With crappie I think golden shiners would also be as good or better forage especially long term compared to FHM. Diversity of forage species is a key feature to a successful fishery. If I had a large habitat rich pond I would do my best to experiment with using the red shiner aka red horse minnow that is common in the central US. A few places will sell them one is:
http://armsfishfarm.com/typesoffishDiscussion about red shiners
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=391776&page=1Also if I had a larger pond I would seriously consider building a small shallow seine-able forage pond (0.1-0.3 acre) to provide a constant good source of vauable forage. Good forage fish always seem to be in short supply for most all predator rich ponds.
Be aware that if the current "tons of cover" consists mostly of finely divided cover in your new pond is composed of trees,,, the dense twigs will relatively quickly decompose as in 2-4yrs. Coarse woody cover of larger limbs are not very good as shallow habitat for small fish esp long term minnow populations. Coarse weed beds function best as minnow habitat.
To answer most of your crappie questions, I suggest you get the current issue of In-Fisherman magazine Mar-Apr 2019 Vol 44 No1, where it has an article by Cory Schmidt “Crappie Behavior Isn’t Always Black & White”. It has some pretty good information about crappie and the differences between black and white crappie. The article was good enough that I underlined numerous parts.
Also shift through the numerous threads about growing crappie in ponds, although your 17 acres almost qualifies as a small lake.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=92447#Post92447The questions that are not answered with the above information do come back to this thread and post your questions.
