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#215587 05/05/10 11:58 AM
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[img:left]http://picasaweb.google.com/117269569245...828718099513938[/img] [img:left]http://picasaweb.google.com/117269569245...828952845874466[/img] [img:left]http://picasaweb.google.com/117269569245...828961143950914[/img]

Here are the pics of my ponds. I bought the place a few weeks ago. The first pond has black crappie, bluegill and a few bass. The second pond has bass and bluegill and supposedly white crappie. They are located NE of Edmond, OK. The pond with the crappie has tons of crappie in the 6 to 10 inch range... We have taken out 60 in two trips. One 6lb bass was taken out by a 5 year old over the weekend... and eaten.... I was not there and his dad did not know better. He does now. Do i need to take out all the crappie I can catch? The second pond I have caught alot of small bass and good size bluegill. The water is deep and super clear for this area in Oklahoma. Any comments are appreciated.


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skennedy,

Very nice looking ponds congrats!!! I but you are on cloud nine!! I am no expert by any means but I can give you my 2 cents worth. And I am sure the experts will be around soon to help you more.

The first thing you need to ask yourself is. What are my goals for these ponds? And the expert will tell you to write them down and keep good notes to refer back to.

1. Black crappie are not as bad as white crappie when it comes to over populating and taking over a pond.

2. They say having crappie really depends on your size pond. Unless you are going to manage it very close I have read you shouldn't have crappie in a pond smaller than 20 to 25 acres, but that varies on who you talk to. So if that pond is smaller than I would say yes catch the heck out of them and keep them and eat em!!!

3. The pond with the small bass and nice BG usually means your bass ate all the small BG and there are way to many bass in the that pond. So the remaining BG that could not be eating are growing up nice and big. (Once again this depends on what you want to do with this pond as to how you should fish it IE what are your goals for it.)


The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
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I would like to one pond to be crappie free and grow big bass. The other I will plan on eating the crappie and hope I do not fish them out. The pond with the black crappie is about 2 acres the one with small bass is 1 1/2 acres. If the water is super clear should I fertilize?


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Well even for Black Crappie that is still a small pond for them. But it can be done if you manage it right. I know there are a few guys on the site that manage crappie in smaller pond so maybe they could give you some advice.

I can tell you this if you looking for your other pond to be for big bass then you need to start taking all the ones you can catch out of there that are 13 inches or smaller. You also may need to introduce another forage fish in the pond like Golden Shiners to give some of them BG some relief and take the pressure off of them. And then if you can restock some 3 to 4 inch BG or bigger. Your main feed for your bass is going to come from your bluegill and if they ate most of them then you will have to fix that first. If those bass have been in there a long time they may also be stunted and may not grow as big as you like. You may get some 2 or 3 pounders but problably not any 5, 6, or 7 pounders with your current stock.

I know what your going through I am going through the same thing as far as not knowing for sure whats in your pond. I bought mine last year and I still don't know for sure. I too have all small bass and I have been taking them out to make room for others to grow. All this takes time though it won't happen over night that's for sure.

Another thing you could do is kill everything off in the bass pond and start over. I know that sounds crule but some people do that so they know what exactly they have in there pond. That's just a suggestion and you can read up more on it if you like.

As far as fertilizing? I am no expert on this but I have asked a lot of questions. I can tell you this. There are a lot of things that need to happen before you fertilize.

1. You need to test your water and make sure its right before you fertilize.
2. You need to test your soil in your pond take 5 or 6 samples in different spots let it dry and send it off to have tested.
3. The reason for all the tests is so you can determine if you can fertilize or if you need something else in your pond first. For example you may need to lime your pond before you fertilize if your pond is not in balance. You can go to the FERTILIZE forum on this site and find out TONS of stuff on it and I suggest you do and read, read, read.


The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
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I will read up on fertilizing and try and get Langston U Aquaculture to help me out on water quality testing. Do golden shiners ever overpopulate in a bass pond? I had considered Tilapia but the price is killing me. I heard that Oklahoma Wildlife department would do a shock test for $50. That would be a good way to see exactly what I am working with. I have not been able to confirm or deny that rumor.:)


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Yes Tilapia are kind of pricey but they work for certain things. I have not heard of golden shiners ever overpopulating not when bass are around anyway! smile With bass and as you put it big bass you almost can't have enough forage fish. The hard thing is going to get your G. Shiners to spawn before they all get ate! If there isn't any habitat in that pond you should consider putting in some stuff for the smaller fish to hide around and spawn around. Remember though the golden shiners are just a "Get me by for a little while thing" What you really want to do is fill that pond up with bluegill, and some redear sunfish. Check out the Habitat forum on here also. This whole forum is FULL of good stuff dude. Just soak it in baby soak it in. smile You will answere a lot of your own questions just by reading all the stuff on this site.

If you can get a shock test for 50 bucks !!! SEND THEM MY WAY PLEASE!!!!! That would be something I would do in a heartbeat for that price!!

Good luck bud and keep us posted as to how it goes. You got 3 great looking ponds! Now the fun begins.


