophic’ bacteria. These pacmanlike bacteria basically try to eat anything (a
microbiologist would say derive their energy
from any organic substrate). They grow very
fast and in the best spring time conditions
their doubling times are 30-45 minutes. These
microbes are tolerant of many herbicides,
although copper slows them down quite a bit.
Heterotrophic bacteria take up phosphorus and
A microbiologist studying biological life and algae life in a pond.
March/April 2012
www.pondboss.com
POND BOSS 25
some nitrogen into their cell walls. Often, at
the beginning of spring, when the water is still
cold, we’ll prescribe a cold-water bacteria that
can jump start a pond’s biology to try to take
up excess nutrients and compete before rooted
plants begin to grow.
The other types of bacteria are called
‘autotrophic’ bacteria. They thrive on inorganic
matter such as ammonia. In this case, I am
referring to a group of organisms called
‘nitrifiers’. Unlike heterotrophs, autotrophs are
slow growing and chemicals kill them quite
easily, and yet they are hugely important to the
ecosystem under water. “Slow growing” means
it may take autotrophs three days to double
in population in the spring. Autotrophs are
important in a pond loaded with geese, ducks or
lots of koi or other fish which give off different
forms of nitrogen as a waste byproduct.
The removal of ammonia by bacteria and
oxygen is called ‘nitrification’ and the
reaction looks like this.
Nitrogen Waste --->NH3 (ammonia) --->
N02 (nitrites) -----> NO3(nitrates)
(Nitrification)
NO3--------> N2^ (nitrogen gas)
(Denitrification)
The great thing about ammonia is when a
pond is properly managed you can get rid of it.
It will break down and go off as gas and escape
the environment. It’s also important to note
that the best source of these autotroph bacteria
organisms is from runoff from the soil. This
is one reason why ponds look so nice after a
gentle rain and so bad during a drought.
When certain chemicals are used and
A microscopic view of ‘fish net” algae also known as Hydrodictyon.
autotrophic bacteria are depleted in the water
column, a pond grows susceptible to new
problems. Good aeration favors the growth of
bacteria and that is why aeration is so helpful
and important, because it’s not just moving the
water around and infusing oxygen, it’s really
growing bacteria, as well.
While nitrogen can be diffused into the
atmosphere where it belongs, phosphorous, on
the other hand, just precipitates and collects
on the bottom. There is no phosphorous gas
that goes off to the atmosphere. Bacteria and
some plants can take up phosphorous, only
to release it later when they die, or it can be
precipitated, but it will always be there unless
physically removed. There are numerous ways
to precipitate phosphorous and some of them
bind the phosphorous very well, but it will
always tend to stay behind.
A microscopic view of a type of planktonic algae. This is what makes the water green.
26 POND BOSS
I always wish there were one sure fire way
to manage a pond but, if there were, it would
not be quite as fun. Each pond is its own
dynamic entity and our job is to do what we
can to interpret and adjust it to meet our goals.
The first rule we live by is to understand water
quality, what is going into a pond, and what
kind of pond bottom you have. If you need to
have some tests run on water quality and also
determine the types of algae you have present,
then do it. That knowledge can help your
biologist determine a prescription of the best
materials to use. The more you know, the better
prepared you will be to manage your pond.
What can you do? It depends on the
parameters. You might need to inoculate with
certain species of bacteria or add some enzymes
to jump start natural bacteria. You may need to
add nutrients to enhance the balance between
different nutrients to promote the growth of
healthy plankton. But, having a good starting
point aids your decision-making process.
Last year, I spoke with an acquaintance in
Virginia who is a chief scientist for NASA and
one heck of an engineer. His pond was superbly
engineered. It has a nice waterfall, excellent
aeration and a clay liner. In an adjacent pond,
his wife is also raising lots of ducks and swans,
notorious producers of hot nitrogen waste. In
the spring, he started up his pond’s waterfall
and aeration system and it instantly turned
green as a cucumber while the adjacent pond
looked nice. After several months he asked me
what he should do. I asked, “What does your
liner feel like?” He said, “Rubber” and I said,
“Wrong answer”.
You see, the liner of a pond should feel like
slime…the slime that you would associate
with a good biofilm. Biofilm is a sure sign
March/April 2012
itself. In two weeks his new pond cleared right
up and it has remained clean since. The liner
now feels like slime because it’s balanced and
the bacteria and algae and other life forms are
in harmony. The biofilm on the liner is one
example of this pond’s health.
I cannot tell you what harmony is for your
pond, but if your pond gets out of balance, start
doing some testing and begin learning. Every
pond can be figured out. Best yet, plan to work
with biologists and applicators who work to
minimize the amounts of chemicals required.
After all, the harmony of your pond’s water
helps lead to the harmony of the rest of the
biology that spreads throughout the living,
breathing happy place your fish and plants call
home.
