Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Corrective stocking Existing pond - small bass and lots of crappie

Hello everyone,
I am new to PB but have read tons of info already. I'd like to offer a summary of what our pond holds and ask the forum for help/advice.

Roughly 2 acre farm pond that has not been "managed" in 10+ years.

I began fishing it about three years ago and a typical 2-3 day trip would yield:
- several 3-5# and countless 12-14" LMB
- maybe 20 black crappie per day
- possibly worth noting that I was catching some crappie on a 4" Texas-rigged brush hog, which I thought was strange

Fast forward 3 years and our last trip yielded:
- not a single LMB over 14"
- could catch crappie until we run out of minnows

I've caught exactly 2 bluegill in the three years I've fished there. My thought process on stocking this fall is to stock plenty of forage for the LMB and add some hybrid striped bass to help control the crappie.

200 Overton's BG 1-3"
200 Overton's BG 3-6"
100 Redear sunfish 1-3"
100 Redear sunfish 3-6"
50-75 Hybrid stripers 8"

Please feel free to punch some holes in it. Thanks everyone!

What exactly are your goals? A return to the presence of larger LMB?

How many LMB under 14" did you catch? Are the LMB not present or just all small (I presume the latter)?

Adding BG & RES would be a good thing if you see none and the LMB are stunted, though I would get the larger size so they don't get et. I would not add more predators (HSB) to compete with the LMB; it seems your main task should be small LMB (and crappie) removal.

During this last trip in May, the 6 of us caught maybe 25-30 LMB in the 12-14" range. They're definitely there but all small. This pond is my stepfather's family farm and they have done nothing but keep a couple of BCP to eat on occasion. They throw everything back. I've finally talked them into letting me help manage it to enhance the overall fishing experience.

I'm not sure why I didn't see your other questions the first time.

Yes, overall goal is larger LMB. Is my mix of smaller and larger BG and RES a good start? Focus on just the larger ones? What about the numbers for a 2 acre pond? Thanks for the response!

Anyone?

Just a cheap novice here, but what I've done is remove predators by hook and line until the bluegill could rebound on their own. I removed 245 bass from 3" to 13" in a 2.2 acre pond over a period of a 18 months. I also removed approx. 250 crappie. I had bucket stocked nearly 300 MALE crappie over the previous 3-5 years (huge mistake that played a significant role in the decline of the food chain). I added an inexpensive feeder and feed Aquamax MVP 3 times per day. My bluegill population then recovered. I've since stocked 50 feed trained bass. They now range from 2-4 lbs and have pulled off spawns the past 2 years. The non-feed trained bass I'm catching right now are ranging from 95-110 on the relative weight chart.

Just my personal experience with my own pond. Hope it helps.

Thanks for the responses. Much appreciated!

I have just the opposite problem,large bass and few crappie. The crappie population was high and they were 8” or so. There are numerous 10# bass that ate the crappie down to the point that you could fish hours and not catch one. Think my main problem is no recruitment from crappie due to too many BG swarming the crappie breeding