crappies and ponds

[ringtails]

Hey, guys. I used to fish well over a hundred days a year all over our state----then I bought a farm. That pretty much ended my free time. Anyway, I still check out the reports regularly and dream of getting back into it some day. Recently, we built a small pond that's an acre in size. All the info says never to stock with crappie. Since that's my favorite fish and it's my pond anyway, I may put them in regardless. Of all the ponds I've fished, I've never known crappie to overpopulate. Rather, most ponds seem to struggle to keep a good crappie population. What's your take on crappie and ponds?

Thanks

[bowhunter012463]

I wouldn't put just crappies in it, I would also add some large mouth bass, channel cats and maybe some hybred blue gills. just my thought. I would also have some cover for them also.

[bluejig2]

I fish a lot of ponds both water retention and farm ponds. One farm pond that I fish was built in the late 1940's and has black crappie up to 15 inches and has never been over populated. However it has a good predator/prey relationship with largemouth bass being the dominate predator. I would shy away from catfish and rely on bass as my predator. We have two water retention ponds here in Champaign that have white crappie that showed up mysteriously and they appear to be stunted. This fall I did catch one on a crank bait that measured over 15 inches but when I went back with a crappie tube and float I caught several that were only 6 to 7 inches. Good luck!

[Craig]

I fish a pond that has crappie, they are not overpopulated but they are skinny and not real big. Maybe having enough baitfish is the answer to having bigger one. Good luck.

[jcd]

Hi,

Stock it with bass first...Let me them grow for a year or longer....We have stocked crappie in small farm ponds...Results have been excellent..These ponds have bluegill, catfish and bass in them...Plus crappie now.....I think you will be fine...But, make sure you let the bass get bigger...Before you stock crappie....Make sure you stock black crappie..

Good Luck

Jeremy

[birdman]

you should be fine with crappies. but like stated make sure you have bass in there as well. You do need a good bluegill population as well for the bass and crappies. talk with mike mounce, he is the regional fisheries biologist here and has a REALLY good understanding on these things with many studies to back it up..

[ringtails]

Thanks, guys. The pond was finished 2 days before Isaac hit and is already half full, so I went ahead and stocked fathead minnows, red ears, and bluegills. The plan is to stock a dozen or so walleyes and about 50 bass next fall, a few channels the following spring, and black crappie two years after that. I already have deep structure (tires and pallets) placed and will work on shallow structure before it fills completely. I want a lot of reproduction from the minnows before putting in the predators. For the first time in many years, I won't spend my winter clearing brush and may build some of those cool structures I frequently see on here.

Thanks again, and I welcome all suggestions and observations.

[bowhunter012463]

Good luck with the pond, sounds like you got it figured out. I don't know about the walleyes in the pond.

[jcd]

Throw majority of the bass back in that you catch...I think you will be fine....Plus, keep all the crappie that are worth keeping...

Jeremy