Ahh, the old pellet fly trick. Private fish ponds feed trout pellets, some are dog food pellets..the trout can grow huge, and accustom themselves to the pellet feeding time. The one time I was invited to fish a private pond, the rules were....no pellet flies! Private ponds, "Pay to Play" ponds are popular all across the country...and they can cost $200 a day to fish them per person. I don't care to fish them, but a lot of people do.
Your pond had catfish that were fed the pellets. There are automatic pellet feeders set to spray the pond with pellets at a certain time of day.

I fly fish for catfish and bass with my 8 wt rod twitching clouser minnows or crawdad flies on the bottom near vegetation.

So, I guess no one has actually fly fished for catfish anywhere but a private pond! I would love to hear about those experiences just to gain a bit of knowledge!

Late last spring while trying my best to find the absolute last steelhead in the creek. Caught what turned out to be an 11lb. cat on a black wooly bugger fished just off the bottom. Dang fish ran me 50-60 yards downstream.

A catfish in a steelhead stream? Talk about degrading a fine sportfish like a steelhead. Do carp run up that creek as well?

Catfish are nite feeders. All the catfishermen I ever knew went out at nite to catch them. Can't imagine a fly angler going out at nite, and fishing a still fly on the bottom. Catfish find their food by the use of their feelers detecting smell. What would you put on your fly?...tip them with power bait, or put "smelly jelly" on the fly?

That's the book on catfish. They do feed the most at nite relying on their feelers to sense/smell food. When I was young, and living in Northern Ohio, guys would get a case of beer, and head for Sandusky Bay, and fish for them along the Bay. Don't think they had a designated driver either.