I have a 1.25 acre farm pond in Kentucky. I stocked the pond in October of 2022 with 1000 standard Bluegill, 50 Channel Catfish, 200 LMBs and bags of Fathead minnows. I have been feeding the fish with a timed feeder since last summer. This spring, I began sample fishing the pond and started catching White Crappie to my surprise. Obviously, they were in the pond and I didn't know it. I have also been catching Bluegill and Channel Cats. I have not caught a single LMB yet. I consulted with a pond management company and we decided, short of killing off everything, to stock 20 twelve inch LMBs to help clean out the Crappie. I stocked them about five weeks ago. In addition, I am keeping all the Crappie I catch. Not sure if this will help control the Crappie. I saw a post on Facebook about Crappie control and the poster suggested stocking some hybrid Striped Bass as another means to control the Crappie. My pond management guy suggested adding about twelve Hybrid Stripers if I want to go this route. I have lots and lots of baby Bluegill as forage and I could stock some more Fathead minnows if need be. I am inclined to do so. Any thoughts? Also, if I can get the White Crappie under control, I would consider stocking some hybrid Crappie. Anybody had any luck with these? Thanks in advance for any advice. I am relatively new to pond ownership.
