Snipe that still doesn’t answer the problem of most of the once abundant 8” crappie disappearing and BG increasing small and large. Most of the LMB that are caught are 11-13” from two years ago spawn. Since the LMB were bucket stocked I have no clue as to how many were large LMB are in there but it seems that there might be quite a few due to the BCP population decreasing so rapidly and the BG population increasing. I’m still leaning toward removing several thousand larger BG an see if the remaining BCP can pull off a comeback
Pat, if it were my pond, that's where my focus would be and if the larger size BG are removed the bass eating that size needs to be removed as well. Still, with that said, what is present forage-wise to support the crappie? You had mentioned you had shad at one time, which would be extremely beneficial if that's the case. Small, yearling crappie are planktonic filter feeders in the beginning, that's why YOY BCP are often found out in the wide open when larval stage but mid to late summer they start to move on to other forms of food such as fresh hatch larval shad, GSH, etc.. If invertebrates are available above zoo plankton, that may be delayed if abundant.. That's an "it all depends" situation.
Getting them to show up lower in the food chain is key in this situation, and we "think" the BG are inhibiting that so the logical move would be to reduce BG to a number that allows BCP slip-through. At least that's my thoughts.
RS, Saugeye are not available to the public in any number that I'm aware of. I have been allowed to take several hundred fry in years past and raise.
We produce millions every year during WAE egg-take but it's very tightly controlled now with Hatchery techs fertilizing most all of the eggs we supply. We used to fertilize in the field and eggs were shipped to hatchery but now we just send eggs and they do it all there. Last year was abnormally cool and we got a late start and very few were used for Saugeye production. This year, the CV-19 shut us down on day 3 of egg-take.
If someone in eastern Kansas comes up with sauger, we need to talk because I can supply eggs and hatch the fertilized eggs, but it's key to get the fry stocked out in less than 5 days post-hatch.
This next year I know the demand is going to be huge for the state and I know there is no way I will be able to access any from them. It's going to have to be a private endeavor for this to happen.
EDIT: RS, Stocking rates vary but for crappie reduction and control, Fry are stocked at a rate of 100-300 per acre every other year. Normally that number changes on the second stocking based on Year 0 fall net samples.
