Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Holy Crappie... Discovery of previously unknown inhabitants...

Now that I've introduced myself and posted pictures of my new "baby", time for some real questions...
As I mentioned before, I have a 12 acre lake with a huge population of stunted bass, and very little forage. Later this fall we plan to stock several thousand CBG, plus some fatheads and golden shiners as supplemental feed. In the meantime, I am working to remove 300 bass under 11 inches. I was out there "culling" this morning with my 7 year old daughter when she gets quite a bend in her Zebco 33 combo. She finally gets the fish to the boat, and it's one of the largest crappie I have ever seen. It tipped the scales at 1.75 lbs. She then proceeded to catch 3 more crappie, all of them between 1.25 and 1.5 lbs. In the 5 weeks and 175 culled bass since we have owned the lake, the crappie are about the biggest fish caught (with the exception of a 2.5 lb. bass I caught last week). Needless to say, we kept the fish, and they are now resting peacefully in our freezer. My question is this: Can crappie and LMB coexist, or should we continue to remove the crappie? We've been fishing quite a bit with worms and bobbers, and these were the first and only crappie taken. They didn't even show up in our electroshock survey, so our consultant assumed we didn't have any. My goal is trophy LMB (I'm sure no one has ever said that before). I need some recommendations, as I remember reading that these fish reproduce rapidly and tend to compete with the LMB for food. Just a wierd situation -- it's like these big babies have been in there for years. Maybe the LMD got all of the little ones? Or maybe my middle daughter has some type of mystical panfish powers -- the crappie whisperer... Let me hear from you...

Dan, Sounds like you have a classic example of a bass heavy population that is able to control crappie recruitment, therby allowing a select few of your specs to achieve large sizes. You should have some decent bluegill in the pond as well.

As you begin to harvest smaller bass, predation of YOY crappie will decrease, recruitment will increase and your crappie will begin competing with your bass for forage. Also since crappie spawn well before bass, your bass recruitment will probably decrease as they are preyed upon by YOY and adult crappie.

So conventional wisdom says, if you want big bass, slay the crappie. Personally, problem I would love to have.

I agree. If big bass is your goal, put lots of pressure on those crappie. They can get out of hand much quicker than you would ever guess.

The shyness of crappie often keeps them too far from the shocking rig to get many of them. Last fall when I had my 8 acre lake shocked only 2 or 3 came up, but I've caught over 800 this year. And last year I didn't think I had a crappied problem.

-Scott

Dan,

Because your lake is 12 acres, I believe the crappie and bass can coexist well.

Just be sure to put plenty of pressure on all sizes of crappie (my favorite past time!). Of course, keep culling the excessive bass until average size improves.

I am a crappie activist, none better for the table. It pains me to say this, but "if" your desire is for exclusive big bass, remove them all. Big or little, they need to go. "If" you can settle for 7-9 LMB, let them co-exist. Dan, where are you located ? You have an established lake and need to "adjust" existing populations. A word of caution....those big crappie, bent poles, and big smiles will be gone if you decide to go the trophy bass route...so will the tasty fillets in the freezer, you'll be eating "Bootleather Bass !" I told you I liked Crappie !!!

Eastland-
The property is located in Fannin County, about halfway between Bonham and Paris. The lake has been around for 34 years, but the owner was a farmer, not a fisherman. It was stocked long ago, and rarely fished. He couldn't remember many stocking details, and wasn't really sure what was in the lake. Thanks for the advice -- I wish you could have seen the look on my daughters face when the big momma surfaced. For that matter, you should have seen my face! I'll try to post a picture...
Dan

jbrockey, where have you been? Glad you are back. I don't think your next generation pondmaster has been around either.

Anyway, I hope everything has been well with you.

Fishman, sounds like we have the same lake. 3 years ago I bought a 12 acre lake in Leon county. Had lots of small bass and huge perch. I put 2000 copper nose from lakes of danbury, before Todd move to Buffalo. Fished like crazy and remove 14" and under bass. Got all the "locals" off my lake, stock talapia for the last two seasons and now catch a good range between 1 and 4 pounds when I go fishing. I think I am still bass heavy, but it seems to be better fishing. Have caught about 15 bass over 5 pounds and one 8.7 pounds. Last Saturday I watched a huge bass inhale a 6" BG on the surface of the lake, he swam under it for 2 min. then opened his mouth and that was that. Hang in there with your lake, I know it is hard to sleep thinking of all you want to do to make it better.I could go hog wild spending for up grades, but got to keep the wife happy as well.
Good Luck,
Bob

Dan, I've heard the Pro's say "It's not whether crappie will take over, but when".

I'm familar with your area since I buy
hay just west of Tigertown every year.
We're in a serious drought here and I'm
wondering how your water level is holding up.

Squeeky-
The lake looks like it is down 2-3 feet. My guess is that I am down to about 10 surface acres. The farmer that I purchased the property from says that there has been occasional rain around Fannin County in the past 6 weeks, it just hasn't been much and hasn't hit our area north of Honey Grove. Fortunately, he says the lake has never dropped more than 3-4 feet in the 34 years he had owned it.
Dan