My pond has all but dried up and I get to start over from scratch this year due to a summer kill last year and winter kill about a month ago.

I have about 1.5 acre pond when it has more water in it. (First time in 25 years its ever had a kill). I'm looking at starting out with 500 CC, 500 BG and 1000 FHM. Then a year after those, stocking 100 LMB.

Is this a good plan? And is there any one on here that can get some really good prices on the above? I won't be able to make this plan happen unless I find a killer price for it.

Thanks.

First fix the problem that caused the kill..

Summer kill was due to lack of oxygen, partially caused by introducing alfalfa to help clear the water. I will be installing an aeration system before stocking.

Second kill is caused by lack of water. Worst drought in over 25 years. Can't do much about that one...

Once the pond refills I plan to take my chance and restock, may never see this kind of drought again for as long as I live here. Can't afford to dig it out, already at the water table, or drill a well to supply it.

SP, agreeing with bgk on fixing the problem first, there are many good qualified folks here that will chime in regarding your stocking plan and maybe a few newbies like me that can share in what NOT to do

After my fish-kill in June I didn't spend enough time here researching and ended up stocking predators long before the forage base was established. After stocking around 100 4-8" BG in my 2 acre pond (and no time to allow a spawn) I stocked 100 LMB and 100 HSB, then a few months later added about 200 more 1-3" BG, which likely just fed the LMB and HSB.

So if there's one thing about stocking I've learned is be sure and establish your forage base first (as well as adequate structure). I'm now hoping my LMB and HSB haven't grown too much by spring that I can still get enough adult BG stocked to get that forage base somewhat established. Otherwise I can see myself constantly chasing my tail, trying to get ahead.

Again I'm sure others will chime as I'm far from knowledgable but the 500 CC sounds awful heavy for reasons of predation, being hook-shy and really stirring up the water.

I like the aeration plan.. And the forage first method.. I'd even go as far as giving the forage a year to grow before adding predators it can only help. Also I wouldn't rule out droughts as a common occurrence from here on out..

Are you guys referring to the CC as the predator in the intial stocking? Do you think the 4-6" CC will prey on 2-3" BG?

CC when they reach about 2# will then tend to take to live forage and will be competition for the LMB. Until then the CC will mainly feed on pellet food if feed on a regular schedule. However LMB will also feed on smaller CC if your CC are in a breeding envirmoent. Most people tend to want to grow the largest LMB possible and often do not want the extra forage competition.

I see. I do plan on buying a feeder to run once a day. I don't need the largest LMB possible, a few good size ones would be good. We definetly want decent size CC in there though. The CC we will catch to eat, most everything else will be catch & release until they need pulled out.

On another note, I do plan on introducing enough CC breeding structure to hopefully get them breeding in my pond again. I have heard from neighbors around that my pond use to be a CC only fish farm a few years ago. I've only owned this place for a year.

I'm going to ask this question again, simply because I keep hearing different responses and want the pro's opinion on it. Are Black Crappie less likely to over take a pond then White Crappie?

The answer is Yes and that is from an overall view of the 2 fish. Most ponds tend to have a influx of muddy water. There is some evidence that black crappie may be less likely to overpopulate if a pond should have muddy waters.
You can read it right here on page 2 of 4.
http://mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/resources/2010/05/4916_2863.pdf

If you are wondering if you can put BCP in small ponds the answer is yes. It just takes alot of management to make sure the pond does not get over popultated.

That is a perfect article! Thanks Tums! That's exactly what I wanted to hear and since my pond is about 20' off my back deck, I think the management will be fairly easy to stay on top of.

The article states only stocking 100 CC per acre in a pond, but every where else I have seen has said 500 - 700 per acre along with 500 BG per acre and 150 LMB per acre. What rates should I go with? Also, I would now like to add in 100 BCP to my stocking plan, would that be a fair amount? Thanks.

I'd stay with the 100/acre. Also, I'd really advise against going with the Crappie. You can add them later once you get the pondmeistering thing down pat, but I'd hate to see you have to kill it all and start over ig the Crappie were to get out of hand.

Going more than the 100 CC/acre might lead to turbid water.

Cody Note the MO article about crappies says:
"" Turbid water is not good for raising black crappie. A conservative landowner will wait a couple years for the bass/bluegill community to become partly developed, then stock adult crappie as noted."" As alternative way to have crappie in smaller ponds see Bill Cody's article titled "Crappie As A Bonus, Plus Growth Rates and Sexing" in the Mar-Apr 2013 Pond Boss Magazine.

