I start from the top. I aquired a piece of land with a 1/4 acre pond, aprox 10 years ago.. It was already stocked with big channel cats ( 4-8 pounds), a stunted bass population ( average size was 5-8 inches), and 7 grass carp.
I started out catching the little bass out until they were hard to catch, I did however catch 2 6 pound LMB and 3 1#-2# bass ( must have been males). I then caught 150 6-8 inch hybrid bluegills and stocked them in my pond. I sat back and the bass started to grow, at a snails pace.
Then the mistake of a lifetime came, I thought it would be cool to have crappies in my pond ( white crappies), I threw 50 8 inch crappies in, and before I knew it those guys were 13 inchers. It wasn't until 2 yrs ago that I caught a small crappie, now they are everywhere, with no end in sight. I wish I would have found this web-site sooner!
My average bass size is 12 inches, but I have atleast 5 in the pond over 4 pounds, and I have caught some in the 4-5 inch lengths, so they have spawned recently.
Last year I caught out over 600 crappies. This year I am still catching them, but the size is getting bigger, and the bass are harder to catch.
I want more baitfish in the pond, I have sunk two stacks of pallets and am planning on introducing fatheads, I have the hybrids in, but I am planning on introducing native bluegills sometime this spring. For a 1/4 acre pond that has predators present how big should the native bluegills be and how many should I buy? Also, If I added 1 7inch northern pike to the pond, would that help put a dent in the crappie population, as a quick fix, or would that one pike eat all of my gills first?
