It may be premature to stock anything until you get the white perch/crappie under control.

Here's my thoughts. Crappie have inconsistent and variable spawns with each female throwing approximately 22,000+ eggs. They also spawn before the other fish. Yeah, they can be a problem and I think you have correctly identified them as the culprit.

The skinny 12' inch fish are missing the 2 to 3 inch bg that they need. Since you seem to have a gap in your sizes, I expect the crappie either clobbered those year classes or they starved out due to heavy bg predation by crappie or by heavy predation on those years age classes by all members of the pond community.

That said, I have no idea how to eliminate crappie from an 8 acre water hole. There has been some discussions about hybrid stripers being a good predator for crappie. I like the idea but don't know of anyone who has tried it.

It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.

Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.

Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP Grandpa