Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Hybrid Black Crappie vs Bass in new Pond

I talked to a customer today that has a HSB/SMB/BG/HBG/RES/HBC/YP/WE pond that also has a self sustaining reproducing population of GSH. 4 acres, 28' deep. He is the only customer I have that has more than enough cover in his pond in the form of large/small trees, brush piles and rock piles. He's also the only customer I have that keeps meticulous harvest records. He feeds the fish in his pond a good commercial grade fish food, and he also has a bottom diffusion aeration system in the pond. The pond is IIRC 9 years old.

His BG/HBG are running around 12"-13" and are over 2 pounds. His HBC are 16"-17", YP are up to 16", SMB (Neosho strain) are 18" and he thinks 5 pounds. His Northern Strain (from Snipe) are 15" after 2 years and 2-3 pounds. HSB are unknown size wise, I am guessing 8 - 10 pounds judging by the swirl they leave when getting food. He has one TH feeder and he also walks around the pond hand feeding when he's not working the fields (he's a farmer).

For some reason he thinks there are too many GSH in the pond and he's caught and removed probably 600 between 5"-9" in the past two years when ice fishing. This winter he and his friends harvested 900 BG/HBG between 7" and 10". He's also removed 200 HBC in the 7"-8" size range.

He said all the HBC that they removed and cleaned had stomachs full of 3/4" BG. Very few GSH. He's going to try and harvest 50 Neosho strain SMB this year.

If anybody gets IN-FIsherman magazine, take a look at the article by Steve Alexander that is in the most recent magazine. The BG that is on the title page of the article is from that customers pond.