Hey csgrizz, It seems that most Illinois ponds and private lakes have crappie, Mine did when I bought it this past winter. After intense fishing on my part along with my wife, we found the lake was loaded with big crappie and small bass, along with the regular species. First thing I did was stock 300 adult b-gill (the lake is 5 ac.) Then every crappie we caught was either eaten or was tossed in to the woods. 5 months later we're seeing nice fat bass, PLENTY of b-gill for the bass to eat, and have'nt caught a crappie in 2 months. Oh, btw, I also added 5 lm bass in the 3-4 lb. range to help the upper end of the food chain. It sure seems to have helped.
