Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Starting Over

I have a 4 acre pond with bg, lmb, catfish and white crappie. I want to start over and restock with bg and lmb. I also have a 17 acre pond adjacent to the 4 acre pond that is overcrowded with white crappie ( I am going to try and salvage the 17 acre pond). I was thinking of lowering the water level about 8' in the 18' deep pond then using rotenone to kill the fish. Is there any way to slowly add the rotenone and save the LMB and transfer to adjacent pond before they die? Also can I save some of the bluegill and put them in some kind of holding net in the 17 acre pond, then reuse them? If I save the bluegill then what is the recommended stocking amount for large bream?

Grubb: I don't understand the problem. Is one population out of proportion to another? Do you not want one or more of the species?

When you get done with everything, what do you want the pond to look like?

I have several ponds adjacent to one another (17 ac, 4 ac, 4 ac, & 1 ac). Two of the ponds have white crappie in them. I want to keep the white crappie in the 17 acre pond. I want to start over in the 4 acre pond with crappie in it because it is too much work to keep the pond in balance with the crappie. I want to restock with bluegill and LMB. I was trying to salvage some of the bluegill and LMB before starting over. I wanted to catch as many LMB as possible and transfer to the 17 ac pond because I need alot more LMB in it to control the crappie. I want to catch the large bluegill and put them in some kind of holding net until it was safe to put them back in the 4 ac pond.

I need some help please.

Grubb, couldn't you just seine or catch the bg and put them in the smallest pond and then as you catch them add 'em back in the pond you want? Or, what about an aerated stock tank for storage or a floating basket. We have 2 of the floating baskets made from 4" pvc glued into a square and attached to a 2x2 wooden frame with plastic netting stapled to it. We used to start our bass fingerlings in one and cats in the other. Thats all the help I can offer, I hope it helps.

I don't have access to a seine big enough to seine a 4 acre pond that is over 10' deep and it would take too long to catch them out.

You will proubly have to rotenone if you want to get rid of all your crappie. the only other way i think you can get rid of the crappie is to fish out as many crappie out as you can(keep all sizes), castnet, and add adult bass. The second way is alot of work but in is better than starting off from scratch.

Has anyone used a diluted amount of rotenone to make the fish come to the surface, then net the good fish and save them?