Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Magnolia Crappie -Hybrid Crappie

The Magnolia/Hybrid Crappie experiment has officially commenced.

I've been raising forage in mini pond 3 [Cedar Pond] which is .2 acres, 1.5:1 slope, max depth 12'. GSH, FHM, and PK Shrimp have been established over the last 12 months, so when Rex kindly asked if he could bring some Magnolia's up during his visit to Bruce I was ready to pull the trigger.

The Goal:

1. Raise trophy Crappie [15"+]
2. Verify scant research available stating Hybrid [Magnolia] Crappie offspring are inferior and don't represent overpopulation risks of regular black or white Crappie IF STOCKED WITH PREDATOR FISH.

With this mind I ordered 150 3-4" Mags - here they are in the truck, healthy, happy, and ready to be introduced to their new digs.




This is Carl - he's my favorite




After exchanging some water and allowing them to adjust to the new water temperature and chemistry, it's time to release Carl's brothers and sisters



Off they go to grow



Based on the theory presented by Jeff Slipke at the Conference and Eric and Travis I also stocked 6 4" HSB and will be adding some Male BG in order to help control reproduction. It's my hope that between adult Mags, HSB, and Male BG I should be able to keep up with any Mag offspring. Considering this is an isolated BOW with very little runoff therefore running little risk of flooding my main lake I can make some mistakes and simply drain and begin anew should things go awry. I like that...minimal pressure.

This winter I may add some PVC trees in order to try and congregate the Crappie, might add supplemental stockings of GSH and FHM - otherwise I'll be collecting and entering data next year and will keep everyone in the loop. With luck we may have found a crappie that, in conjunction with the right combination of predators, can function well [grow large/not overpopulate] in small waters.

My thanks to Rex for his willingness to travel all this way, to everyone's interest and advice on the project, and my compliments to the condition of the fish upon arrival.