This is one of my favorite subjects! It's been a while since I've been able to visit the site. I am very interested in Bruce's results with the hybrids.
I have experimented with them (hybrid stripers) to control crappie numbers and hopefully to increase crappie growth but did not see the results I was hoping to see. However, my situation is different because gizzard shad were present. The hybrids primarily ate the gizzard shad and to a limited extent, the sunfish. THis is also a much bigger lake. We did see minimal growth increases in the crappie but nothing significant. We think that the competition between gizzard shad and crappie for the zooplankton was reduced due to the hybrids preying upon the gizzard shad; thus, decreasing the gizzard shad numbers slightly enough to allow the crappie more access to the zooplankton. Nothing is concrete and I'm not allowed to "play" anymore.
But, I opened my own pond consulting business so I can "play" and continue to learn. I still do the Missouri Conservation gig to pay the bills. Bruce, do you have gizzard shad in your ponds with crappie and hybrid striped bass? I hope you don't. I am very interested in approaching some private pond owners about stocking hybrids in their ponds. I would like to know the impact that the hybrids have on the sunfishes...particularly the crappie and bluegill. Most ponds around me have bass, bluegill, catfish, and occassionally crappie. If it's alright, I would like to give you a call. I have lots of questions for you. I will share you're answers on this site, but I would hate to bog the website down with the amount of questions I have.
Also, someone mentioned channel catfish impacts. FYI- my buddy Isermann and I shocked Normandy reservoir in Tennessee 12 hours after fingerling crappie were stocked. We were interested in seeing if anything was eating them. Boy were they an easy target! We split open a 7-8 lb channel catfish that had 118 crappie in its gut. We also gutted some bluegill that ate the crappie. This wasn't a formal study so the results will probably not ever be in the literature. We were just doing some exploring. Moral of the story.....be careful when you stock. It was pretty crazy to see how many crappie got whacked that night. Just about every species of fish we shocked had taken advantage of the free meal. Gotta go. Shawn
