Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations An epiphany regarding crappie in my BG pond

I have spent hours today reading theories regarding raising large BG. In doing so, I have come to believe that crappie may not be a bad predator fish to have if big (10"+) BG are the goal. Even to the point of letting them as well as all other predators purposely stunt.

In theory, fish with large gape such as CP & LMB will feed on those prey fish suitable to their gape. By allowing them to stunt, their prey size becomes regulated, thus as new forage (BG) are introduced, the smaller fish are fed upon, allowing a few to grow beyond the feeding capacity of the stunted predators.

When applying this theory in conjunction with removing any identifiable female BG larger than 5", returning all identifiable male BG to sexually mature (which should be delayed until they grow large enough to compete with the existing larger bulls) should set a stage for growing some really exceptional fish.

With adequate aeration to increase carrying capacity and supplemental feeding, I think my little mutt puddle might just be able to pull this off!

Is my thinking completely twisted??

Mike,
I'd like to hear others' opinions, as this thought has crossed my mind as well. I'm far from an expert crappie fisherman or expert on fish behavior, but I have a couple thoughts:
1. I feel confident that crappie could and would eat a decent number of YoY BG, if they frequently crossed paths and if the crappie didn't have many soft-rayed fusiform prey to choose from.
2. I question (as a very amateur crappie fisherman) if crappie and BG would have enough forced interaction for the crappie to control BG, in a medium-large BOW with a variety of habitats to pick from, with more normal predator-prey numbers. I think, completely based on my limited observations, that YoY BG typically stick to the shallows and cover close to shore, while adult crappie seem to stick closer to brush, vegetation, and submerged branches in a bit deeper water (as opposed to LMB, which will constantly cruise and get right up into the shallows as they hunt).
2.5. I think having a smaller BOW and having crappie being severely overpopulated would force more interactions to where crappie would do a better job (not sure if sufficient for trophy BG) of controlling BG.

I'm not totally sure either, Drew. It's going to be interesting to see what happens in the months/years to come. I'm still having to trap out YOY BG to help keep them in check. There are so many variables and "what ifs" that you cant foresee. Crappie are also very unreliable in spawning success. One year they may explode, the next nothing at all.

One thing about it, tho...the two species dont have much choice but to interact in my small pond. I've caught crappie on the outer edges of the main spawning ground so I know their hunting there. And with the steep grade of my shoreline, they dont have to move far to feed then move deep again.

I have them in my6 acre pond and they have not overpopulated as of yet (5)years. LMB is another story . Don’t know if they ( crappie) got off a spawn this year either with our crazy weather...... time will tell

Until I made this decision to allow them to exist in the pond, I had removed a total of 4, from 6 to 11 inches. I've since caught two more that were returned, well after when they should have spawned.

Due to not having much emergent plant life yet, they really dont have the spawning habitat they need to be very successful. I'm sure over time, that will change. I havent trapped any more yoy or bigger in the traps either, so for now the few adults I have are just another tool to help keep the BG under control. I know they are usually frowned upon in a bass pond, but my bass are equals to the crappie as well....tools.

I have a 1 3/4 acre pond full of schools of 7-9" crappie. The bluegill are not nearly as prevalent and of normal bluegill size - have not caught any over 8". The bass are mostly small though I have caught one 4.5-5lb bass. The bluegill might grow larger if I supplemented with pellets - something I intend to do (have only had pond a couple months) I think the crappie are eating most of the small forage - really are an amazing number of them in the pond - can see massive schools of small ones on my fish finder.

Sounds like you've had several very successful crappie spawns. Does your pond have a lot of shallow grass or is it pretty clean? Just curious. What kind of BG numbers do you estimate you have?

Unless you're trying to grow big crappie, I'd keep the bigger ones and leave the rest to stunt. They should feed sufficiently on the BG fry and yoy to keep their numbers in check.

If you supplement pellets to your BG, remove every female you catch and return every Male over 5" to the pond, you could see some really large BG in 2-3 years. This is only the second year I've fed pellets, and the first year of culling. My pond record thus far is 8.5". If I can ever get my predator base built up I hope to see some 10" gills in a couple more years.

The pond is now almost 3 years old, and all of its residents are natives that were either bucket stocked, transplanted thanks to hurricane Harvey, or immaculately conceived (just showed up).

I mostly catch bluegills by accident and throw them all back as I want to build up their numbers - been looking to add 200 or so full size bluegills. I don't really care about large bluegills - would rather have large numbers of breeding bluegills. The pond is mostly deeper water - tends to drop into 8" deep or deeper within 10' of shore - lots of lillypads along shore in the areas under 5' deep.

I wouldn't add crappie to a small pond as it seems rather insane how fast they breed but it's not such a bad "problem" - I suspect the bigger bass in the pond mostly eat crappie.

With such a deep, quick drop and a lot of pads lining the shoreline, that may be part of the issue... not enough good BG spawning area. It doesn't take a lot of space, but you may want to look into clearing some shallows (out to about 4' deep) a bit so the BG have good bedding area with ample sunlight. It will only help the entire food chain. 200 3-5" BG will definitely increase your recruitment if they have a place to make babies. They are a bit more expensive if you plan to purchase, tho.

Keep in mind, a LMB will target forage up to 1/3 it's own length. So if you have several 16"+ LMB, a lot of those stockers will become food at a rate of 3-4/day/bass. It all depends on your goals for the pond as to how to manage your predator base.

I added 300 small bluegill and redears (1" to 3" )last month - haven't found a source that has larger ones in stock. The one end of the pond is a bit shallower - drops from weeds into 5'-6' of water - catch most bluegills in that area. Also caught the big bass there.

I have BCP, LMB and BG in my pond....among others. It can be a delicate balance. The pond used to have decent bluegills 6-8", a great amount of 10"+ eater crappie (with some up to 15") and a nice mix of bass. Soon the bass dwindled, bg and bcp stunted. Now its a total mess in the process of getting back to a big bcp and bg pond.

I would say it is entirely possible to have BCP in a pond and keep them under "control" but it is a delicate balance and you'll have your hands full.

Pre and post BCP time of year I can easily pick off 100+ from 5-6" in an afternoon of fishing weed edges.

I firmly believe if you have a predator heavy pond you have a better chance of keeping bcp and bg in check....for a while

Was this a pond you did the initial stocking of? I'm optimistic I can improve the balance in my pond as it hasn't been actively managed for at least 5 years until my purchase of the property. Former owners ex-husband had bucket stocked it with crappie and perch. So far I've removed (and eaten) at least 80 crappie and one white perch (only one I've caught) - all bass and bluegill have been thrown back.

yes its the pond I'm trying to turn around....it is going to be a long process but since its the HOA pond, long is the only option I had.

I totally have faith that working to improve balance can pay off, just be aware it will take time and effort. The easy way out is to drain, kill and restock.

For what its worth the average size of my fish has been steadily but slowly increasing since I restocked the pond to be predator heavy about 18 months ago.

Look into passive methods like cloverleaf traps and/or trot lines. This reminds me I need to start trapping my pond again very soon.