+1 on Bills comment above.
In a bow already overrun with runt crappie only large predators can resolve it. If one doesn't want to kill out such BOW it very may be a situation where one could consider letting one 10 lb flathead per acre have its way for 3 years before removing it.
It seems to me that the situation of 4" to 6" runts cannot be fully corrected until the crappie biomass is reduced to the point that a portion of the population can achieve breeding status. Once they begin producing YOY then one could ladder stock the predator of choice.
IMHO, one needs larger predators than for a trophy BG BOW where very numerous small predators seem to work best. I think LMB ranging from 2 to 8 lbs would work well. Predators this large will not compete with the crappie. They will be eating crappie that the largest crappie cannot. In a sense, the largest crappie fill the niche that small bass would. I wonder if a female LMB only BOW with crappie may be good choice particularly where a non-competing additional disappearing prey species like Moz. TP provide additional forage from mid-July to die-off. Such a BOW may have potential to grow both large crappie and trophy LMB. I think a ladder of 2-4 females per acre every other year would be sufficient. An example of such a ladder stock plan is below with the goal of growing >10lb LMB.
Last edited by jpsdad; 03/12/24 04:30 PM.
