Brother's BIL's pond flooded in '93 with 2 giant gully washers that also happened to blow bunches of fish out of a local golf course pond into the roadside ditch.
Within one weekend, we stocked 10 lbs of FH's, then probably a couple hundred BG from 3" to 8" as well as a few bass from 6" to 10". Over the next few months, bought bass from 4" to maybe 1.5 lbs ($0.50 EACH!) and put in about 75 or so. We also trapped 100 CC from a stunted pond (1 lb max).
Randy (owner) bought 100 crappie and 100 HBG that same month and tossed them in...most crappie immediately eaten (tried to told him), but HBG managed to avoid this fate.
End product, 13 yrs later...you can catch 14-18" bass once in a while and they seem fairly healthy, although I've never done RW study. They're spooky, but present. Channel cats are tough to catch, but if you ever find catalpa worms, you can clean up on 'em. They seem a bit on the skinny side, but that's OK...means they gotta work for a living. Some are near 8 lbs or so. Taste mossy, so we rarely eat them.
BG are dandies (but not quite as meaty as my own, heh, heh). Ice fishing, you get a couple, two-tree dozen on a good day, along with half a dozen 14-16" crappies. Summer fishing is great when you hit it right...Tom and I took 20 of these slabs last August on jigs. We try to never "hog" em, and keep "meat fishers" out.
Here's the kicker...you rarely, if ever catch a crappie less than 8". They must be spawning, but must REALLY have to work for it. We did something right, just wish I knew exactly what that was. I'm trying to duplicate the effort myself. That pond's less than an acre, but you cannot get to about 1/3 of it due to multiflora rose and steep banks...probably a good thing, as that's the spawning area, I believe.
It's CC heavy, and will stay that way...as will mine. If I could get hold of a "narthern" I'd put that in, too. Got half dozen eyes, and will try for another 6 or so for each pond. I truly believe that there's just so many predators in that pond that the crappies don't have a chance to stunt...they're a top-line fish, as far as I'm concerned, and I want 'em in my pond!
