Note that the crappie pictured are in good condition. Is that true of all/most of the ones caught (same size and condition)?

With the limitation on available funds your options are somewhat reduced. You can do a few things though. One thing to keep in mind always is ponds are not monolithic. Just because crappie overpopulate and stunt in a high % of ponds does not guarantee that they will in yours. Every pond is different and goals are too.

With that said you should consider fishing out as many crappie as possible , don't remove any LMB unless it is in poor/skinny condition for a year , go ahead and stock the BG and find out what your HSB are doing. HSB help a lot in controlling crappie (which may be one reason your crappie look in ok condition - HSB eating a bunch and thus leaving more food for those crappie left). Note that the crappie's good condition could also be related to it being a new/empty/fish kill pond. HSB are more effective on crappie reduction because of their metabolism in cool water. Many warmwater fish like BG and LMB have slow eating during the time crappie activity picks up in late winter so crappie predation is reduced especially at the spawn. Crappie spawn before LMB and BG so their fry have an advantage and don't get eaten as much by BG and LMB yoy. On the other hand HSB are more active in cool water and will prey on crappie before , during and after the crappie spawn. More LMB and HSB will work on the crappie numbers while you do the same. Have a bunch of kids over , often. We use church groups and scouts to help us with harvest.

DJS yes to your question - in enough numbers. But due to the above LMB are not as effective on crappie as they are on BG. Concentrate on the fry/yoy time frame when most of the babies are eaten (very high morts on yoy fish). Large reductions in numbers during that time are important to controlling any high fecundity (reproduction)fish species like crappie and BG.

Last edited by ewest; 05/01/13 08:50 AM.