Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Did I mess up?

I have a 3 1/2 acre pond in Parker County Tx. where I continue to battle coontail but now I may have a different concern? I don't know why but I stocked some black crappie a couple of years ago (just a few 3 inchers) and now I am catching more crappie than LMB. My goal is to grow some 4lb+ LMB's and I am concerned the crappie may now be the alpha dogs in the pond? As you can see per the attached, the black crappie I am catching are healthy with mouths the size of LMB's. Afraid they may be eating more than their share of blue gill. Should I start culling all the black crappie I can catch if I want that 4 lb+ LMB?

Thanks

http://photobucket.com/user/GMD0911/media/blk%20crappie_zpsdxwvpjxm.jpg.html

[img:center]http://photobucket.com/user/GMD0911/media/blk%20crappie_zpsdxwvpjxm.jpg.html[/img]

The short answer is to never return a crappie to the pond. If you catch a small one, clip a fin or 2 and toss it back in as bass forage.

Cull all crappie you catch...and hope you can catch up. With their mouth size, they'll overeat your food chain soon, if they haven't already.

This thread is going into the Archives for Crappie Management as an example of behavior of crappie in ponds. Please keep us updated as to your progress with your pond. Maybe your story deserves a short article in the magazine? Consider ladder stocking some HSB that may help with reducing crappie recruitment in the future.

I guess the answer to my initial question is YES - I did mess up. To further validate my ignorance, what is HSB? I can be creative but can't figure it out: Hybrid Striped Bluegill, Horribly Small Bass, ?

Hybrid Striped Bass. I think

HSB stands for hybrid striped bass. There is a forum here that has all the acronyms if you have trouble.

That is a pretty crappie...darn I wish those were
hybrid crappie and I'd let ya dump some in my pond.

Thanks for the acronym help. I will plan to cull as many crappie as I can going forward and assuming I may need to supplement my current LMB feeder fish population, what is best solution?

Prefer Blue gill as they are fun to catch and are prolific breeders. If this is a good choice, what stocking size is optimal? Don't want them to be immediate fish food and there another preferred choice(s).

Why?

They are the first to spawn, over spawn, have the same hinged mouth of a LMB. They take over a pond of less than 25+ acres. Then, due to lack of food, they stunt.

The same can be said about LMB can't it? They will take over also

Yep, and I'm not sure what the difference is. On crappie, they are already large enough by the time bass spawn to target the baby bass.

The biggest difference, that I see and have seen, is that the bass can't control the crappie.

Sounds like all out war on crappie, is the minimum management plan. I have heard of people making it work, but you have to fish and harvest as many as possible.

I would guess an electro survey could really help in harvest #s.

Crappie help manage the bass and BG and people try to manage the crappie

Thanks for the feedback. To answer the Why? - my goal is to catch some lg. 4lb+ bass in the future. Don't want the Crappie eating all my LMB food (BG). Would still appreciate some PB feedback on best size of BG to stock or other LMB food choices. Are 3-5" BG large enough that a few will become breeders?

I have a nice Texas Hunter feeder but can't keep it loaded consistently as I am gone for months at a time. Assume healthy BG population is best since they spawn often and I have had success in the pest with large populations (pre-crappie introduction).

Bill Cody mentioned ladder stocking some HSB (Hybrid Striped Bass). Not sure what this is but read article from Overton Fisheries website that HSB natural reproduction is not feasible in smaller bodies of water. Assume the ladder reference from Bill means adding xxx amt of fish each year for LMB fish food. Sounds expensive, I would prefer a natural re-stocking via spawning?

not for LMB food......

For "CoolPond" food or baby crappie eaters.

I think the "HSB ladder stocking" isn't for LMB fish food, it is because HSB don't reproduce so if you stock a few new ones every year the one's lost to being caught, dying from hook shock, dying for other reasons, a few newly stocked larger size stocker HSB every year help replace and maintain basically "an assembly line" of HSB in your pond since natural reproduction of the assembly line is not possible. My pond is about the size of yours and I add around ten 12 inch HSB into "the HSB ladder" every year or two and it's less than a $100 when I do it.

Zep, Thanks for the explanation. HSB ladder stocking is an interesting approach and not expensive. I guess I still have a bias for LMB's and most interested in the providing them the best foodchain I can.

I just recently purchased Bob's book on Raising Trophy Bass (further validation on my crappie misstep). I think I will focus on the Bluegill, culling the crappie, and selective harvesting of my existing LMB while I continue to fight the battle with coontail. May consider a separate small pond to raise exclusively BG for supplementing my larger pond. Need to find someone to keep a fish feeder loaded.

My pond is 70 miles from home in D/FW. I fill my feeder about every 3 weeks.

coolpond, our ponds are about the same size and I also lean toward lmb, but I was persuaded by a pondbosser George Glazner(I hope George forgives me for misspelling last name), George talked me into adding some HSB to my lmb pond and I am happy I did it. they will put up a bigger fight than the lmb will and are a pleasure when u set the hook. Maybe some research here might open up a spot In your pond for the HSB.