Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Why not croppie

MN Fish - First get your fatheads stocked. If money is an object then you will need time to wait for a minnow spawn (one summer) to produce lots of small forage fish. Brood fish fathead stocking about 10-13 lbs in one ac. Money buys time, when it comes to stocking fish by size or quantity. If money is not limiting then buy about as much forage fish (minnows)as what can be produced during a summer's spawning. This should amount to abt 60-100 lbs of adult minnows to buy or raise. These small forage fish will feed your first introductions of sport fish.

Based on what has been discussed above AND my experiences with crappie, I think you should stock walleye (bass) and let them get to 8" to 12" long before you stock the first blk crappie. An option would to buy the stocker walleye at 8"-10" long OR when minnows are or become abundant then stock 3"-5" walleye and wait for walleye growth. You want predators (8"-12" bass-walleye) present when the crappie spawn the 1st time. Your blk crappie spawn could be like bz's or fishfird's; prolific or sporatic. Either way, you want this size of predator present to heavily crop the 1"-2.5" crappie when they appear. Expect crappie to spawn at sizes mentioned by Dr. Willis. Crappie and your predator will quickly deplete your minnow base as these sport fish grow to the next size increments. As a result the Fathead minnows will not be the backbone of your forage fish if your pond is the typically managed 1 ac pond. Fathead minnows serve to jump start a fishery and rarely persist in quantity for the long term (post 3-6yrs).

Dr. Willis mentioned that blk crappie will eat and survive on lots of invertebrates. True. But blk crappie also like and will eat lots of minnows when small fish are common. Often the blk crappie I catch have small fish in their gut (minnows, shiners, sunfish, bgill, bass, etc).

I think a yellow perch / walleye andor SM bass fishery would be easier for you to manage and a more rewarding fishery at 1 acre. Y perch bite year round. You know how they taste. We easily grow 12"-13" yellow perch in OH & IN in 1/3 to 1 acre ponds. A few of the perch get to 14"-15" long with proper management. A few Blk Crappie can be added to this fishery when it becomes established after 5 to 7 yrs. Large yellow perch will help prey on small 1/2"-1.7" crappie.