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Okay,
Neighbor has acerage, 2 ponds, big n little. Big pond full of stunted fish, bass and crappie. Lil pond had dried up , rebuilt dam, rainfall and well water keep it full now. Last year stuck 150 dink crappie from big to lil'. 80 lbs. fathead minnows in lil pond with crappie. This year, fish still dinks in little pond. So, once a dink, always a dink? Or should we just give it time? It's not super big, maybe 3500 sq. ft. surface area, but deep (15 ft.), still too crowded?
if crappie are in a small pond you might as well drain it again. They might get to good size for a year or two but it will be way over populated in no time. They'll all be skinny and the same size
Usually small lakes/ponds and crappie equal trouble. Like ragencage said "over population" becomes the problem.
I need more info!
How much cover is in the Pond? What Type? What size is the Big Pond...is the small one a quarter acre?
Big pond is about 4 acres and very deep, 25 ft. Lots of brush and structure. Little is little, maybe 3000 to 3500 sq. ft. Very weedy, maybe 15- 18 ft. There are some small bass in it somehow, which we are trying to remove.
The Big Pond is very doable....for it, you have to let the Bass get Big to help control the Crappie.Quote:
Originally Posted by van the man
To do that you have to provide plenty of minnow/baitfish cover in the Shallows, you want a large forage base to grow fish. Flat stacked untreated wood Pallets are best...then dense laydown cover....like Lowell said, you can even put wood, branches, in-between the planks. Pallets allow many holes and top cover for minnows to spawn, hide, and grow the population.
Then you have to remove some 12 inch Bass and Small Crappie, to relieve some food competition! If you catch BIG BASS, put them back in to eat small Crappie...Before Long, you should start seeing the Bass get bigger, and the Crappie population growing also.
You really have to stay on the Crappie though and continue to harvest more smaller ones compared to the Slabs...probably 4 to 1.
The small Pond will TAKE ALOT OF MANAGEMENT!
You will have to overload the shallows with Minnow cover and really crank on the Crappie and remove as many as possible, same with Small Bass...when the Bass get big, remove even more Crappie and some medium sized Bass.
You will have to continue to remove Small Crappie whenever possible, until you see some good slab size....then keep removing dinks!
Small Crappie Ponds are ALOT of work...Once you get a BIG BASS population you can slow down the removal of dink Crappie, but you will always have to monitor!
I wouldn't put in much more cover for Crappie or the Bass will have a harder time controlling them.
Good Fishing
Brent
I'll have to disagree 4 acres is too small to manage crappie in. It might be doable for a few years, but eventually (within 10 years) it will be overrun with small fish. But, I do agree on the bass controlling the crappie population somewhat. In a pond a bass is there only predator. This is all from my experience in MS. It may be different up north. The state biologist doesn't recommend stocking crappie in a pond less than 100 acres I believe it is. If I had to put crappie in a pond that small i'd go with a black crappie or hybridQuote:
Originally Posted by INTIMIDATOR
Put a couple of flat head catfish in there, the will help manage it.
Thanks guys. Big pond is old and established, there are some 5 lb bass in there but don't seem to be as many as a while ago. I think there's been some trespassing going on. It has a nice dock and a little row boat he keeps on it. There are a few Slab crappie, but many, many dinks. We have been pulling them out, a couple hundred last year. LOTS of little bass. I keep suggesting that we pull those also, but some guys have it all figured out, if you know what I mean. I probably need to start going over there on the down low and pull them suckers out when he ain't looking!
I don't believe there are any catfish in there or somebody would have caught one by now. I kinda like that idea. Big pond is quite clear, at least for oklahoma. Some weed gowth. Lots of bluegill also. Have caught 6 in shiners on crappie jigs and inline spinners before. Little pond is off color, kinda silty. Maybe foot visibility.
Get the pond healthy first, before you add another Predator!Quote:
Originally Posted by van the man
The intent with the small pond was for it to be a 24 hour "crappie fish market". Just walk over there and pull out a dozen anytime. So pulling them will happen, but the ones we put in last year are still kinda small. Although, I have fished it again since I started this, and I will say they are a little bigger than when we put them in last spring, but not the size we were hoping for. Maybe by summertime?
I understand...100 acres is what is recommended so you don't have to spend the extra time managing it!Quote:
Originally Posted by ragencage
Plenty of people have done a Crappie pond and enjoy the work sustaining it....the ones that don't enjoy "managing it" have a stunting problem!
I gave him the exact advice to get it in order, then it is up to them to keep it that way!
So what is the difference of having a 4 acre Bass Pond, with Blugills that can spawn several times a year and deposit 100,000 eggs, or a Bass Pond with Crappie that will lay 100,000 eggs?? It's all about Management!
You need to have plenty of self sustaining forage (minnows) for the BIG Crappie to grow....and the BIG Bass will manage the Smaller Crappie....THEN you add a Cat species in Smaller numbers to help the Bass to manage them....same idea as how you start a "true" Bass Pond! Bass, 'gills, and Cats (or equal Predator for your location)!
The Main key to a healthy pond, besides water quality (depth, O2, fertility, etc., etc.,) is cover for the forage and keeping a sustaining population! Then it's up to you to manage the Prey population!
You have to provide food for them to grow....a bunch of small Crappie can devastate minnows that have no protection or cover, if you can't get a couple good Minnow spawns, the crappie food is gone!Quote:
Originally Posted by van the man
Once you get more cover in for the Minnows and get a population, you will see the size improve....and the filets will be even better!:)
One other thing that has affected the big pond...
We were in a sustained drought for a few years, which brought the pond down maybe 4 ft. He ran a line from his well 2 years ago and brought it up about 2 1/2 ft. Last year, record rainfall had it going over the dam. I think the higher water resulted in a huge spawn success and now we are seeing the results; dink fish. That, and we rarely catch a bass that gets kept. He wants 8 pounders in there, and huge crappie. We want keepers in little pond for the pan.
Wildlife and Fisheries Extension Service - Mississippi State University - Crappie ManagementQuote:
Originally Posted by INTIMIDATOR
I understand where you're coming from and i'll agree it's possible, but it's just a constant fight that I don't want. The article above from MSU extension kind of echoes what you're saying.