Tracy - this topic basically resorts to just how strong is your goal for growing large trophy bass? What is the amount of risk you accept if crappie cause problems and bass do not grow to trophy class?. If it were my pond, I would not add any crappie and if I did, NOT until the bass are large 3 to 4 lbs so they can better consume crappie that get to be 4.5"-6".
One of the big problems of your plan relates back to what DD1 mentioned is the crappie are liable to eat too many bass fry to the point bass are not recruiting enough young bass to eventually control the YOY crappie. If the pond has few bass that are just primarily larger ones growing toward trophy, the predation pressure on the YOY crappie may not be enough to keep the numerous small crappie from consuming too many bass fry. Habitat will play a big role here.
IMO getting the correct fish balance in the pond to meet your main goal of trophy bass will be doubly more difficult if you add crappie. There are other very good ways to provide excess forage for the bass other than crappie. IMO if you really want both crappie and XL trophy bass, build another pond just for producing the crappie or be prepared to modify your goal of trophy bass to a "regular" pond with the correct population of bass to produce harvestable crappie. Most ponds with big crappie have numerous bass sometimes thin bodied that limit crappie recruitment that in turn allows remaining crappie to grow well.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 01/12/16 04:35 PM.
