Tbar,
This is my wife's idea of heaven. She loves crappie above all else. You've got a really great balance in your pond. In particular, either the recruitment of LMB isn't too much ... or ... there is a fair amount of culling helping to grow those large LMB. Can you expand on that part of your management? I've read where some authors thought crappie tend to hold down LMB recruitment. If excessive, this could be problematic setting the stage for crappie overpopulation. But your pond, seems to get either the goldilocks recruitment to grow BIG LMB or perhaps a little more than needed which is managed by culling. Please share your thoughts, if any, on the interaction pertaining to LMB recruitment.
You mentioned feeding 100 lbs of feed annually in your 5 acre pond. So 2 bags each year or 20 lbs per acre-year? Was curious if this was a typo and you meant a larger quantity. Whatever the case, your pond is very productive. You've owned the BOW for 11 years ... but did this pond exist prior to your ownership of it? If so, would you happen to know it's age?
I've studied LMB and crappie in combination in simulation trying to see if I could/should risk crappie. My wife really wants them. For that matter, so would I ... if I could be confident of managing something like what you are enjoying year after year. In simulation, what gives me the most confidence is a limited LMB population of low density but high average size. This seems to work where LMB are capable of consuming 0-year and year-1 crappie. 2nd year and older crappie would be harvested. Your pond seems to reflect the size structure of these simulations (something that encourages the choice of crappie for me). I am interested in your thoughts on your population structure. What sizes do LMB average? eg 2 lbs - 3lbs or possibly higher?