Lots of information on here about the stocking crappie in small ponds... do a search.

Thanks for the info. I’ve done a lot of reading on BCP & WCP on this site but it seems like it’s almost a 50/50 split or maybe a 60/40 split in favor of not stocking Crappie in small ponds. I just wanted to ask for myself and see if there was any new info out there I haven’t seen yet and I had not seen that article Tums posted.

I would most likely wait to introduce the BCP until I had a decent LMB population established. However, if I were start to notice a problem, wouldn’t trapping help get it back under control? Along with excessive angling? This pond usually gets fished 5 times a week during the spring, summer & fall, so I would assume that we would catch the issue pretty fast if one arose.

The reason I liked the higher number of CC is because last year we caught around 450 fish out of the pond. Granite the majority of them was BH and GSF but it still made for a good time. I just want to make sure there is an adequate amount of fish to catch without going overboard. That’s why I am asking, I may be going overboard and not even know it.

If you stock too many then as you say you can catch them out fishing 5 times a week. Removing CC and crappie should be more fun than catching BH and GSF. Remove the CC as you catch them. Catch and release catfish tends to make them hook smart and hard to catch the second time and even very difficult the third time.

Was your pond completely dry?

I would guess that the experts opinion on this site are more like 90% do not stock vs. 10% stocking of Crappie in a small pond. Lots of people want them, but few experts (none that I can recall) are for it.

I have a shipment BCP that supposed to be delivered this week for a 3 acre pond. Now with that being said I will also state that I am doing crappie for the first time on a small scale. I have been doing pond fish for many years. I am thinking BCP is going to be by far the hardest fish I will have had to manage in a small pond. Schmidts I did not link that article intending to influence you to stock Crappie and was just answering the question you asked. I am stocking them in a pond that I will be willing to drain and start over at anytime. That is why the fish are in a pond I can drain in a day & let dry out. Then I can refill it in 2 weeks when I get ready with my High volume well and start over. Please make sure you know what want and the risk before you make your final decisions.

It is not completely dry, but it did freeze solid in January, you could even see some fish frozen in the ice.

I have read it seems like a huge management concern. But it also seems like BCP vs WCP is less of a concern. That's what I meant with the 50/50 statement. Like I said, if I were to try it, it would be a couple years down the road after the LMB are established. The reason I like the idea of BCP is because they are one of the best fish to eat and I like the diversity of species in the pond.

I am more concerned at this point with getting the right amount of CC and BG in to start off with. When considering the amount of BG to stock would RES be included in that number or be stocked additionally to that number?

Also, I had crawads in the pond last year, how many pounds would I need to restock?

RES would be a bonus not included in your BG #'s

I bet you still have crawdads if you have the correct structure. Otherwise I would stock 10 lbs if you are going to wait a year on forage. Higher number if less wait time for forage time.

If your goal is good sized LMB, then the suggested stocking rate of BG has increased in the recent past from 1,000/acre to 2,000/acre.

Is there any benefit to stocking RES other than fish diversity?

Last night I saw some movement in the water that looked like something swimming around so there is still some life in there. I am sure there are some crawdads left, but I want to put in some more for forage. Thanks for the info on how many pounds to start with.

Wow, that seems like a lot of BG. Are those all stocked at once at 2-3" then left alone for a year before stocking LMB?

BTW, here are a couple pictures of the pond so you guys can see how low it is.

RES will eat snails and small clams, breaking up the life cycle of parasitic grubs.

Alright, after absorbing all of this information and doing some more reading on FHM stocking, I am leaning towards this stocking method. Would this have a more successful outcome then my previous plan?

Assuming we get some rain in March…
March 2013 – 1000 FHM, 700 (1 - 3”) BG, 100 (1 - 3”) RES & 10 lbs of Crawdads
May 2013 – 300 (4 - 6”) CC
April 2014 – 100 (4 - 6’) LMB

I'd wait until April 2014 to stock the LMB and CC together. At that time I'd stock the next size larger CC, probably 6"-9". Price difference would be minimal, and if you fed them a good food, you could be harvesting them for the table in the Fall.

Just remember that as a general rule, I've found when given a fish size "slot", a greater % of fish delivered are usually on the small end of the slot vs the large end.