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#400390 02/10/15 08:06 PM
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Ok guys lets get this party started! This should be very helpful to the folks that love crappie.
My crappie have been in the pond for 1 year now. They were 4-5" and now are around 9-12" long . Does that sound normal at this point? They don't seem to be thin.

Pat W

Last edited by Pat Williamson; 02/10/15 08:23 PM.
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Sorry Pat..my bad!!! I will move my stuff here and delete my post.

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IME - Black crappies love to eat! And bigger than I originally thought!



2.5" GSF eaten by 6" BCP



3" Rapala eaten by a 7" BCP

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Relative weights Pat? 5" to 10" in one season...WOW...I'm jealous!!


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Yes - very good idea. Let's get some lengths and weights of your crappie.

We also should document what types of predators and other minnows or forage fish are your pond. Amount of weed cover will also be very good information.


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Rotenone is a management tool..................... wink laugh


www.hoosierpondpros.com


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).
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Pat,

Please provide a few stats on your pond as well such as size, depth, vegetation, structure, forage, predators, etc.

Last edited by Bill D.; 02/10/15 09:22 PM.

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Originally Posted By: esshup
Rotenone is a management tool..................... wink laugh


It sure is Esshup! But you better not let me catch you killing the magnificent BCP with it...or else! grin


I've been doing the BCP thing for awhile now here in MN and I can't get relative weights over 110%. With most in the 90-95% range. 12" crappies in 5-6 years.
I would love to read what guys are doing to get the relative weights above 110%

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I guess I need to get a digital scale- how much damage will handling these fish- since I'm releasing them because this is their first year and this spring will be their first spawn. These are the broodstock so I don't want to damage them. Yet!
I had stocked 800/200 CNBG/ RES at the same time as the 300 BCP. Also added 50 1-1-1/2# CNBG from a neighboring pond. Also 50# FHMs added. Last early summer swarms of LMB showed up along shorelines. Bucket stocked adults I guess,anyway they and the crappie ate all the forage including YOY CNBG. Set minnow trap and caught no YOY. Since then I added 50/50 a Shiner/ FHMs to get my babies(BCP) through till the spawn this spring. There is brush piles/ cedar trees , one rockpile on top of 4 pallets, and about 1ac. Flooded timber/ brush/ youpon in the creek .

Pat W

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My pond if it ever fills up will be 5ac+- hard to say with the seasonal creek. Right now 5' low and 10' deep


Esshup....... Shame on you! Lol they such purdy fish

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laugh

I thought I'd point that out in case anybody was interested. wink grin


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The initial stocker fish of almost all species into a new pond almost always show rather impressive growth rates. The challenge, especially with crappies is maintaining that growth rate or even one near after they begin spawning.

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I can tell you that I'm on year 5 of my pond and the BCP have never looked better...I've not caught a single thin one yet. I use LMB and HSB as management tools, with forage of RES and plain BG, and yearly stocking of FHM from a brood pond.

So far so good.


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I have been managing BCP for 12 years now in my ponds and friends ponds here in MN. Small BOW two acres or less.

My three must do's EVERY year are simple. Harvest, harvest, and yep you guessed it, harvest. I monitor relative weights EVERY year. To ensure I am harvesting enough fish. Don't be like me and be intimidated with fish tagging! IMHO- It's a fantastic tool for monitoring and a lot of fun.




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Where would I buy a digital scale and would weighing it damage the fish?


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X2 on the harvesting requirements....last year (2014) I removed 451 crappie from my pond. This year my plan is to do something around 300 or so.

As long as I can continue to catch them A) in abundance and B) in good to very good health then I think I'm on the right track.


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Dlowrance and mnfish,

Please provide a few stats on your ponds such as size, depth, vegetation, structure, forage, predators, etc. I think that info could be helpful in the future when comparing success stories to not so successful stories.


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Originally Posted By: Pat Williamson
Where would I buy a digital scale and would weighing it damage the fish?


Pat

Pat, this is a good one. You can put a small tub with water on top, then zero it out before you weight the fish.
scale


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Originally Posted By: FireIsHot
Originally Posted By: Pat Williamson
Where would I buy a digital scale and would weighing it damage the fish?


Pat

Pat, this is a good one. You can put a small tub with water on top, then zero it out before you weight the fish.
scale


That is a good looking scale! I might have to get me one of those. It would present a lot more professional than the one I took from my wife's kitchen...shhhhh don't tell her it was me, she still thinks it was one of my daughters blush

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MNfish what do your crappie eat? What are you forage base?


