We have 5 main ponds on the farm. One is over 4 acres and 25+ ft deep and has been a productive fishery for over 30 years. It lately is having an issue with bass overpopulation. Another is a 5 acre wetland with a 15 ft trench and lots of shallow surface area. The other 3 are typical farm ponds at about 1 acre each. All have been stocked with the typical bass/bluegill/channel catfish mix years ago. All seem to reproduce well naturally in all the ponds. One pond also has black crappie and has been very productive with good sized crappie. We also have a couple other ponds that are less than .5 acres that I would like to make into “minnow ponds” to catch and use for bait, (just for on farm use) as well as supplemental forage.
Goals:
• Manage bass overpopulation in the big pond
• Reestablish walleye in the big pond. They were there for years and even reproduced, but we haven’t caught one in a few years (maybe why bass are overpopulated now?)
• Diversify the types of fish we can catch in the different ponds
• Provide additional forage to all ponds and start minnow ponds
• Prevent crappie stunting in the crappie pond
• Add Red Ear to control grubs in ponds that we stocked via transfer of bass/bluegill/catfish from other ponds
• Improve the overall habitat and production of all ponds
Questions for you:
How large do walleye have to be that they wouldn’t get totally wiped out if we added them to the well-established big pond?
Would adding hybrid striped bass help control the bass overpopulation in the big pond at all? What about preventing crappie stunting in the crappie pond?
Any potential issues with establishing perch in the big pond and in one of the smaller ones?
Is stocking crawdads worthwhile? Maybe in the feeder ponds?
do things like spawning mats or honey hole trees work?
What type of pond might smb do well in?
Would adding a significant amount of fatheads at the same time as other fish help reduce mortality (of walleye for example)?
How much more time do we have to stock yet this fall or should we wait until spring?

I know that's a lot. But I'm somewhat new to fishery management and I have lots of variables. This will be a multi year project. I'm considering starting with the big pond this fall by putting in 200 WE, YP, RES, 20 lbs fatheads and 50 HSB. Thoughts on any and all of this are appreciated!