Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Black Crappie in a new pond

Hello all. I am a new member to Pond Boss, looks like a great place for information.
I live in NW Ky. and have a newly constructed pond. It was completed in late 2014 and it reached the spill way and full pool late last year. Surface area is just over 3 acres and water depth is 24 feet with most of the pond being relatively deep water.
We stocked it with 30 lbs of fat head minnow last May and they have done well. We used a state stocking program and put in bluegill and channel cats last September and followed with Large mouth bass last month. All were fingerlings.
I have read all sorts of pros and cons to Crappie in a pond.
Do any of you guys with experience think Black Crappie would be a good addition or something to stay away from?
Thanks in advance for you input.

I wouldn't ever stock crappie in my pond. Plenty of sob stories on here about crappie. Their reproduction can get out of control.

If you would like to add diversity, consider ladder-stocking fish that reproduce poorly in ponds. You would have a blast catching hybrid stripers on a pond. You can also add smallmouth bass for similar reasons, as they don't reproduce well in ponds patrolled by largemouth bass.

You can also stock walleye on a put and take basis if you want something good to eat.

For forage diversity, consider adding redear sunfish now before your apex predators get too big. As a bonus, they eat snails which interrupts the grub lifecycle and keeps your fish from getting wormy.

huntr467,
Welcome to Pond Boss...lots of good info and helpful folks here. I'm not a pro, and I've only been around a short period of time. You can have anything you want in your pond, because it's your pond. But, it is not suggestive to raise crappie in a pond size such as 3 acres. Most folks will suggest to you not to stock crappie in ponds less than 15 acres as they will overpopulate and stunt in a couple of years. Crappie are very prolific and will eventually produce so many YOY that in a short period of time, your FHM will be gone and when the crappie get big enough to consume your BG, you will be left with adults only. If you do stock, you might consider some predators (HSB as Bocomo mentioned above) or some other fish in your area of the woods to control the crappie population. It really doesn't take long for a couple of good spawns to make your world hectic. It may be hard control the crappie in a 3 acre pond with out predators...just my thoughts....again, Welcome to Pond Boss...
Charlie

I would stock yellow perch if I had your pond. They like deeper water, and they're excellent eating. On the negative side, they multiply rapidly and eat smaller fish. Walleyes are similar, but they get bigger and probably won't reproduce. Sauger are intermediate between YP and WE, but I know very little about how they do in ponds. There is also a sauger/WE cross.

You might also consider warmouth and rock bass, which are discussed from time to time on this forum. As with the BG, you would want to stock them before the predators get big enough to eat them as fast as you put them in your pond.

You didn't say anything about stocking other forage creatures such as scud, grass shrimp, and crayfish, or the habitat for them, e.g., water plants and rip-rap. You might consider adding your own plankton too, rather than just going with whatever shows up or you collect in the water from a neighboring pond. I haven't seen much discussion on this subject, so my thoughts may be off base.

FWIW I've seen lots of posts from folks with smaller ponds that BCP worked. There was an article in Pond Boss magazine one or two issues back that gave a stocking "recipe" that has proven successful....It all depends.....

Mine haven't been in long enough to tell if it is going right or not. They still growing, the first spawn are about 8" now after two years and seem to be in good shape as far as I can tell. They in a 5 ac pond with at least one acre of flooded timber and brush. We will see how it pans out.

The pond where I live now was built in the '70s. I started fishing it a little less than a year ago and caught a couple dozen white crappie in the first couple months. I caught them on small wobblers and spinners. Then I switched to fishing mostly with flies and caught very few after that. I stocked a several 2-3” BC last fall and 25 6-7” a couple months ago. About a week after stocking I caught 3 or 4 crappie a day for a few days on spinners and wobblers, about equal numbers of white and black. Then for a few days just WC, and now none. I've returned all the crappie I've caught this year. I'm still waiting for a crappie explosion. The depth of this pond fluctuates about 5', and the area varies from about 1/3 ac to about ½ ac. Its been low most of this year; probably not much deeper than 2' now, but I'm just guessing.

You could have a pond like mine, where the BCP seem to be all but disappearing. Every year less and less. I think they are getting out-competed by the yellow perch, and the Koi are raiding their nests.

Must eliminate the Koi, but the wife and kiddo love them since they are easy to see and feed.

Or a very likely possibility....your BCP are there in droves, mostly in the 2-3 inch range due to a boom spawn or two....

I haven't seen any 2=3" fish of any kind near shore for the past few weeks, and have never seen many. I sometimes fish with very small flies and sometines catch very small BG, but no crappies. Lately I haven't been catching much of anything = maybe 1 o 2 small LMB, or large, brass colored BG, or GSF. But I see few fish jumping, sone days none, and few or none working at the surface. Last year at this time, there was much more going on. 2 lb+ bass chasing smaller fish, etc. I haven't seen hide nor hair of a large bass in a month or more. There aren't even as many BG coming up to feed lately. Maybe the furry critter (otter/weasel/mink) I saw a while back is to blame.