Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Interesting catch last night

So i was out at dusk doing my normal 20m nightly fish and I caught a 12in Crappie! I have caught a few in the spring but they were all about 5-6in. I threw them all out due to the size of my pond I was told to keep them out. What should I do if I continue to catch these. Am I doing the right thing keeping them out. I filleted the 12in one up last night and made some decent slabs of meat. Should I continue removing the small ones or should I wait until they are this size. My pond is 3/4 of an acre and 17ft deep.

jstiz, I'm not aware of your goals for fish in your pond but if BCP (Black Crappie) are not a part of those goals, I'd remove them all.

I had a fish-kill in June of last year. I restocked with LMB, BG and HSB, and in April of this year realized that the BCP YOY must have survived as I started catching them at about 4-6" in size. Since April I've removed over 1500 and will still catch them most every time I fish, which like you is usually daily.

I know I've thinned them out but to what extent I don't know. I just know I want as many removed as possible before next year's spawn, otherwise I'm afraid they'll out-compete the LMB for forage.

IMO, catch and release to the grease!

Again, depending on your goals.

Also its fall stocking time soon and I would like to add something fun to catch other than bass and bluegill:) Could I stock HSB or Yellow perch or ... Something that wouldn't take over my pond but still survive in it?

With LMB established in the pond (what size are they?) it might be hard to have high survival rates of YP. For a bonus fish, I'd take a hard look at HSB. They are available in sizes that are too large for the LMB to eat, don't reproduce, grow pretty quickly if fed a high quality food, and can pull a LMB backwards inch for inch.

Thanks esshup! What kind of food would you recommend and should I stock fall or spring now?

Also I'm thinking the 8-10in size stocking but how many would you do in pond my size?

Food:

Whatever you can get that is high protein (40%+) and fish meal based. I use Purina AquaMax (now Sportifsh), but Silvercup and Zeigler is just as good. It all depends on what's available in your area. I can't get Silvercup or Zeigler locally, but Purina is readily available.

If you can get 'em, stock some HSB in the 10"-12" range and feed them 1/4" sized fish pellets. Feed as much as they will consume in 15 minutes. It's best to feed the exact same time every day, from the same spot. The fish will get used to the feeding schedule and will be waitinf for you. There's solar powered automatic feeders on the market too. I use one on my personal pond, as I'm not home every evening or every morning to hand feed the fish. Feed until the water temps drop into the lower 50°F range, and resume when it hits that in the Spring.

You can also stock Rainbow Trout in your pond for the Fall/Winter/Spring. They'll usually go belly up when water temps get above 70°F, so fish them out in the Spring.

At times, I'm an impatient person. I'd rather get them in now if they are available rather than wait until the Spring.

I like your thinking! Thanks for all the great info!! I may give the RBT a thought too.. Maybe just a few of those. Will they grow much during fall winter spring?

Growth depends on how much they eat. I feed mine all winter long, and 2 years ago I stocked 2# RBT in my pond in late October. When the last ones died in July, they were 24" and 7#.

Talked to a RBT seller here in southern Indiana really cool guy and said he would sell me a few. Really excited to try these out. Will they eat all winter long ??

Yes, they will. What size are you stocking?

2 lbs

Add HSB in the 10-12 inch range as esshup noted. Good thing is they will eat a bunch of small crappie and pellets as well.

Well I was back out this weekend thinning out the Catfish herd with my nephews and was quite surprised. In 30m we had caught a 24in channel, a 28in flathead and a 22in flathead. I didn't even know the Flatheads were in the pond. I imagine that the catfish population is quite high if we quite that many in 30m. Should I really hammer down on trying to get these big cats out? I feel like my bass aren't growing worth a crap and have a feeling its due to all these CATS! Two things are flatheads good to eat?? And whats the best way to catch them? I was fishing with a 4in bluegill

Flatheads are good to eat, and using a BG for bait is an excellent way to catch them. I would definitely work on removing them, as they are voracious predators. ( then again, so is a 24" CC)

What Spark said. Flatheads at all sizes are predators and you'll have better luck catching them using live bait. Channel cats, while also predators, are scavengers as well and can be caught using a variety of methods that don't necessarily have to be live bait. Flatheads of all sizes are good on the table. Channel cats, however, tend to be good only to a certain size. A lot of people don't suggest eating channel cats over 10 pounds. At that size, they've resorted to scavenging instead of utilizing live forage as their primary diet.

Thanks guys truthfully I had never seen a flathead and it was exciting at first but then once I saw its mouth it worried me with how much fish its probably been eating. Well I guess I will start saving up all the fillets in the freezer for lent.

I really hope this helps out my bass population and bass size. They seem to have some trouble growing past the 14-16in size.

I will have to post the pics of my nephews with the fish. It was my one nephews fist catch! He was nothing but smiles all night after that. That's the best feeling of all, getting a young kid hooked on fishing.

What size classes of BG are you seeing currently?

Bg are heavy in the 3-5in range but a few bigger ones not really seeing many get past the 5in range... Could that be from the Cats too?? I know they are spawning and I see a lot of baby fish in the shorelines. I see them getting drilled though with big splashes and swirls from either cats or LMB close to the shore.. It's bad because when i feed, the BG eat like crazy at first but then the CC's scare them away and they hardly get any food.

Perhaps those Flats could be affecting the BG population in such a way that the size class of BG you need to push the Bass past that 16" mark are too few in numbers...The CC running the BG off feed isn't helping things, either.

The size of the pond, and the numbers of 14-16" LMB play a role also, in my opinion. Is it a case of too many Bass that size, for the forage you have available?

There are not many things better than this jstiz. Congrats.



I think Tony nailed it, especially consider the frequency you caught those cats. If bigger largemouth is your goal, it would be in your best interest to rid the pond of as many cats as you can as well as skinny male largemouth.