Rock pile location?

[Pgwilliamson]

Have a new lake 6 months old stocked with 1000 coppernose / redear 800/200 mix in feb this year along with 50# fathead minnows previous put 300 4-5" black crappie... Caught 50 1 lb + - coppernose from neighbors lake to jump start spawning for crappie cannon fodder... I have about 1 acre of flooded timber on fair weather creek ( runs about 6 months) also have placed cedar trees around in 3-10 ' water..question is what depth do I place a rock pile when the lake is still about 5' from full.... Do I put it in 3-5' now for fish to use now or wait till lake is full

[Cray]

I put mine at the edge of water where it has 3/4 ft over it now. Seems to get a lot of activity during spawning. But I am far from a expert on pond or lake management.

[Pgwilliamson]

Thanks Cray will try it

[crappiejigger]

I dont mean to go off subject,but what are coppernose??? and good luck with pond/lake

[Pgwilliamson]

Coppernose are bream that get up to 1-1/2 -2lbs. Thanks really excited to get catchable going

[filletfetish]

Black crappie LOVE to spawn on rock. If it is 5' low, I would put it right around the banks edge, because blacks also spawn and congregate shallower then whites.

[Pgwilliamson]

Filletfetish thanks for the info on rocks for spawning. Do you think I should put the pile in 5' water now or hope it rains and fills up some this fall, no guarantee of much rain.

[river scum]

if you build a rock pile all the way from shallow to deep, they will hang on it, weather they are holding shallow or deep. kinda a rock pile for all seasons. peg some brush in rows the same way. another good trick i have seen laying big slab rocks/concrete in the shallower areas. it keeps large openings in the thick weed beds. building and stocking ponds is great fun, enjoy!

[bfish]

You have not mentioned how large of pond, crappie usually are not recommended until you get 20 acre size or larger. Even then it takes intensive management (lots of culling and continually adding large predators) to keep them from stunting. Add in the number of bluegill (coppernose is a subspecies that gets slightly larger but will backcross back to bluegill very shortly if there are any present) and redear that you have added, I think you are going to have a stunted pond sooner rather than later (I am also assuming your pond is around 5 acres plus or minus).

[Pgwilliamson]

Thanks river scum I am soo looking forward to having a fishable population, I try to put trees in areas where I can reach from the bank or pier but with the pond still filling(prob won't be any more til this fall) it's hard to place stuff til I find out where the mean lake level will be . I have access to a lot of rocks so I will put piles all over the place