Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Crawfish update

Thanks for the inputs guys!

My situation is this. The SMB, YP and couple LMB kept BG recruitment to little or none last summer. Pretty much all gone at less than 2 inch size. The 2 to 3 inch PS I stocked fall of 2014 did not spawn but I expect the survivors to be old/large enough to spawn this spring. No sign of YP spawn last spring either (mostly male stocked I think) but stocked 25 mostly 7 inch ones (mostly female I was told) last fall so hope to get a spawn from them this spring as well. In anticipation of adding the forage of new spawn PS and YP to the BG spawn this spring, I stocked 10 WE last fall as additional predators.

With that said, I only saw "OK" growth for the YP and SMB last summer. I know crawfish is a preferred forage for them and the WE so stocking craws should help with growth. From Tracy's input, it sounds like I could get an initial feeding frenzy if I stock the crawfish but that the population will reduce quickly. I also know that there are always traps if the SF start to over populate but I hate wasting fish by throwing them on the bank to die. I think I will stock the craws (PSC). Hopefully, they will help control the FA as well as improve the growth of my predators. So many interactions to consider!