Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations What to do with Crappie in a small pond?

Hey guys, first let me say great forum, I can already tell I will be visiting a bunch.

Now on to my problem. I recently purchased land with a small 3 acre pond. We have lived there for three years but I just bought it. Three years ago, all I could catch in it was 12" bass and occasional bluegill.

Two years ago, it turned over and many bluegill and bass died over the winter.

Then last fall we started catching large crappie on a regular basis. It is nothing to catch 8-10 14"-18" crappie in a couple hours on any given day.

Again this spring we are catching that same large size of crappie along with about 5 smaller sizes of crappie and lots of 8 ounce bluegill.

I have always been a bass fisherman, and know little about crappie. Should I keep em all, cull the smaller ones, or cull the bigger ones?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

CS

If you want a bass lake, take all the crappie out that you catch - they will compete with your bass - usually in a die off, ALL bass don't die off and some (usually smaller ones) survive, so chances are you may still have a few bass. Anyway, depends on pond fishing objective - if for bass, get rid of crappie. Good luck

Depends on the type of crappie...black crappie of good size can work well in a small pond as they don't tend to be as bad as white when taking over a pond...I have had a good balance in my 3 acre pond for years but have black crappie. Catch them just like you but bass too.

Thanks for the input. They are all black crappie that I have caught so far. There are a few bass still in the pond, I have seen them cruising the shorelines from the pond dam. I like to fish for bass, but don't want to wipe out an awesome crappie pond on the chance that the pond will support good bass populations.

I recommend you keep every crappie you catch. they are big swawners and crappie spawn earlier than bass. There is enough time in between that crappie fry are large enough to eat bass fry when they are born. crappie will also compete with bass of same size for food. The problem with them is over time they can work the bass population down to almost nothing.

If your bass are difficult to catch and are looking overly fat you may consider adding some adult bass every 4-5 years. If you put enough pressure on the crappie (by harvesting them) you may not have to add bass.

Also, dont just go by a crappies color for identification. count the number of spines on the dorsal fin - if there are 5-6 dorsal spines then its a white crappie, 7-8 dorsal spines its a black crappie. I have seen many crappie that are almost jet black but were acutally white crappie.

I dont recommend crappie for stocking into small ponds. Dont play the catch and release game with crappie. over time, if left alone, they will probably crowd your bass population out. No matter what your bass will always be competing with them for a meal thus reducing overall bass growth.

I echo the thoughts of Shan and Tim. ALso you said you don't want to wipe out a good crappie fishery. WIth little bass at this point you will have a poor crappie fishery if you don't take them out, so yet another reason to remove all you catch. You will probably never get rid of all of them, but you can catch some slabs occasionally along with the preferred bass. If the bluegill population is reestablished consider adding some bass because if not you will by next year's spawn have a pond that is full of crappie that will not grow.

I disagree but for a different reason. I've never seen a place to catch 14 to 18 inch crappie. That is really unique. However, I don't know how long it can be sustained. That would be my only problem.

Usually when crappie are introduced they get large in small ponds, after several years the average size tends to go down. I have seen several ponds consistantly produce crappie that size and the common trait amoung all of them was heavy harvest by the owner. I have also noticed another trend, crappie tend to get larger in bass heavy ponds. I think its because the bass are "harvesting" the crappie offspring keeping total numbers of crappie lower thus providing additional food to grow some slabs.

I was shocking yesterday and came across a new fallen tree. We got right on top of it and hit the power, caught 45 crappie over 12 inches. We gave some away and ate very well last night.

I agree witha couple of the guys. In order to keep the crappies in check, try addingsome adult basswhile pulling out the crappie. They WILL eventually stunt.Just a little heads up; they are great fried in cracker crumbs with a little cajunseasoning.

Just an update, we have continued to catch the larger crappie, but only at "peak" fishing times. I have been making a habit of fishing in the middle of the day and catching tons of 4" -6" crappie. This past Sunday my wife and I caught 41 crappie in that range in 40 minutes of fishing. They were all removed from the pond.

Also, I have only spotted ONE largemouth spawning. There were several hundred fry around the area and the bass was busy chasing off bluegill and crappie that were feasting on the youngins.

It looks like I will have to add adult bass and continue heavy harvest of the Crappie to make any progress at all.

Thanks for all your info.
later,
CS

Will channel cats and crappie work together in a pond?

I doubt that channel cats would be an effective enugh predator to controll the crappie population considering that LMB are just about the most efective preditor fish in the world and even they most often can't keep crappie populations from going crazy.
-Scott

I don't think channels would be an effective preditor, But I have often asked what about a few blues and even some flatheads... Blues are about as good as Bass when it comes to preditors, and flatheads are even better!! I have asked this question on several occasions and never got a response..

I thing truely the blue and flathead catfish are a more efficent preditor than the bass. I think this because the catfish can hunt in water that is muddy as coffee and still grow and stay healthy. Bass on the other hand have to have stained water or better to hunt well or they begin to loss weight and get stunted. Bass in clear water may can out hunt a blue cat but there is no way a bass can out hunt a flathead in any water clarity.

I'v always thought of blues and flat heads as big water fish.I'v caught very few biues but lots of flats out of the Mo. river .I'v never caught one in water less then maybe 10'.They alwas seemed to be in deeper cooler water.I would'nt know if theyed work in a pond but I can picture every other fish jumping on shore to escape there wraith.

Hey csgrizz, It seems that most Illinois ponds and private lakes have crappie, Mine did when I bought it this past winter. After intense fishing on my part along with my wife, we found the lake was loaded with big crappie and small bass, along with the regular species. First thing I did was stock 300 adult b-gill (the lake is 5 ac.) Then every crappie we caught was either eaten or was tossed in to the woods. 5 months later we're seeing nice fat bass, PLENTY of b-gill for the bass to eat, and have'nt caught a crappie in 2 months. Oh, btw, I also added 5 lm bass in the 3-4 lb. range to help the upper end of the food chain. It sure seems to have helped.

Crappie Fans. For some interesting reading about raising crappie in small ponds visit http://www.conservation.state.mo.us/fish/aquaguides/ Click on the box "Managing Crappie in Small Impoundments".

Bill,

Thanks for the link. You didn't add any comments, and from reading some of your previous post I'm curious to know if you are sticking with the advice, NO crappie in small ponds.

Russ