# Will they spawn?



## Star1pup (Aug 3, 2004)

I'm curious. Lake Tomahawk is a 150 acre private lake and there is some deep water of almost 50'. Also shallow coves. We occasionally have stocked channel catfish and I wonder if they will reproduce.


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

There's no reason they shouldn't. The habitat may determine how successful they are.


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## rustyfish (Apr 27, 2004)

They usually find a way. May not be a great turn out but some will at least try. Even though they are cavity spawners, they they can be pretty creative as far as what a cavity is. If there are downed trees in the water it can create some places for them to nest, if not they will go to work on a bank and fan out under some roots.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

yes! they will find many places to spawn. I have fished many small ponds over the yrs that were only stocked with cats a few times. and have caught bunches of small cats out of them where they were reproducing.

my wifes grandmother had a very small pond and it hadn't been stocked with cats in many yrs. but we always was able to catch a good stringer of them every time we went fishing. cats will survive just about anywhere and will reproduce.
sherman


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## katfish (Apr 7, 2004)

From what I have observed, channel cats can and do spawn in small lakes.
But recruitment involves eggs to finally grow into spawning size fish.

If there is enough good cover for fry to survive to 7-8 inches the channel cat population can grow. I asked a hatchery manager if he worried that unclaimed eggs from brooder ponds might overpopulate it with little channel cats. He said there was no problem because a few rock bass in the pond would eat ALL the catfish fry.

There is a good reason the ODNR stocks some of Ohio lakes with massive
amounts of channel cats. Predation may not be the only loss but it is known that channel cats do not sustain themselves in many lakes.


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## throbak (Jul 8, 2012)

catfish fry ball up in open water,, because of this they get eaten up pretty thoroughly


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## TurtleJugger (Jun 2, 2013)

Saw schools of catfish fry at Stonelick right next to the bank. Thought they were channels or maybe bullhead fry cuz there's a ton of yellow bellies in Stonelick lake. They looked like floating black masses in the water.


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