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BillD. says: "Please provide a few stats on your ponds such as size, depth, vegetation, structure, forage, predators, etc. I think that info could be helpful in the future when comparing success stories to not so successful stories." This is a very good suggestion. Quality sized crappie are definitely not as easy to produce as most other panfish.

If you provide some crappie growing stories or photos please provide some info about the water body size, depth, predators, and the forage species or a link describing your pond's history/background. It would also be helpful to add some info about amount and type of cover or habitat. With this information we can start to see a pattern as to what types of water and conditions will consistently grow good sized crappie. There is definitely a good balance that will produce quality crappie populations in ponds. We just need to figure out what those pond characteristics are for a 'healthy' crappie fishery.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 02/12/15 10:05 AM.

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The pond I mention is an odd shaped pond, between 5-6 surface acres in size, max depth of 28 feet with average depth of 12. Fairly steep banks for the most part, with the far north end of the northeast cove/neck being the only larger shallow area.

See here for visual:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.2325753,-89.988563,602m/data=!3m1!1e3

Current population of RES, BG, BCP, LMB, a very few CC and I hope still some HSB after last fall's fish kill.

Vegetation is probably 20-30% coverage most years, with coontail and water primrose alternating as the primary vegetation year to year it seems like. No real explanation for this, last year I had virtually no primrose, the year before my banks were 80-90% covered. The banks are steep enough in most places that when the primrose is in control it only spreads out maybe 6 feet into the water column...8 tops.

Water clarity varies from 12" to 30" visibility depending on the time of year.

I would quantify the forage base as good to very good. Minnow trap sampling shows good population diversity of multiple year classes of all species save CC and HSB (obviously).

Overabundance of structure as can be seen in the pic...the Northeast channel is completely full of submerged and partially submerged trees. It's almost unfishable, and comprises almost 1/3 of the water volume based on my calculations.


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Everything stated below is from my experiences and observations here in MN ONLY. They are only my experiences/opinions and in no way should be considered scientific fact. I am a little reluctant to post some of my findings because they are not of conventional thinking. Please keep in mind your location and results may differ greatly from mine!

My observations (the bolded statements are the patterns that I have observed for successful BCP ponds here in MN):

I have helped build and manage close to 20 ponds here in MN over the last 12 years. It's really a network of guys working together that enjoy everything wildlife. Most of the guys, like me, have multiple ponds. We have BOW ranging in size from 1/10 to 2 acres. Most of the ponds have BCP's in them. And all of them are producing what I would consider acceptable BCP's (over 8" with 90% RW or better)

Small bodies of water, less than 2 acres


When I am asked about creating a pond here in MN, I get the same questions EVERY time. The number one question, besides permitting, is the pond depth question. Almost every time, with the right location and hydrology, my suggestion is never deeper than 8' with an average of 4'. Ideally 25-50% of the pond surface area less than 2’. I read somewhere, probably right here on PondBoss, that 90% of all natural occurring food for fish is produced in 1’ of water or less. I believe it and design to it! That nasty smelling, shallow, mucky bottom, is the grocery store for BCP’s. (this strategy for pond construction gets challenged A LOT but the results are proving it sound!)

Shallow overall depths,8’ max with average depths of 4’, high % of organic bottom

Most of the 20 ponds are dugouts and most are highly organic. Meaning greater than 50% of the pond bottom is made up of peat. This is where I believe the Lion’s share of the food is produced for the BCP consumption. I am not exaggerating when I state, there is a new bug hatch every week during the summer and fall months. The word of the day… Entomology!

BOW that produces high counts of bug life

Most of the 20 ponds have a mixture of all kinds of fish. Mostly bucket stocked initially. Channel cats, largemouth bass, black bullheads, bluegills, pumpkinseeds green sunfish, and yellow perch. Most of the ponds are wetland type ponds. They contain stickle back minnows, fatheads, mud minnows and golden shiners. Most of the guys want fish to eat and have a place to entertain family and friends. Harvest the pond….hard! Without exception EVERY BCP comes out with the exception of between 9-12”. They go back. Fishing most likely won’t be enough. Trapping, culling and sorting is usually needed.

Intensive harvest every year

Hope this helps!

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Dlowrance- Can't remember where you posted some pics but you should post those pics of your crappies here...they are beasts!

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Mnfish
Got a dumb question, how do you trap crappie, CNBG will go into a minnow trap but what about BCP. As I haven't had my first spawn yet ( that I know of) when would you trap to see how the spawn went? And the only plants in pond so far is FA



Pat

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