The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
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SK, Welcome to the forum. Other than to agree with RC and reinterate that this forum has a huge amount of data, i only have one point to make. Just because the water seems very clear does not mean it needs to be fertilized. It sounds as if your ponds are doing fairly well (depending on your intended goals), i didnt hear you complain about anything specific. As mentioned before your goals will depend greatly on what you decide to do with the ponds. Good clear water may be a high point for you. If it is and the fishing is as good (on a regular basis) as it sounds to be, then why fix what isnt broken. If your goals are different then study up on what goals are of interest to you. One more thing...get used to the comment "it all depends" as you will likely hear it often.

Last edited by rcn11thacr; 05/05/10 02:41 PM.

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CONGRATULATIONS!

Beautiful ponds!

The folks here give GREAT advice and I generally never go against it.

Sorta like your situation, my buddy and I bought our (badly neglected) pond about 2 years ago. We fished it and planned to own it for almost a year before we finally took ownership.

We put in 1,000,000 golden shiners in our 4 acre pond a little over a year ago and I'm still trying to be sure that they have established - I think so but I'm not positive.

One thing I have seen absolute proof of is the shiners have allowed the BG to get re-established. We have lots of different sizes of BG now whereas before the shiners, we had only larger ones (like you described) so, I have seen the proof of this idea.

However, one thing that *seems* to have happened with the introduction of lots of forage is that our catch-rate is way down. Before, we caught lots of bass and they were all underweight. Now, we catch only about 1/4 of the numbers of bass but they all look very fat and healthy. I *think* the catch-rate is down because they aren't starving any more. But, another possibility is that the bass are now smarter.

We can't really effectively fertilize our pond due to environmental contraints, money shortage, and rapid turnover of our water since it's part of a protected stream system. However, we don't really have noticeable issues or concerns. We do get a serious algae and weed bloom this time of the year but it goes away after a few months. I've got some plans to try some remedies for this but no money right now.

ENJOY your ponds! Don't stress over them. It's important to watch them but don't forget that, short of a catastrophic fish kill, you really don't have to manage them overly much. You get better results when you manage them properly and with the advice of the good folks here but, they'll be OK. wink


If you're too scared to throw that bait where the fish are, why did you tie it on?
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Where can you get Tilapia and would you be able to raise them through the summer in Oklahoma. I am sure they would die off in the winter.

Just wondering.

Thanks

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There is a real nice guy on this site that sells them. His name is Rex. He goes by rainman on the site. Search the site for this info. he may be able to help you out. If he see this post I am sure he will chime in, but he is quite busy right now delivering fish everywhere. He would be the one to talk to he is very knowledgeable about Tilapia.


The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
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Al,

I too have noticed a decline in my fish catching. Once I put 10 lbs of FHM's in my pond I have a hard time catching any bass now. I think your right they are full and happy so they are not taking the bait as much. I went from catching about 10 to 12 per outing ot about 3 per outing.


The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
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Yep, that's what I have to think.

We also did some serious culling last year. We probably took out 40lbs of bass that were under 14" so, I think we're in recovery now. But, we were also thinking that some of our bass might be stunted so, we wanted to make room for the new classes that had plenty of food.

I guess that means when you're catching lots of bass every time you go, you need to add forage. wink


If you're too scared to throw that bait where the fish are, why did you tie it on?
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Yeah add forage or get to yanking some of em like you did. smile


The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
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I have 65lbs of Tilapia coming from Overtons the end of next week. I have pulled about 100 black crappie now and may stop.. ??? can you over fish them? Do I need to add any cover for the Tilapia? There is some cover in the necks of the ponds but not up by the dam. does feeding the tilapia increase reproduction?


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I think it may depend on how the crappie got into your pond in the first place. If the only crappie in there were stocked by someone, you can probably fish them completely out. But it may take years.

In my pond, we'll never get rid of all the crappie. They come in through the stream that is part of our water supply so, I have no control. I can't complain too much - all our fish have come in through that stream. The only thing we've ever stocked are the golden shiners. I think we've lost a bunch of those through the overflow (not to mention the natural predation). But, golden shiners are native to Georgia so it doesn't hurt the ecosystem here if they do escape.

Tilapia are illegal to stock in Georgia right now. I doubt I could afford to stock them anyway but, Georgia law does not allow anybody to stock tilapia in any BOW anywhere in the state.


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Stocked 25lbs of tilapia in the 1 1/2 acre "stunted bass pond" and 40lbs in the 2 acre black crappie pond on Monday. Spencer Harbin of Harbin Fish farms brought them up from overtons. Spencer is a great young man and very knowledgeable. Tonight I fished the crappie pond and caught a nice 4 lb bass and 3 twelve inch bass. Pulled another 15 crappie in about 30 minutes of fishing. Man those crappie are plentiful with beautiful paper thin fillets. smile I am very interested to see if the crappie will gain weight or the bass or both. the bass in the pond are in fair condition but not fat. the goal is to have some nice bass with nice big crappie. green sunfish in the pond are large. I have caught everything on a road runner topped with chartreuse gulp minnow.


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You have any updates on your ponds? Just wondering how the Tilapia worked for you?


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