Cladophora is a common pond algae.
of healthy bacteria doing their job. He told
me he was using bacteria and I explained the
bacteria he was using did a nice job of eating
up the duck waste, but that was already really
easy to do with all his aeration. The fact is
the bacteria he was using was not his limiting
factor. His issue was finding a way to use up the
nitrogen that all these lovely ducks and swans
www.pondboss.com
and koi were generating. It was being uploaded
into the water faster than the pond could
naturally excommunicate it from the water. My
recommendation was to inoculate bacteria
which targets nitrogen in the water column and
to get a sump pump started from the adjacent
pond to bring some water over to the new pond.
That water had what it takes to rapidly cleanse
Kevin Ripp, is President of Aquafix, Inc,
a laboratory dedicated to studying lakes
and ponds. Aquafix produces bacterial and
enzyme product to naturally improve pond
balance. Kevin is affectionately known as
the “Bugman” in his green lab coat, likes to
work with pond owners and applicators to
understand mechanisms for plant growth and
be proactive, rather than reactive. Contact
Kevin at teamaquafix@gmail.com.
POND BOSS 27
On Northern Pond
Channel Catfish:
Picky Teenagers or
Opportunistic Generalists?
by Tanner Stevens & Dr. Brian Graeb
A
sk ten catfish anglers what their favorite
bait is and you’ll likely get ten different
answers. One may say hot dogs,
another may say blood bait and another may
say shrimp. This can get you wondering what
channel catfish actually eat. The short answer
is anything and everything. Channel catfish are
a widespread species that live in almost every
type of lake and river. This gives a wide range
of possible food choices. However, before we
can get into what channel catfish eat; we must
first understand how they eat.
Channel catfish are
veritable bloodhounds of
the water.
Stomach contents of a wild sampled channel catfish.
State
System
Habitat
Dominant Prey
South Dakotaa
Missouri River-Sharpe
Reservoir
Vegetation, Ephemeroptera,
Alabama
Coosa River-Mitchell & Jordan
Reservoir
Chironomidae, Vegetation
Dry Creek-Lake Carl Blackwell
Reservoir
Gizzard Shad, Chironomidae, Ephemeroptera
Mississippi
Tombigbee River
River
Trichoptera, Crayfish, Isopoda
Iowae
Des Moines River
River
Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, Diptera
Colorado & Utahf
Green & Yampa River
River
Vegetation, Aquatic Invertebrates, Terrestrial
Invertebrates
Missourig
Blind Pony & Macon
Small Impoundment
Chironomidae, Vegetation, Chaoborus,
Iowa
Red Haw, Miami, Lake Ellis
Small Impoundment
Chironimidae, Chaoborus, Ephemeroptera
b
Oklahoma
c
d
h
Table1. Regional diet composition for channel catfish populations. Data are summarized from published food habits studies. Prey item are listed in
order from most abundant to least abundant.
Sources: a Dagel et al.(2010), b Jolley and Irwin (2003), c Jearld and Brown (1971), d Robinette and Knight (1981), e Bailey and Harrison(1948), f Tyus
and Nikirk (1990), g Michaletz (2006), h Mitzner (1990)
28 POND BOSS
March/April 2012
Channel catfish are veritable bloodhounds
of the water. Their whiskers are loaded with
taste buds that can sense the slightest smell in
the water. This is why many catfish anglers’
fish with the rankest-smelling bait they can
find. Their ability to sense “blood in the water”
is a central tenet to channel catfish feeding
behavior. Odiferous meals are often easy
meals, and channel catfish are never one to pass
up a free meal. Aside from an acute sense of
smell, channel catfish also have a sixth sense
that plays an important role in detecting prey.
Catfish possess electroreceptors that can detect
weak electrical fields produced by all organisms
in water. The use of electroreception allows
catfish to hunt for prey in low light conditions.
Detection distances depend on the species, but
catfish can sense other fish at distances from two
to four inches (New 1999). The combination of
electroreception and an acute sense of smell
give channel catfish the ability to employ two
different feeding strategies. They can either
ambush prey, or actively search for prey
during low light conditions when they have an
advantage over prey. Which strategy they use
likely varies with the seasons and time of day.
Now that we have an idea on how channel
catfish find food, we can better understand what
they eat. As most fish grow they will switch
www.pondboss.com
between food sources that are best suited for
them. These switches can be dramatic for fish
such as largemouth bass that go from feeding
on zooplankton to invertebrates to fish prey
in the same season. For channel catfish the
switches are more gradual. Channel catfish
first begin feeding on zooplankton and aquatic
insect larvae until they reach twelve inches with
maximum prey sizes increasing as they grow.
Beginning at around twelve inches channel
catfish start incorporating fish into their diet.
The proportion of fish prey in channel catfish
diets gradually increases as they grow. However,
even large adults maintain a diet dominated by
invertebrates, and fish rarely contribute large
portion of diets. (Hubert 1999).
The diet of channel catfish can change
depending on region, habitat type, season, and
prey availability. As shown by the table below
there are a few dominant prey items that are
common across regions and habitats, but many
of these groups may be quite different when
analyzed closer. For example, mayflies and
caddisflies are two insect orders composed of
over 1,800 species combined that are common
across the United States. These orders appear
in nearly every channel catfish diet study, but
the dominant mayfly species in a study in
South Dakota would likely be different than a
mayfly in Alabama. There can even be seasonal
differences within the same system as different
species of mayflies and caddisflies emerge at
different times of the year.
