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Originally Posted By: Bill D.
Pat,

IMHO your assessment is probably correct. Too many LMB. You might be on the way in the future to having a pond with a few big LMB, a whole bunch of stunted ones and not much else. I subscribe to the philosophy that you must periodically assess your pond and develop an appropriate harvest plan to keep the pond in "balance." From the info provided, I would aggressively harvest 14 inch and smaller LMB in your pond.

Not a pro...just my 1 cent.


Funny Bill when I started this pond thing with BCP I was told not to harvest any LMB to offset the BCP..... seems the only thing spawning is BG and LMB.
Caught 19 LMB in about 30 minutes (10”) while trying to catch BCP. Caught 4 today in 10’ water were I normally get BCP.

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Pat, I use a digital postal scale. Pretty sure I found mine at wallyworld. I use a plastic bowl (large) and just zero with it on scale. I also prefer Grams and mm over ounces and inches. about 500 times more accurate..

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I am using the Berkley digital fish scales. I am sure there are better ones out there but the Berkley scales are pretty simple to use. Bass pro shop or Cabela's is a good place to look for scales.


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Here is a link to a nice spreadsheet relative weight calculator for BCP along with automatic charting. Inputs are in inches and pounds.

http://texasprolakemanagement.com/blog/relative-weight-calculators


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Originally Posted By: Snipe
Pat, that would most definitely pose an issue if you're not pulling any LMB. I would venture a guess and say every size of LMB present is cleaning house on everything else.
I still feel a WR on a good sample size of all species present would show something..
I would agree on pulling some LMB but I would be careful not to unload and shock the system. 12-15 per acre would be a good start I would think.


So remove some LMB to give more forage for BCP.... so what size LMB should I take out? Seem to have an abundance of 10” . But I’m fishing for BCP with small jigs so maybe targeting that size.... or all sizes

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8-14" would be my recommendation. Probably heavier on the 8-10" size.
I would still HIGHLY recommend you get a postal scale, weigh ALL fish in grams and record length in mm. anything with cm has everything you need for mm. PM me any numbers you have and we'll plug'em in and get ya your WR's.

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Not sure about measuring in mm, al my stuff is in inches..... I’m old school. I’m gonna order a scale

Last edited by Pat Williamson; 01/21/19 01:38 PM.
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A sewing tape measure glued or stapled to a board is a great way to do this. Inches is for a general idea, mm is for accurate data.

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I have added two of those aluminum L shaped measuring boards as structure to the bottom of my pond. Not on purpose mind you. Its like dam, there goes another one overboard as I watch it all shiny and glimmering as it slowly sinks to the ponds bottom. It always seem to be done during the winter months where I won't jump in and swim down to the bottom for retrieval. Now if I was to build a weigh and measure station on board of the boat I would probably knock it overboard. Dam it!


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LOL!

I'm thinking I would drill a hole in the next one and tether it to the boat! grin


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Tracy you have BCP?

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No BCP Pat. just checking RW's on the lmb or HSB when I lost the measuring boards. Bill D, good recommendation on tying the measuring board to the boat. smile


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Pat, I suspect we are getting close to the spawning season of BCP. It won't be long from now when our water temps will be in the 58 to 68 range. My fishing experience tells me they might move up pretty soon. I am not sure how they will react to the full moon this coming Feb. 19th but it would not surprise me if spawning takes place then as the water warms up after a couple of our 70 degree days. So, do you think adding shallow cover, like cedars along the shoreline, would help survival of the fry? I added 9 brush piles along the shoreline at my pond and it did help out with the bg survival and I would think it might do the same with bcp fry. Maybe thicker cover instead of standing timber might help the fry survival?


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Originally Posted By: TGW1
Pat, I suspect we are getting close to the spawning season of BCP. It won't be long from now when our water temps will be in the 58 to 68 range. My fishing experience tells me they might move up pretty soon. I am not sure how they will react to the full moon this coming Feb. 19th but it would not surprise me if spawning takes place then as the water warms up after a couple of our 70 degree days. So, do you think adding shallow cover, like cedars along the shoreline, would help survival of the fry? I added 9 brush piles along the shoreline at my pond and it did help out with the bg survival and I would think it might do the same with bcp fry. Maybe thicker cover instead of standing timber might help the fry survival?


