Hi Peter,
Rarely do cats bother fish in the pond.

Three possiblities things:
Wait for the fish to show back up.
They do that. It could be wedged between a plant pot and the side.
or
The fish jumped out during spawning activity. I've had a 10 inch koi land at my
feet once.
Then a cat, or other animal, would carry off a find like that.
or
You've been visited by a heron or kingfisher.

If that is the case you can try:
- bird netting over the pond, usually the best method
- put in an pond shock fence, lays out over the water at the edge
- a motion activated sprinkler
- heron scarer - decoy that gives live fish the time to hide when the predator
goes after the decoy first
(go to froogle.com to find these products)
- Migratory Bird Act forbids lethal methods,
heavy fines and jail time take away from pond time ;-)

good luck!


kathy :-)
algae primer
http://hometown.aol.com/ka30p/myhomepage/garden.html