How much do catfish eat ie what damage/cost to a fishery?

tortoise100 · Jan 7, 2010

After a converstion with a local venue owner who could not understand why some venues stock catfish as they get big and can eat large fish.

I do know that a reason for stocking them is to keep down the siver fish numbers in some carp fisheries but are they actually very efficiant at this?

And would you want them to be?

Or do they just eat one largish fish once in a while?

I have never fished for them but plan on having a go this year so that is one reason to have them ,demand.

geoffmaynard · Jan 7, 2010

They do no damage to a fishery at all. The only species which might suffer as a result is the pike. Winton's in Sussex is probably the best example of this. The catfish will sometimes stop feeding for weeks on end, just resting on the bottom and nothing will tempt it - during this time it hardly moves nor uses any energy so it can survive very long periods on absolutely nothing. Then when it wakes up, it will consume anything that will fit in its gob. Catfish will eat small fish and large fish, they don't care. I've witnessed a 142lb cat taken on a dead bleak and a 30lber on a 5lb carp livebait. A 1.5lb baitfish is the perfect size for bait.

Wobbly Face (As Per Ed) · Jan 7, 2010

I was told by a fishery manager that they like tench and they had to dig a new pond to put the tench in.
I did use to fish one water where there were cats, not big ones and I never caught one, but others did. I had plenty of tench out and there were loads of small roach and skimmers.

honslow · Jan 7, 2010

Just remember that they are very strictly controlled in terms of which waters you can stock the species into....

richiekelly · Jan 7, 2010

Greg said:
Just remember that they are very strictly controlled in terms of which waters you can stock the species into....

the waters that they can be stocked in may be strictly controlled but how many waters have been stocked due to floods?

deep · Jan 7, 2010

Thirty seven at the last count .

tortoise100 · Jan 7, 2010

How big have they got so far in rivers and which rivers are they in?
I thought they were in the ouse but not sure why I think I know this!
Are there many of the albino ones out there and do they have another name like ghost carp do ?

quickcedo · Jan 7, 2010

many reports of cats being caught from the Thames around Walton. Don't get down there much myself, but a good friend assures me he has witnessed one at around the 30lb mark.

slime monster · Jan 7, 2010

There is a small pond near me that is classed as the specimen lake on a two pond water,it is fairly deep in parts and used to be the match water, the Carp are of a good average stamp and a huge amount of silvers were netted out,Catfish were introduced at some point and they thrived and multiplied growing in excess of 35lb,I occasionally wet a line there for the odd good carp but getting through the amount of silvers that have coexisted and re established alongside the Cats can be a problem on baits like corn.

Ray Daywalker Clarke · Jan 7, 2010

There is a lake near me that has had cats in for close on 30 years, still plenty of carp, tench and silvers in there, and the Cats go over 40lb.

When feeding they will take just about anything you fish with, but can be very hard to catch also.

noknot · Jan 8, 2010

Indeed, they will eat anything, the last one I caught was on a peanut

How much do catfish eat ie what damage/cost to a fishery?

tortoise100

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geoffmaynard

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Wobbly Face (As Per Ed)

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honslow

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richiekelly

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deep

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tortoise100

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quickcedo

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slime monster

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Ray Daywalker Clarke

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noknot

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