Stocking a farm pond with crappie?

So my family owns a property out near Dover, OK that has a fairly large, spring fed pond on it. The coordinates are 35.951164, -97.815847. The water clarity is good but we have never caught any fish there since 2000. We think that the only things in there are gar and carp. The pond is probably 10-15 ft deep at it's deepest point and has several shallow areas that are lined by cattails. The pond used to have catfish, largemouth bass (including some up to 10 lbs apparently, though I find that hard to believe). Has anyone ever heard of crappie thriving in a similar environment? Thanks!

I have three ponds on my properties and the ponds that are fish able have white crappie in them and they are DINKS and tons of them. Listen to Ciller, put blacks in if you want to control it. Oh, and you gotta put a few kitty's in it to sustain the crop and take to special occasions. Just sayin......

Does giving coordinates give us permission? YEE YEE !

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Originally Posted by crappiepappa

Does giving coordinates give us permission? YEE YEE !

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Lawl, well I'm not the one who owns it so unless you can somehow find my grandmother and ask her about it then I think the answer is no.nonono :biggrin

If it has gar and carp, I would get in touch with the state to eliminate them and then worry about restocking. If that deep and spring fed, I think you should be able to keep crappie.

What size pond?

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Originally Posted by DrNip

What size pond?

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Probably 2-5 acres. I'm horrible about judging the size of ponds though. It also connects to a huge swamp.

7 years I stocked three ponds with whites. all were approx 6 to 7" long. for the last several years we have caught several that have grown to average 10" to some that are 13". there is no spring, but tons of perch in these ponds. Have had no problem at all keeping them healthy and catching them.

The ODW says pond size for stocking crappie should be 10 acres minimum.
Prolific breeding being the issue.

Shoot, I am not gonna say that the ODW is wrong, but I know of several ponds that have a ton of crappie in them that are very large, some have produced several crappie over 3 pounds and they are no where near 10 acre ponds.

Can't tell you how many good crappie I have pulled out of ponds less than one acre but I have seen even more small ponds go dink city with white crappie; however I have never seen a pond overpopulate with BC, which forage on a wider variety of bait and lay fewer eggs to boot.

Then those ponds have a very efficient predator population and I bet the crappie are black crappie. No, ODWC is not wrong, but the ponds that you speak of are balanced and have a heavy predator population to keep them balanced.

Thinking out loud..... I have two ponds that need restocking. Both are three to five acres. I am thinking black crappie and minnows with some bream in one. And some bass in the other. Every body says stay away from crappie but that is what I like to fish for.

I agree with you and your formula and I even suppose that it would be nice to have one pond stocked with bass so you could bowfish on occasion when your arms get tired cranking in those huge black slabs you're gonna produce. I'm pretty sure I would pay to fish a pond that big and that far south stocked with BC and plenty of forage fish. And I would bet that nobody out there has ever seen a pond overstocked with dink blacks. Somehow they seem to kind of cycle and self regulate with good numbers for a year or so and then a down year. I don't pretend to understand why but I have noticed this phenomena in my own pond and those I fished as a kid. Good luck- been considering digging a new pond dedicated to BC and baitfish, pond shiners probably so I would love to hear from anyone who has tried that.

Try to stock the pond with threadfin shad if possible. You are far enough South that they would survive. Crappie feed on soft ray fish such as shad, shiners and fatheads. Why you ask? Because the crappie vacuum in the minnows, fold them in half and swallow. Bluegill and redears are hard ray fish and are more difficult to swallow because of the hard dorsal fins. I will post a couple of pics of some BC that were caught Saturday from a 10 acre managed watershed lake that I manage. The BC's are pigs averaging 13 - 15 inches.

CC - This ought to make you grin

:biggrinWhere's my pictures?:biggrin

Patience Grasshoppa, I will get you a picture or two shortly. The 2 fish hit a 4 inch goldfish and a 3 inch shiner.

The anticipation has me all on edge- not sure I can sleep General George! Where dem pitchers man?

LOL

IMO and I mean no disrespect to anyone.............there are many many great crappie fisherman here, but being a great fisherman does not necessarily make one educated in specific habitats and conditions of individual small bodies of water..........Stocking a pond in an effort to eventually harvest quality fish can be an expensive undertaking.

If I were you I would contact your fish and game department.........they have educated employees that can go into real detail on what you need to do, If it is even advisable for that particular body of water.....And many other variables. I'm sure fish and game would be happy to send someone out to survey the pond and give real assistance in stocking, along with any improvements you may need to do before stocking the pond...........

Midcarolina - You are spot on with your recommendation. I did not take offense with your suggestion. I work closely with the Okla Wildlife dept fisheries staff on different issues within the water industry. When I make a recommendation to some one the subject has been already discussed with staff. I appreciate your comment.

I've called in a pond management company to evaluate and price out restocking my pond. They should be able to give me a better idea as to what will work. Here's a pic of my project.

I will be interested in their approach. Hope you will fill us in when the evaluation is complete. If you are renting cabins there I will be interested in the volume discount in a few years!

A friend of mine has a spring fed pond as well.. there are crappie in it and they have no problem with them growing.. The pond is about an acre and a half and deep... I have caught several out of it and they run in the 2 pound range... I have done this for the last 2 years and I go out there roughly twice a week and always catch them... I have, on one occasion, put about 15 in it, blacks and whites and they all seem to be doing quite well...

What time of year and how are you fishing it Smoky?

CC I fish it in the spring and summer... now and then in the fall... I use jig and bobber as well as minnows..

Thanks Smoky! Always looking for tips.

Crappie on order

So that's the easiest way to catch them -- just order them!! :biggrin