Yes, it's still available. It's just very difficult to find. I don't know if this is accurate, but I do believe it's only ever in the main pond, not in either of the small ones on the other side of each bridge. If it does spawn in either of those, I've never seen it.
Of course with it being Rank 1, there is pretty much no utility spell available that will help you narrow down your search other and Winnow Ice so that at the very least you don't have to keep casting Reveal Fish School.
It's been so long since I've caught one, but if I remember correctly, it swims very slow. That doesn't help a lot since in that big fishing area, I think only Icecuda's spawn and they swim slow as well. But the Cranky Catfish swims even slower.
Sorry there's no easier way to find it. The only fish I find worse to find is the Errol Fynn because there are 3 Balance fish that swim fast in Ravenwood, and they're all Rank 1. The Krokotopian Eel is probably on par with the Cranky Catfish for being difficult to find.
Truth is you're going to catch a lot of "junk" fish just because it's difficult to pass up on a fish that you just aren't sure about. Some of my wizards caught on their first time fishing in the Commons, others took anywhere from a week to a month to find one.
