Dark cloud is a swarm or school of babby catfish

I have seen this several times in the years past around this time of year. Looks like a big dark fish at first then I realize its hundreds of baby catfish!
https://youtu.be/8we4vV2fQ60

I have also seen this.

Looks like baby mud cats. I once had the misfortune of stepping on one of those clouds while seining for minnows. Had two of those things stuck in the bottom of my foot. One of the most painful things I ever felt. Couldn't even wear a shoe for about 2 weeks. Foot swelled up twice its size.

Puzzling

Instinct

Where's Ol TXMedic and his tapped cast net when you need him

Mudcat and I have seen BowFin do the same thing

Quick... Get em Nicky boy Get em!!!!!

Look like bullheads, that would be my go to flathead bait pond now

I've seen it a zillion times. When I was a kid, we'd blast them with cherry bombs. I hate bullheads.

Obviously no big channel cats in that pond because they would've devoured those nasty little suckers

I had that cloud swimming around my pond (about 10 months old) and thought it was tadpoles. As they got bigger, they turned out to be catfish. They are about 1-2 inches long now. I put in about 5 blues and 5 channels in the pond last summer, so hoping its from them and not some bird/nature-transplanted bullheads.

The channels and blues will eat up those little bullheads.

That will do the trick dinner is served.Every fresh dug pond or lake will have bullheads and bream in them without any stocking.I even drained a pond dry so as to stock it with bait perch only to find a black wadd swiming in it and right under it was the mama bowfin /grennel that Bowfin can tunnel down into the mud and come back up when it rains.

We've got a stock pond in east Texas and it has a few bullheads in it, but they're all big, this pond has a healthy population of bass, channel cats, crappie, and sunfish of several varieties. Whenever we catch one he gets thrown to the banks, but it's very rarely that occurance happens because I think the big channel cats and bass eat those little bullheads before they get a chance to take over. Those bullheads will straight up take over a pond that lacks a good population of predator fish though

I once had a 55 gallon aquarium I kept perch and minnows in-
Aslo ran into a cloud like this and managed to get 3 into a cup and took them back to my aquarium-
One lived a couple of years and got 12 or so inches long -
This was a bullhead-

Definetly mud cats, yellow cats or bullhead how ever you wanna call them. They are a pest when I am carp fishing ponds

Bullhead or Blue? Tail isn't super forked, but isn't exactly straight either.

im 99% sure that is a bulhead, you need to get some bass or some more channel cats in that pond soon or they'll take over. Channels, blues, and bass will eat them until they get big.