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Catfish Ranch

Mike do you know anything about trout? I have a 150 gal. per minuite spring on a place I rent with . It used to have a tank around it . I would assume It would hold several fish. I'll look for a pic.
 
Here is the spring. The retaining wall used to hold water but it is about 100 years old and is rotted out. It used to have a pipe coming out of the top of the tank with a long run of pipe which ran a ram pump. They pumped water to the top of a hill next to it. About 75ft rise I guess.
100_3284.jpg
 
Red Robin said:
Mike do you know anything about trout? I have a 150 gal. per minuite spring on a place I rent with . It used to have a tank around it . I would assume It would hold several fish. I'll look for a pic.
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Not much market around here for trout, but I bet people would pay to catch them! I know they do it in Gatlinburg, Tn. and have to stock the creek every few days.

Some of these catfish farms let people fish and charge them $1.50 to $1.75 per lb/live.

I'm pretty sure trout (unlike bass) will eat fish food.

That sure is a clear stream. Are we looking upcreek or downcreek?
 
You are looking at the source. It comes out of that rock. Behind that concrete wall it's only about a foot or so deep but to go over the top of the wall like it used to , it would be about 3 ft I guess.
 
DOC HARRIS said:
Mike said:
baling wire said:
Whats the rate of gain? I have heard the feed eff. is real good.
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BW,
When they are fingerlings it is said that they will put on a lb. of gain for each lb. of feed. As they get larger the efficiency goes down exponentially.

Problem is................the processors (packers :wink: ) have figured out that it takes just as much labor to process a small fish as it does a larger fish, thereby wanting the producer to grow them to larger sizes taking much more feed. The feed is a 36% floating feed that's around $350.00 per ton.

The Vietnam fish exported here have all but killed the catfish market in recent years.

Doc,
That's exactly what it looks like. A school of Pirhana. There's a guy down the road who has a Jack Russel Terrier that will dive in when he is feeding his and catch them. It's a funny sight! That poor little dog has holes all in his mouth where the fish have "finned" him, but he keeps going back in!

When a catfish farmer gets ready to sell a pond of fish, the processor sends a representative out to catch a couple, skin them on the spot, set up his cooker and cook some for a "flavor test", right there on the pond bank. They pay according to the sweet flavor of the grain fed fish. "Off Flavor" fish get docked a bunch.
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When I was a little kid, we used to "sein" fish for catfish in a tributary of the Missouri River in Mo. (against the Law! but this was during the Depression - and we liked to eat once in a while!). I stepped on a gunny sack full of cats and stuck one of those 'needle sharp' whiskers in my bare foot!!! :shock: :mad: Sucker hurt for two weeks. But I like grilled catfish the way Ruthie fixes it!

DOC HARRIS
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Only one fish in my opinion can beat fried catfish and that is fried crappie. Especially when they come from cool water in the spring or fall. We have a lot of people around here that commercial fish but the pond raised catfish are just superior to the ones caught out of the lakes or river.
You're right DOC about the fin of a catfish hurting. Most of the time it will cause some infection in the area.
 
M Gravlee said:
Mike,

Here's some pics I shot when we were harvesting one of the ponds:

http://catfishnews.com/catfish/photos.php
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That's BIG TIME fish farming Macon!

Where are those ponds? There are quite a few big operations around Greensboro - Uniontown, but not many that big in my immediate area. That I know of.

Hate to pay that feed bill for a season!
Thanks
 
M Gravlee said:
Mike,

Here's some pics I shot when we were harvesting one of the ponds:

http://catfishnews.com/catfish/photos.php
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How many fish do you miss in your round up?
 

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