Here are some data for crappie and bass growth in select NW,KC and STL region small impoundments. I realize it is a lot to look at and take in, but if you have a favorite small impoundment or are just curious about one close by, this gives you a general idea of how fast the average crappie in that lake is growing through its lifetime. Obviously, some grow much faster than others, so we have a minimum and maximum size for each age as well. N = the number of fish that were that aged. TL = total length. Range = minimum and maximum.
The reason we collected this much data on these lakes was because they all are infested with gizzard shad and a majority of them have common carp as well. Shad may not be a terrible problem to have in many large(>1,000 acre) reservoirs, but in small impoundments (<300 acres, in thiscase), they can greatly reduce panfish (crappie, bluegill) growth.
We began an 8-year study last year looking at the potential of stocking additional predators to reduce shad and carp numbers to the point we see increased panfish growth. Hybrid striped bass will be stocked at a rate of 100/acre for six years (stocking began this year) in all treatment lakes, and flathead catfish will be stocked at 15/acre for three years (starting next year) in the hybrid/flathead treatment lakes. Reference lakes will not be stocked.
I threw in the bass data for those curious about bass growth. I did not include maximum and minimum sizes for bass, but the quickest any bass grew to 20 inches in any of the lakes was 8 years.