What I can gather about BCP fry is that they move out into open water as soon as they are off the nest. If that is the case then the yoy LMB are probably decimating them at some point. I wish the gurus would weigh in
So far this winter I have only caught a few in deep water right on the bottom. We will see when they start to move in to shallow water. They are hard to pattern

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Pat, I am always learning new stuff when it comes to our ponds and the fish/animals that live in and around them. smile I looked up BCP on Wikipedia and it said the fry would move into cover first. But, Dammed if I know, I am definitely no bcp expert lol


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Tracy that would make more sense for them to go to cover first but every thing I read on here indicates that they move out to open water where they can filter feed. Problem is that shiners can eat them at that stage ..... least that’s what I read on here. Beginning to think that there is very little known about them

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Its way to cold for crappie to be near spawning !!

What is your question and I will try to find a peer reviewed answer?

Crappie in lakes spawn in 20 ft +- feet of water near brush if possible. I have some info on crappie spawning.
















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Originally Posted By: ewest
Crappie in lakes spawn in 20 ft +- feet of water near brush if possible. I have some info on crappie spawning.


Can you post this when you get a chance?

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Originally Posted By: ewest
Its way to cold for crappie to be near spawning !!

What is your question and I will try to find a peer reviewed answer?

Crappie in lakes spawn in 20 ft +- feet of water near brush if possible. I have some info on crappie spawning.


Eric I would love to pick your brain about BCP. As you know I have a 5 ac pond with over an ac of flooded timber and brush ( yaupon) and other brushy trees that was flooded in the creek bottom. So thick that you can’t hardly paddle a small boat in there. The main body is 13-15’ deep with some stumps with root ball. We going on 5 years after crappie were stocked . They spawned the first year but after that haven’t seen much sign of any future spawns. I have LMB, BC,CC,CNBG GSH and a few threadfin. The first year the crappie grew to 12” and caught a few of them ( released). Since then they seem to be about 8-10” long and holding. Have never caught any small crappie. My question is : are the crappie spawning and none are surviving or what the deal is. Also have tons of 8”-10”LMB that work the open water over (I catch them). From what I read in old threads here that yoy BCP move to open water and not brush..... I’m confused as to what actually doe happen.

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What are the water temps that BCP prefer to spawn in? I understand they may be the first to move up to spawn. Then again I thought the Bg would be the first to move up to spawn. I don't know the answer. I'm pretty sure that Bob Lusk has said we might get a Bg spawn after a few warm days of Feb here in E. Texas. So, yesterday I spent some time at the pond checking out the water temps, not for BCP spawn because I don't have any. I was just checking for the bg. The Temps were 52 from 3' to the surface and 48 to 49 from below 3' to 9'. I would check deeper but my probe cord is only 9' long. My water depths are 10' in one section and 12' in another section divided by an under water ridge or road bed. And Pat, every time I have Overton's out for a fish delivery they will get water temps and my temps always run the same as theirs. I bring this up because you are really close to Overton's Fishery and I would suspect the temps are pretty much the same. And we are starting a week of 70 degree weather today and that will increase water temps some.

Last edited by TGW1; 02/02/19 08:47 AM.

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Tracy I think they spawn at 58-68 degrees in the spring , or so they say.

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The males tend to show up shallow first, usually around 63-65 degs. Females make runs up shallow, then back out deeper in stages. around 68 degs they have usually began spawning but just like everything else, weather, cold fronts, water clarity and length of day all have to come together at the right time. Last summer we caught spawning crappie in one res in NW KS for literally 2 months, but never big numbers on a given day.
I will say every lake is different but here, we see crappie spawning in 2-5ft of water with generally 3ft vis. You have to have the right structure in the right depth in any lake. Water conditions can change that depth considerably from one year to another.
Most years we find them holding-prespawn-in 15-18', when it's game on they will be likely in 4' if conditions, habitat, etc are right. Males of both Black and white turn black before spawn and can stay that way for several months, females have no color change.

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Here is the archive with links on Crappie. So much there it is hard to analyze. That is why crappie are often referred to as an enigma. More specific links to follow.

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92447#Post92447

General info

http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.ph...true#Post207073

Last edited by ewest; 02/03/19 10:51 AM.















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Thanks Eric have read one thread and on the last one

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I am still looking for the post on crappie spawning.
















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