...However, I have never seen a pond of less than 20 or so acres that was successful with crappie.
... from what I've read, crappie aren't ideal in that small of a BOW, so you might have constant balance issues to fight with.
Based on the experience of members with crappie, I have come to the conclusion that success is determined by willingness to harvest and pond owner perspectives. Crappie, IMHO, generally can't be left alone to do their thing in a small pond or the results will be a great disappointment. But the crappie in Phonzie's pond are a harvestable size and they are providing both priceless diversion from everyday cares and food for the table. If he were throwing those fish back to grow up, he couldn't help but be disappointed and both the pond ecosystem and his fish would suffer. Based on providing fishing enjoyment and food, I say the pond is successful right now as it is.
To say a crappie pond that produces 8" crappie is a failure... when you think about it ... is just exactly like saying an LMB pond that produces 3 1/2 lb LMB is a failure. I would like to think that the range of "acceptable, enjoyable, and worthwhile" is much broader than that. Any pond producing 8" crappie is manageable via culling harvest and practically any size pond with sufficient predators can do that. On the other hand, very few ponds less than 20 acres can sustainably produce >10" crappie unless considerable harvest of the smaller sizes is practiced. I think the key to satisfaction is wanting to harvest 8" crappie and enjoying that task. If that piece is there, crappie can be grown successfully in small ponds.
