Originally Posted By: RESpond
I'd be fascinated with any newly attempted strategies for small crappie pond. Maybe a 10' x 10' grow out mini-pond, select single sex crappie and place 'em in a larger single species pond that's mostly minnow habitat?

Looks though occasionally, someone gets a few large crappie with lots of apex predators.


To me, RAH's plan seems to be the easiest most tenable approach for producing good sized crappie in a small pond. One needs a predator that lives long, grows large, doesn't compete with the crappie, and is not impacted negatively by large crappie spawns. It has been my experience that small BOW's with good size crappie have larger LMB than small BOWs with good sized BG. It's pretty easy to upset the balance by harvesting the largest the of the LMB (something that usually helps with producing large BG).

Would be easier also, and more reliable, to sex the predators to prevent their reproduction. Crappie are easy to catch and with a slot in the 7" to 10" range this scenario holds a lot of promise for producing 13" and larger Crappie where the BOW owner is committed to managing the predator. In a BOW like this I really like PK shrimp and minnows for the forage base. Provided the slot is harvested each Fall, I don't see why (in some circumstances) the minnows couldn't be self-sustaining, particularly in the South with Gambusia. With a 10 X 10 mini-pond, I really like the idea of producing minnow fry to stock the main pond.


It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so - Will Rogers