Hi Folks,

I've been reading stuff on here for a very long time, and I'm happy to finally join and start learning from y'all experts! I have been an avid fisherman literally almost since I could hold a cane pole (my maternal grandparents took me fishing for bluegill and crappie when I was three), and I have had success fishing for almost all North American freshwater species (as well as flounder and sea trout on the coast and some exotic species like the horsemouth perch in China). While rainbow and brook trout are my favorite fish, I am pretty sure I know how to manage a stream and pond for those. However, I have always had a strong interest in crappie over all other warmwater species.

Well, my wife and I are finally looking to get some land for weekend/vacation houses back in North Carolina (we live in northern Virginia and work in DC), and while I know how to get set up for trout on the tract we are aiming to get in the mountains, I have not been able to find any information on how to achieve my dream pond in the warmer piedmont region of the state, which will either be single-species Black Crappie or also have Yellow Perch. We have been so impressed with how good the fishing is in these woods ponds and lakes near my hometown in North Carolina that the landowners let us use, that were built and stocked initially over 100 years ago, and have not been fished at all since, and the ungodly amount of crappie, bluegill, and bass we pull from there, compared to the public lakes we normally fish. We want desperately to recreate this on our own land, but with only our favorite species, which is the Black Crappie (we wouldn't say no to White Crappie either, but hear they are problematic in smaller bodies of water).

We will build a new lake/pond (I'm not sure what the size cutoff is) of between 4 and 10 acres with appropriate deep areas, gravel beds, gravel humps in deep water, and lots of structure. I have never seen any literature on how to make a single species pond for crappie, and I'm hoping y'all will help me out on whether this is feasible, and whether the addition of yellow perch would hurt or help. We plan to fish the pond a moderate amount and keep plenty of fish, but it will only be us, so we shouldn't make much of a dent in the populations.

Right now I am working on the assumption that the size we have in mind will be suitable for single-species crappie or dual-species crappie/yellow perch, and figure I will first stock with fathead minnows and golden shiners, as well as provide them lots of cover in shallow water to hide from the predators and reproduce. Should I also include a species of shad, or will these get too big for the crappie and possibly perch?

I really appreciate y'all's expert advice!