Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations My Crappie Came Back!

I don't know where my crappie have been hiding for the last year-and-a-half, but this past weekend they were sunning themselves at the "North Beach" of my pond. This is an area where I've dropped in a lot of brush and trees. It is not an area that is normally easy to fish.

This will be our fourth year with this pond. Two, three, and four years ago we fished the crappies to what I thought was extinction. I think it was EWEST who said there would always be some remaining to spawn. I guess he was right. My sampling traps only caught small bluegill and bass last year.

Because of lots of recent heavy rain, my pond is about 2-feet above normal. That makes it reasonably safe to fish over all the North Beach sunken brush.

About noon-time last Saturday, I saw schools of fish forming above the brush. I thought they were monster bluegill. Much to my surprise, the first one I pulled out was a 12-inch black crappie. I then pulled out a mix of 8 to 11 inch black and white crappie. The local fish hatchery only sells mixed black and white -- which I'm guessing they convinced the previous pond owner into stocking.

After our intensive "take all crappies at any cost" campaign, I caught ZERO crappie during calendar year 2007. From my records, the last crappie caught was on Thanksgiving Day 2006.

Oh well, as long as they don't over populate they are welcome. And, they did make a really great dinner for friends and family last Sunday night.

(From the looks of some I caught, I think they've already spawned for this year.)





(The knife in the picture is 11-inches from tip to the end of the handle.)

Nice fish Cat. I bet they were good. They may be gathering to spawn (high water and temps ? ). A real good time to harvest them - before they unleash the hoard. Keeping that spawn down will help every thing in the pond.

Another good point of info for the Crappie Thread - thanks for adding it.

Hey catmadoo.
So on your crappie did you start them in your pond at the same time you started your bass?

You know many people see crappie as a very aggressive eater that will totally take over a pond. Truth, I dont really know that they can? But I also think that if you have your bass established, then they are also a very aggressive eater. So I believe with the bass helping cut down on the crappie reproducing. I will get some good table scraps and let the bad apples survive on their own.
Just wondered how you started your crappie?
I need to look for different and more structure here really soon. My chrismas trees are aging, I just caught one the other day, felt like I was catching a big turtle.

Brian,

The crappie were here when we purchased this property four years ago. In my first year I began trying to rid my pond of a large number of obnoxious overgrown channel cats. Once I found out that I had crappie in the pond, I began taking out every one we could catch.

I primarily manage my half-acre pond for large bluegill. I enjoy smaller catfish (less than 3 lbs), and I enjoy trout in the winter. The bass are just part of the equation, although they are fun to catch now and then. To me, they are workers, just like herding dogs. Unless seriously wounded, I don't expect to remove any bass from the pond this year. The crappie have been fine, but I worry about their ability to over forage my small bass and then over populate. I remain committed to taking every crappie that is caught. I added redeared sunfish and 14-18 inch catfish several weeks ago.

As for structure -- if you need to remove your old structure, I've found that a hay hook from a horse tack shop works great for dragging the old brush and trees out.

Good luck,
Ken

Hey Catmandoo?

So your pond is primarily for the dinner table?

Or do you just like to fight the fight with a bluegill?

I guess mine would be fishing in general. Obviousily I would love to grow monster fish as a whole. I absolutely love to catch big bass, big blues, and nice size bluegills. When I was growing up outside of Middletown Ohio. I would fish some creeks and a large number of ponds. I grew up on catch and release. While I mostly did not like that because the places I fished semmed to have way too many fish for the pond size. I had to search long and hard to find a pond that was managed well. Oh yea I had a father that taught me how to hunt and fish. He would always fish lite tackle and beat my brains in catching more fish. But we would also eat our fair share.We would go to Rush Run, or Hueston woods(actin lake?) Bring home dinner!! My favorite use to be creek fishing for smallmouth with catalpa worms, and some times that (condello jig rig?)? not sure the correct name from one of these sites? I think we called it TWIN rig.

Oh well did not mean to ramble. I guess for me I want to get the most competion out of my pond. Love to fight a good fight with a fish,,,,

Have a great fishing day. I will be out there in an hour or so.

keep in touch

Brian,

Like so many others here, my pond has many purposes and uses. They range from quality food and multi-generational recreation, to fire protection and irrigation.

Tomorrow we will have four generations of family visiting. My fish will be subjected to enticing baits from people ranging from 4 to 85. Enough bluegill and trout are already in a cage at the end of my dock to have a great mid-day fish fry. Our main dinner will be deep fried domestic turkey from last season that is currently soaking in a strong salt-sugar brine.

I look at my pond much like I look at my garden, orchard, domestic critters, woodlot, and wildlife. Quality table fare is very important to us. Management, thinning, feeding, etc., is extremely important. Currently I am back to buying a significant part of my food and fuel. I expect that within the next two to three years, we will again raise the majority of our own food.

But, in my pond, bluegill are the royalty for several reasons. Mostly, they are our favorite eating fish -- except maybe for walleye, monster perch, and stripped bass/hybrid stripped bass (none of which we can reasonably raise in our pond). A 9-11 inch bluegill, with a Relative Weight (Wr) greater than 1, is always a thrill.

This is the fourth springtime with this pond. The median size bluegill keeps increasing. Last year at this time is was just above 9 inches. So far this year, it is just below 10 inches. I did catch a 17 inch bass yesterday, but I pulled it in as quickly as possible, and unhooked it even quicker. Catfish will supply fare for many summer meals before it is time to add trout again.

Thanks for the interest, and good fishn'

Ken

Take lots of photos and post them!!! It's great to see photos of family and friends enjoying a pond!

Ken, I like your approach and hope I can settle into life as you have it. I work in DFW and only get to visit my place about once a month...kids, college, ect keep me tied to the city wages. I eventually want to have a pond where my home is. Quality table fare should rank very high, I cook up some mean blackened catfish, juicy seared steaks, and some goooood fried Crappie !

I was so busy putting worms on and taking fish off, that I didn't get a lot of photos. But everybody had a good time and lots of fish were pulled from the water.

Here is my grandson with one of the trout:



I didn't get a picture of the 12-inch cat that my wife's 82 year old aunt caught.

Here is another of my grandson with one of the many bluegill:




And, this is typical of the bluegill we were catching. Many were between 9.5 and 10.5 inches:





Eastland -- It is a long story, but I too am tied to "city wages" for a while longer. I commute 4 to 4-1/2 hours each day into the Washington DC suburbs. It wasn't supposed to be this way -- but about a year-and-a-half ago, the owner of the company that my wife and I both worked for decided he'd made enough money and called it quits. There aren't a lot of jobs out this way for microwave design engineers in their 60s. But, I'm not sorry we made the move. The property we live on is very unique, and they don't come along very often. We've adjusted.

Ken