Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations crappie in north idaho

I am by far not "the authority" on crappie but I do have some experience with them in smaller ponds.

Edibility & taste preference of fish are very personal. Crappie are very mild but tend to get a little soft flesh (fall apart) when slightly overcooked. Other similar & tasty common pond fish for you are bgill, yellow perch, walleye. Each fish seems to have a following for edibility. My self I prefer yellow perch and bgill as the two mildest tasting fish. Some say y.perch tend to be little sweet flavored. Perch & bgill tend to have firmer flesh than crappie but all 3 have similar flavor in my opinion.

I think y.perch will do better in your particular pond w/ trout than crappie especially if you can obtain feed trained perch. Perch are more active in colder water than crappie. As an example perch spawn at 50 to 53F compared to crappie who spawn at 62 - 68F. Crappie in my opinion are a warmer water fish than y.perch.

You will also be able to more easily control the perch numbers/offspring compared to crappie. Trout will also be able to prey on more and larger perch than the crappie.

Icecover is not a problem for either fish but extended snow cover of a leaf infested pond is problematic. If you aerate, for winter aeration I would move the diffuser to the extreme one end and leave the remaining pond frozen for a deep warmer water refuge area at the other end. My opinion is that Removing snow is more important than keeping open water for your application but IF you have high snow fall and extended deep snow cover then an open water area by aeration may be more practical.

I'm not sure the big trout/bass plan will work to adequately control the crappie. Better choice would be high numbers of small trout or small bass. To control crappies you want to fairly quickly thin them as smaller fish. This will remove more numbers quick rather than waiting until they have eaten more of the food resources, grown, and then get ate as a bigger fish where fewer & larger fish more quickly fill up the predators. Did that make sense? You want the smaller predators eat more of the smaller sized prey before they get too big; heavy thinning earlier the better. You want a high thinning of numbers at early life stages before they get too wide to be easily swallowed which crappie rapidly do. Bigger fish tend to eat/prefer bigger food items.

Perch on the other hand, stay slender and remain vulnerable to predation for a long time during their life span (could be a disadvantage). Slender body easy to swallow; can lid shape hard to swallow. Keep in mind that the extent of bottom cover (weeds & dense hiding places) also play a BIG part in the predator prey relationship and how effective the predators are.

What type of shiners reproduce and grow well in northern ID?

I currently have two projects near Bonners Ferry; one for Kootenai Indians and one w/ ID Dept of Fish & Game. Both studies are on Kootenai Rv.