MN Fisherman, I'm in SE South Dakota which should be similar to your situation.
When you talk about crappie and walleye, I'm guessing that the primary purpose of your lake is to produce fish to eat. Is this true? Can you explain your thinking about the species you want to have a bit more?
I certainly agree with Dave Willis. He is successfully managing a number of lakes with crappie using the techniques he described.
We have both black and white crappie without any problem. Keep in mind our goals for our lake. We use it primarily for kids, handicapped and elderly fishing. It is all catch and release and is fished 5-6 days a week. We want and have a very high catch rate (about a fish every 2-5 minutes per rod). Bluegill are 7-10 inches, LMB & SMB are 10-18 inches, HSB are 10-14 inches and the crappie are 8-12 inches. What all of this does is provide a very high predator base and they hold the crappie in check very well.