From Table 1 on page 28 one common theme
is the presence of chironomids and vegetation
in reservoirs and small impoundments. For
reservoirs and small impoundments, dipterans
(true flies), ephmeropterans (mayflies) and
trichopterans (caddisflies) make up the majority
of diets. In river diet studies many of the same
dominant items are present, but often diets
are more diverse and many items are equal
in weight, quantity, or occurrence. It is well
known that channel catfish consume fish prey,
but information from diet studies has shown
that fish rarely make up more than 25% of adult
channel catfish diets and rarely will one species
of fish dominate the diet. However gizzard shad
may be the one exception; studies have found
that when gizzard shad are present in a water
body they can make up a large portion of catfish
diets (Jearld and Brown 1971; Gosch 2008).
Diets often vary across seasons or even
years. On Lake Sharpe, a mainstream Missouri
River reservoir, diets in the late spring were
comprised mostly of aquatic invertebrates
and vegetation (Dagel et al. 2010). Over the
summer, as the proportion of invertebrates
POND BOSS 29
Using lavage techniques, collecting stomach contents from catfish stomach.
and vegetation decreased, the availability of
small fish increased in the lake. This makes
sense as young of year fish become more
available by late summer. Diets can also vary
by year. In two small Missouri impoundments,
diets were tracked seasonally for three years.
Vegetation, invertebrates, and fish were the
main prey items, but the dominant prey type
changed annually. In June of the first year
invertebrates made up the majority of diets
(60%) with vegetation (15%) and fish (20%)
making small contributions. In June of the next
year the three diet items were nearly equal. In
the final year of the study vegetation was over
90% of June diets (Michaletz 2006). The large
variation between seasons and years show
that channel catfish are largely opportunistic
feeders, just like teenagers. If there’s meat in
the refrigerator, they’ll eat it. If not, they’ll
settle for vegetables.
Fisheries managers are often concerned
about the impacts of channel catfish in small
impoundments. A common concern is potential
competition between channel catfish and
bluegill. Studies have found similar diets
between channel catfish and bluegill (Mitzner
1990), and this suggests that the potential
exists for channel catfish to compete with
bluegill. This subject was studied extensively
in Missouri small impoundments by Paul
Michaletz (2006) in the late nineties. In the first
portion of Michaletz’s research he looked at diet
overlap between bluegill and channel catfish. If
two species have a high amount of overlap in
diets there is a potential for competition. What
he found was that during a three year period
bluegill and catfish diets generally had low
diet overlap, and only during a few months did
30 POND BOSS
diets overlap substantially. While both species
shared many common prey items in their diets,
dominant prey items were different contributing
to low diet overlap.
To further examine the potential for
competition between channel catfish and
bluegill, Michaletz used experimental ponds
with varying biomasses of catfish and bluegill to
examine the direct effects of catfish on bluegill
growth rates. Despite using a large range of
catfish (70, 130 kg/ha) and bluegill (15, 70 kg/
ha) biomasses, Michaletz was unable to find
much support for catfish outcompeting bluegill.
In the last part of the study, Michaletz examined
bluegill growth rates across public fishing
lakes with varying abundances of channel
catfish. He found that bluegill growth rates
decreased in systems with high channel catfish
abundance ( 200 catfish per net night). In light
of the controlled pond experiments, Michaletz
could not directly attribute low bluegill growth
rates to high channel catfish abundance and
acknowledged that there are many variables that
affect bluegill growth rates. He concluded that
channel catfish might compete with bluegill,
but only when invertebrate abundances are
limited, and channel catfish are in extremely
high abundances.
Channel catfish may be one of the most
misunderstood sportfish. They are thought of as
swimming trash compactors, but in reality they
are buffet eaters. While there is potential for
channel catfish to have diet overlaps with other
fish (bluegill) channel catfish can adapt and
will feed on other plentiful resources if needed.
Whether it’s fish, vegetation, or aquatic insects,
channel catfish are opportunistic generalists that
love an easy meal.
Literature Cited
Bailey, R. M. and H. M. Harrison (1948).
“Food Habits of the Southern Channel Catfish
(Ictalurus Lacustris Punctatus) in the Des
Moines River, Iowa.” Transactions of the
American Fisheries Society 75(1): 110 - 138.
Dagel, J. D., M. R. Wuellner, et al. (2010).
“Channel Catfish Diets Include Substantial
Vegetation in a Missouri River Reservoir.” The
Prairie Naturalist 42(1/2): 1-7.
Gosch, N. J. C. (2008). Predation As A
Mechanism For Control Of White Perch: An
Investigation Of Food Habits In Two Nebraska
Reservoirs. . Master’s Thesis. University of
Nebraska-Lincoln. Lincoln, NE.
Hubert, W. A. 1999. Biology and
Management of Channel Catfish. Pages 3-22 in
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