Pond Boss Forums MANAGING AN EXISTING POND Evaluating and adjusting fish populations Crappie in my Pond - how to manage?

I agree 110% on getting an electroshock survey done. Since the larger crappie are largely piscivorous, and bass are the same, I would bet that removing a bunch of the smaller bass would allow more of the smaller fish to survive, which would in turn feed the crappie.

BUT then with the large numbers of bass removal you will have to keep tabs on the crappie population, too many of them will also cause low forage fish numbers.

I would add cover to the water that is crappie specific. I don't recommend adding any minnows to the pond (what are the forage fish in there now for the predators?) until the bass population is thinned out considerably. It'd be a waste of $$ IMHO.

I don't know the rules regarding private ponds in Va, but if you could remove 600# of the 8"-10" bass this year it would help the forage base tremendously. The larger crappie just don't have enough to eat to grow much bigger, the bass are getting a lot of the smaller fish that could be going to feeding the crappie.

As for crappie harvest, I'd concentrate on harvesting crappie too, but the majority of the harvest this first year should be the 3/4# and under crappie. Re-assess the fishery balance next year - I know the lease is relatively short term, but if you want to make the fishery better I'd talk to the owner and try to get a 10 year lease and hash out the details about cost of management.

It'd be a shame to put $$ into the place for 5 years, get the fish to 2# (it's not going to happen overnight - think a minimum 2-3 years before you see noticeable results) and then lose the lease.