AJS,
This is a friends pond. Construction on mine begins late july.
Not sure how old pond is, but from looks of vegetation and trees growing around and in pond, over 10 yrs old. Would venture to guess the crappie were stocked, I'll ask.
3 years ago you never caught one over 8" and they were in poor shape. Very aggressive harvest has favorably impacted size of fish. We've probalby thrown back about same number that we've kept that were +/- the slot. I'll ask him how many he took out last year, I'm sure it was over 200.
This pond is not predator heavy. The bass tend to be large, but not a ton of small ones, so I believe crappie harvest is imperitive to maintain balance.
I applaud your interest in being a good steward of the pond you are fishing. All ponds are different, so my experience with this particular pond may have little in common with your pond.
