Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Crappie taking over???

Below is a description of my pond from a prior post (too lazy to type a new profile). In the first 4 years, we only caught about 6-8 crappie total, and they were always beasts. This year we've been catching about 6-8 crappie every time we go out, usually pretty decent size, but not huge...

My theory is this: When I bought the pond, there was no forage base, so the LMB kept the crappie population in check, allowing only a handful to reach maximum size. These big ones spawned each year, and the LMB cleaned up on the babies. Since we've added a large population of CBG and threadfin shad, the pressure on the crappie spawn has eased, increasing their numbers. What do you think?

Finally, should I keep every crappie that I catch, or can my 10-12 acre lake carry the LMB, CBG, and white crappie? I've always heard crappie can take over a bass pond, and I don't want that to happen. But it is kind of fun having another game fish in the pond -- not to mention one that tastes so good!

Here is some background on my pond, and an update...

We bought our property in July of 2005 -- approximately 45 acres with a 10-12 acre lake North of Honey Grove in Fannin County, NE Texas. The property was part of a larger farm and the lake had been impounded about 37 years earlier. It was used primarily for watering cattle and irrigating the surrounding fields, and the deepest point I've measured is about 22 feet. When we purchased, the water was pretty murky from the cattle.

I had fished a little bit around the shore before I bought, and noticed that there were a lot of bass, but they were small. One of the first things I did was pay for an electroshock survey and water test. The results:

1. Visibility of 12 inches
2. pH, alkalinity, and hardness OK
3. No forage fish except for a handful of GSF
4. Weighed and measured 62 bass during the survey
5. Population peak at 9 inches
6. Relative weight averaged 82%
7. Only existing forage was other bass and insects

In October of 2005, we stocked the following:

1. 3000 3"-5" CBG
2. 50lbs. of golden shiners
3. 50lbs. of fathead minnows

From July through December of 2005, we culled 309 LMB under 12".

In the Spring of 2006 I started running three Aquapro ADF-75 feeders. I've been feeding Purina Gamefish Chow from day one. I usually feed once a day in March and April, bump it up to twice a day in May, June, July, and August, then take it back to once a day when it cools off a little in September and October. The last couple of years, the CBG have started feeding immediately (day one) when I start the feeders in March.

We didn't fish as much in 2006, and only culled 108 LMB under 12". I also discovered some monster crappie in the pond that year, but they were few and far between. I suspect any crappie fry and YOY were devoured by the LMB. This year also brought a terrible drought to North Texas, and the lake reached its lowest point, down from 12 acres to about 9 acres. I also started running another Aquapro ADF-75 that year, putting me at four feeders.

In 2007 we were able to get out to "The Farm" a bit more. We kept the four feeders running and noticed some really big CBG! We also noticed that we were releasing a lot more LMB than we used to -- about every other bass was over 12", as opposed to maybe one in eight the previous two years. We ended up culling 290 LMB under 12" that year.

In 2008, I decided it was time to "take the next step" as far as forage. I had Todd Overton stock approximately 6000 threadfin shad, and about 50 lbs. of talapia. I kept running the four feeders and the CBG and LMB continued to grow. We found ourselves releasing two out of every three LMB that we caught, and we still culled 151 LMB under 12". One of my daughters caught a new lake record LMB. It was only about 4 lbs. but it dawned on me that we never really tried to catch big bass -- we spent all of our time trying to catch cull bass to keep up with the management plan! Another friend lost a likely lake record 5 pound LMB when it attacked a CBG he was bringing in on his 3 wt. fly rod. In September of 2008 we realized our dream (well, my dream) and started building (well, someone else actually built it) a beautiful little cedar cabin on the property.

2009 has brought about the completion of the cabin -- a huge relief for my wife and three daughters. The plastic portable toilet with the zip-up poop bag in the barn wasn't cutting it. They needed indoor plumbing! Fishing has continued to improve, and Todd stocked another 60 pounds of talapia in May. A good number of shad made it through the winter and the population seems strong this summer. When the feeders go off now, its like a school of piranha on a baby cow! A friend caught an 11.5" CBG and my oldest daughter caught a new lake record 5 pound LMB a couple weeks ago. We now release about 80% of the LMB we catch, as they are well over 12", and the 3-4 pound LMB are relatively common. I know that there are bigger bass in the pond, and I plan to start fishing for them soon!

For now, I'd keep every crappie you catch. I don't think you will put a large dent in the population for a while. I would manage them just like you did with the LMB, keep yanking them out until you see them increase in size. Or, keep every one that you catch that's under a certain size, like you did with the LMB, say every one under 10".

You've done a heck of a job turning the pond around. Congrats!!

Fishman Dan I had also had a crappie problem in my pond. When we acquired the pond we did not find any top line predators. Crappie were filling the role, but they were poorly controlling the various sunfish populations. The size distribution of the crappie was 95% 5-7" and 5% 13-15". The pond was filled with 3-4" BG and Pumpkinseed.

The Crappie co exist with the sunfish, but neither population was desirable from a fishing/harvest perspective. My 3/4 acre pond allowed the stunting of the populations to occur in a three year period.

I have since added LMB and culled every single Crappie I caught. I took out close to 60 last year in the catch rate has dropped to one in 30 fish. A year and half after the LMB I now have YOY fish in the pond that were non-existent two years ago and the size distribution of the fish is much more varied. As a whole the pond is a lot better half W/OUT the Crappie.

Now with your lake IMO you are dead on about forage population allowing the Crappie to fly under the radar.

Before the addition of the CNBG and Tilapia your LMB kept the Crappie in check. Generally LMB and Crappie will not occupy the exact same habitat whereas the CNBG will. I think that has a lot to do with it. With all that water I think the Crappie will have some room unless you start removing them or bass start crowding.

If you like the Crappie then just thin them a bit. Catching a big Crappie is fun and they are great eating.

I think I have mentioned to you before that your pond is similar to mine in almost all aspects. I had very large crappie when we started but now very rarely see them. The only difference that I can tell between what you have and my pond is that we have hsb. It makes me wonder if they eat a lot of the crappie fry? We have caught only one crappie this year and it was very large about two pounds. Too big for a hsb to eat it. This is just a guess since I really don't know why we don't have more crappie.

Fishman Dan -- I have a thought for you. Have you got a scale on which you can get an accurate weight on the crappies? If so, measure lengths and weights for about 20 of those crappies. Send those to me, and I'll calculate the Wr (relative weight) values for you. I think it would be interesting to know if your mid-size crappies are young, plump, and fast-growing, or if they are older, skinnier, and thus likely slow growing. Like I said, just a thought. If I posted the Wr values here on the thread, the other guys could use that information to help assess your pond.

Dave-

Got your reply/idea a little too late. We went up last weekend and caught/kept about 30 crappie (they were delicious) -- all were pretty healthy, with a couple pigs that almost pulled my daughter out of the boat. Next time we go up I'll take weights and measurements. Thanks for the offer!

Dan

P.S. We also culled another 42 LMB under 12" and I lost what would have been a new lake record (looked like about 7-8lbs)...

Sounds good, Dan. Should be interesting!