Thread: Removing crappie from a farm pond

you can sometimes fry the whole crappie especially the smaller ones and eat the whole thing..depends on the maturity of the bones...kinda like a soft shell crab...eat the shell and all....none of them survive

Invite lots of friends and family, you supply the minners, and catch and keep all you can for a weekend or two when they're really biting. Have few fish fries, and repeat as often as necessary. That's one way..... Another would be contact your G&F dept and ask them to come do a sampling and population estimation for you and ask them to offer you a healthier management plan ! The first way sounds more fun though, just not enough science behind it to know when "enough is enough" !

You may try adding fathead minnows for a year or two and see if they grow. If they do then start harvesting the recommended amount each year.Use regular fish food for bluegill and catfish,fathead minnows for the crappie and bass. Just have to get it balanced out.

Dynamite!

Seriously though, the best bet (short of killing the entire pond and starting over) would be to invite a group of people over and just go to town. The only downfall to that is that you have no clue the numbers you are starting with so you really don't know if what you catch and keep is going to have any benefit.

I think I would look into electrostatic stunning to remove the amount of fish you want. The DNR does it all the time in order to record and tag fish for future examination. It might be worth a look to see if you can come up with something to stun the fish so that you can net them and remove the numbers you are looking for. Nice part is, you are not killing them and you could quite possibly sell/give/trade the removed fish to someone else that could use them in their pond

Add Bass , Flathead Catfish , or other predators . Also keep all the small ones you can catch till it improves .

Thanks guys. We already keeping all crappie caught. All bass goes back n pond .

Private pond. Electroshock and remove 50% of brood stock. Leave smallest to feed the bass. Then fish more frequently to keep the fish from stunting.

Originally Posted by johndeere5045

The pond is 30 years old and about 5 acres. The crappie is getting smaller and smaller due to overcrowding. Any ideas on how to get some out ??? Draining is not a option.

At 5 acres, this is going to be a re-occurring theme unless you are constantly managing the pond.....you didn't state whether they were White or Black Crappie, but I'm assuming White in a Farm Pond that is stunted.

Your Problem is probably Two-fold...overpopulation and lack of a baitfish food base...Crappie, especially White are reproducing nightmares for a pond...each 2-3 year old female can pump out up to 50,000 eggs...they alone, are Predators able to wipe out the beginning of the food chain (zooplankton/phytoplankton) that baitfish would eat, and any baitfish population...this leaves nothing but cannibalism of any fry available.

As others stated, the cheapest and easiest for you, would be to have a couple fishing Parties and invite everyone in the County to KEEP EVERYTHING CAUGHT, this would thin things out alittle....then you have to add plenty of dense and thick shallow cover for minnows and baitfish, and stacked pallets in shallows for minnows and baitfish to spawn.
If you just dump in a load of minnows, they will be devoured in no time without places to hide....and if you have no where for them to reproduce, you will be dumping truck loads of them every year!$$$$

You can have the ADNR come out and give you an idea of what your population is, but you are working on their time...if they will even do it.
Pond Companies will do it for a nice fee, and recommend ideas....some will do an analysis, but you must sign a contract that they get to do the work...BIG$$$

If all of this doesn't sound like fun....your other option is getting some Rotenone (cheap) and kill the entire pond and start over....you then net out all the dead fish and use them as a field fertilizer.
I used Rotenone in SC during Spring thru Fall, it will dissipate in water and you can normally restock after 2 weeks.
Maybe there are even newer chemical that have come out recently....again, Pond Management Companies can help with do-it-yourself options!

Most people will tell EVERY pond owner that you should never stock ANY CRAPPIE in a pond smaller than 50 acres....UNLESS YOU WANT THE WEEKLY JOB OF MANAGING THE CRAPPIE POPULATION!
If properly managed, it is possible, but it takes ALOT of work....Balance is the Key....BIG Bass and Cats add to that Balance...AND YOU MUST ESTABLISH AND KEEP A HEALTHY MINNOW AND BAITFISH POPULATION ALSO!