Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Crawfish Crappie or Trout Forage; Yay or Nay?

Hi Folks,

I'm planning some different ponds for when the wife and I get some land in the North Carolina mountains, and among those are going to be a spring-fed one set up for a sustained breeding Brook Trout population. The other is going to be single-species crappie. I know this is inadvisable, but I have studied it a lot, I think I can make it work, and am going to try it.

My question is whether having crawfish present in these ponds would be helpful or harmful to their main residents. I am not sure whether they will be a good food source for these fish, and whether they would harm either the young/spawning beds of the fish, or interrupt the food web for the other prey items.

Anybody with experience with crawfish as a forage for crappie or trout, I would really appreciate to hear from you!

Crayfish are an amazing forage option for nearly all species of predatory fish. I think both crappie and trout would love little crays to feast upon. Crayfish will hop into nests a bit, but I don't believe it'd be enough to make an impact on the fish populations.

I don't know how well the crawfish would do in a pond scenario when the main focus was Brook Trout due to water temps. Brookies are more sensitive to higher water temps and the resulting lower DO levels than other trout species.

"Dissolved Oxygen Levels:

EPA criteria for no impairment of salmonid production (USEPA 1987):

Embryo and larval stages 11 mg/l
Other life stages
8 mg/l

Normal activity: > 5 - 6 mg/l dissolved oxygen (Baker et al. 1993)
Spawning season: > 7.0 mg/l (necessary for egg survival)

Rainbow trout are more tolerant of low dissolved oxygen
levels while brook trout are particularly sensitive
to low dissolved oxygen levels (Camp Dresser and McKee 1981)."

http://www.water.ncsu.edu/watershedss/info/aqlife.html

Interesting, I didn't know crawfish would not do well in the cold, oxygen-rich waters that brookies like. I am well aware that Brook Trout require colder and clearer water than rainbows, or especially browns, but Watauga County North Carolina, especially with a spring-fed pond, can supply that quality of water year-round.

I know minnow forage species are not a good idea for trout, but I did not know whether the same would be true for crawfish. They certainly might help the flavor, as generally the more piscivorous a trout is, the worse its taste will end up (of course, that is within the spectrum of trout, which runs from "amazingly-delicious" to "best thing I've ever eaten"), but crawfish, as a crustacean, would add carnitine and the vitamins that make trout grow its pink, especially-tasty flesh.

I think the craws would be fine in the cold water. I caught a bunch at 10,000'. Surface temp in the middle of summer there is 62 degrees.

IMO not all craws are created equal. I would look at those endemic to the area if you want to maximize chance of survival. Pic a "non-burrowing" one if you can.

Just my 1 cent....

crayfish have a way of eating the vegetation if left unchecked. No vegetation equals crayfish digging in the bottom and this gives muddy water. That can be a pro or a con depending if control of vegetation is your main priority. (muddy water equals poor light penetration which means that vegetation can't get a start)

On the other hand, clearer water produces weeds, but also helps the food chain and keeps the tiniest members of the food chain going.

On the other hand if you have rip rap or other natural crevices for them to hide in they can maintain a population even with lots of hungry predators looking for them.

For those species craws are not a big issue. I would not add them but would let nature take its course. The crappie will need fish and will eat inverts (craws) but the craws will not make the crappie a success. The crappie will work or not depending on other factors.

For the trout other inverts would be better (grass shrimp , scuds etc.) than craws.

Interesting, thanks! I have been doing a lot of research, but cannot find a definitive list of species of crawfish that are not prone to burrowing. I will likely order a starter bunch of crawfish of the correct species, when I find out what it is, and stock the bait pond where they can safely reproduce, as well as putting some in the main BOW.

Does anyone know what species are good ones that won't undercut banks and particularly the dam area? I'd rather order some species-verified examples from a breeder rather than rely on my amateurish attempts to identify what I catch in a trap in a stream or lake nearby. I am sure a few undesirable "primary" or "secondary burrowers" would escape my identification and make it into the main BOW where they would wreak havoc.

Any ideas on what species are the best for this? I gather non-burrowing species and at most tertiary burrowers are the acceptable ones for long-term durability of the pond's banks.

The only one that I know that fits your criteria is Papershell Crayfish, Orconectes immunis.

Whatever species are present in your area will show up in your waters. Start there.

Although that is often true in flat lands, we will be building these ponds fairly high up and away from (as well as separated by ridges from) other BOWs, so I doubt any local ones will make it into the pond.

There are a lot of species of crawfish in the mountains of North Carolina, but their behavior is not well-documented, and I would doubt I could identify them well enough even if we did know which ones were desirable for a pond.

Time will tell. At least the local ones will be adapted to the location.