Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations When to start harvesting bass?

channel cats are fine, but some think they become hard to catch as they get larger. Also any predator that is taking up biomass is taking away from the bass, but if your trying to make everyone happy I would add some. I do think you should get some of the bass out first. ON crappie most think the pond should be 25-100 acres before they are considered. It can be done in a pond that size with management.

No need to add anymore predators until you decide to do with what you have currently. There are a few other issues with catfish like they can make the water a little muddy at times. Crappie are hard to manage for a couple reasons, they spawn before bass so the young of year (yoy) crappie get a head start on yoy bass, and even get big enough to eat the yoy bass. Also crappie have an unpredictable spawn, sometimes they spawn in huge numbers and have lots of yoy sometimes hardly anything.

Think of all your forage fish as a pie, and then all your predators as people that want a slice, to grow big fish you either need more pie or less people to split it with, make sense? In your case I would suggest more pie and less people!