Farm Pond & Crappie!!!

Hi,

I posted a while back about how me and my buddy stocked some black crappie in a buddies pond...The pond is just over 1 acre or so...Well me and my buddy went fishing at this pond today...We caught around twenty crappie and pretty much all of them where at 8 inches or bigger...We had a few that measured 9.5 inches...We stocked 200 crappie at around 2-3 inches long back in late March of this year.....So far it has been a pretty good success.....I keep in touch with the local biologist...He predicts the pond will have plenty of crappie over 10 inches next year...With some probably being 12 inches or bigger...


I know some people say oh you can't stock crappie in a small pond or small lake...I don't agree with that...I think if you manage it right you can do pretty well...I also have another buddy who has a lake up north...He stocked crappie in it and he has some nice 10 inches plus in it...We fished this lake a few weeks back and caught 7 crappie all 10 inches plus...


I am going to post the picture of the crappie we caught today once my buddy sends me the picture via email..

Jeremy
Bye

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jcd

Hi,
I posted a while back about how me and my buddy stocked some black crappie in a buddies pond...The pond is just over 1 acre or so...Well me and my buddy went fishing at this pond today...We caught around twenty crappie and pretty much all of them where at 8 inches or bigger...We had a few that measured 9.5 inches...We stocked 200 crappie at around 2-3 inches long back in late March of this year.....So far it has been a pretty good success.....I keep in touch with the local biologist...He predicts the pond will have plenty of crappie over 10 inches next year...With some probably being 12 inches or bigger...
I know some people say oh you can't stock crappie in a small pond or small lake...I don't agree with that...I think if you manage it right you can do pretty well...I also have another buddy who has a lake up north...He stocked crappie in it and he has some nice 10 inches plus in it...We fished this lake a few weeks back and caught 7 crappie all 10 inches plus...
I am going to post the picture of the crappie we caught today once my buddy sends me the picture via email..
Jeremy
Bye

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Remember ... this is only year #1 ;) and no spawning has yet taken place. The fish will grow fast, the first year or two, then start spawning .... THAT'S when the size of the pond will come into play. By 2009, you're going to start having to remove a lot of < 8" fish from the pond ... or it WILL overpopulate, and your "slabs" will be no more, just a pond full of dinks.
Did you put in any other predator fish, to help you keep the pond's Crappie population under control ?? If so, you might extend the life of your Crappie pond, by a few more years (the life span of whatever predator species you used, so long as they survive).

Thanks for the update ... luck2ya ... cp :cool:

i have a pond with crappie stocked from 4 years ago, my pond is about 2 1/2acres but it already had alot of bass and catfish in it before i introduced the crappie,. i ve caught several nice crappie, but my son has the record almost 2 lbs. i stocked 400 in it figuring alot of the fry would get eat by bass etc. so far so good, we keep the smaller ones and release the slabs, sameway with the bass and catfish eat everything small and release the bigger ones to catch again..
i even have smallmouth and a few stripe in my pond , still catch them from time to time, everynow and then ill bring home fish from river and release them into pond etc..
main thing is to manage pond the best you can , and stocking fatheads (fatheads will spawn 3 to 4 times a year ) in it every year or so..

Hi,

The pond already had some nice size bass in and big bluegill in it...Plus some nice size catfish......The biologist told me to keep all the crappie that are big enough..Plus he told me always through back in all bass....The bass will help keep the population down....Plus black crappie aren't as bad as white crappie when it comes to overpopulating pond/lakes....


CrappiePappy

I have a buddy who lives up north...He has a smaller lake/pond...He stocks his small lake twice year with crappie 200 in the spring and 200 in the fall....He has been doing this for a while...I don't think he has a problem with any dinks yet....Like I said before we just need to keep whatever we catch that is reasonable size...


Jeremy
Bye

Hi Jhef,

Do you seem to catch a lot of dinks in your pond?...crappie that is...


Jeremy
BYe

Quote:

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Originally Posted by crappiepappy

Remember ... this is only year #1 ;) and no spawning has yet taken place. The fish will grow fast, the first year or two, then start spawning .... THAT'S when the size of the pond will come into play. By 2009, you're going to start having to remove a lot of < 8" fish from the pond ... or it WILL overpopulate, and your "slabs" will be no more, just a pond full of dinks.
Did you put in any other predator fish, to help you keep the pond's Crappie population under control ?? If so, you might extend the life of your Crappie pond, by a few more years (the life span of whatever predator species you used, so long as they survive).

Thanks for the update ... luck2ya ... cp :cool:

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My Mom owns 2 ponds..2 acres or so each. my Dad stocked Bass...hybrid bluegill and black crappie every spring from 1985 till he died in 1993. No stocking has been done since. The bass are good..the bluegill are great and the crappie are outstanding..most over 11 inches and a 16 incher came out of there this last March. The only type of lake management we have done since 1993 is to be selective with the fish we keep. Our ponds are living proof that if the conditions are right a lake will self sustain itself..ours is. Good luck JCD.

Hi Kenny,


What is your method of keeping what fish?....This pond we fish has bluegill, bass, catfish and crappie now...The local biologist told me to keep all the crappie we catch...But, throw back in all the bass....We plan to hit the pond hard next year for crappie......I think it takes a few years before they spawn...I have talked to the biologist about the age crappie spawn...He said it varies...Depends on how long it takes for them mature to a certain size etc...But, he said around 2-3 years before they spawn...


Jeremy
BYe

I'm experimenting with crappie in one of my 3 ponds. The one I'm using is a 1/2 acre. I've heard several stories about how crappie can take over a pond and I'm willing to take a risk. My plan is to keep all the filleting size crappie, throw back all bass and wait until this time of year to take out some bream. Also I plan to put in some fatheads once or twice a year. If I end up with a problem, I've heard of stocking a couple of Hybrid Striped Bass since they can clean up a population problem and they don't really reproduce.

Hi Jhef,

Do you seem to catch a lot of dinks in your pond?...crappie that is...


Jeremy
BYe

this year has been pretty good year for me on crappie as far as size, but my pond has some huge bass and cat in it too.. so far so good ,,we have one catfish that was 67lbs when we put it in, his name is hubert lol he has only been caught 2 times since we put him in there...as far as crappie i dont have huge numbers of them , only stocked 400 fry 4 years ago, i would imagine half of them was probaly ate by bigger fish and ducks at time of stocking,, dont have a whole lot of cover to hide in , just a few islands and some pvc condos in a ertain area of pond,,

I have a pond that is about an acre. Not sure if it is always the case but, as long as I stayed on top of it, I had pretty good success with all of the fish population. We kept what we thought needed to be kept and put back everything else. I had good numbers of the larger fish of each species. ie: Brim, Bass, Crappie and Catfish. It was a lot of fun to go over in the afternoons and just catch some good fish. Then I moved to North MS and stopped taking care of it. The pond is located on my families property and I THOUGHT some of my other family members would continue to see after it and manage it properly. I was wrong. I've been gone for 4 years now and there is nothing left. During my second year of being gone, I would try to fish it as much as I could when we went home for a weekend. All we would catch on the crappie side of things were little dinks. The bass were a little better. None of the 6 and 7 pounders like a couple of years before that, but some decent fish. Then during the third year of my being gone, the otters moved in and it was all over but the crying. They cleaned me out completely. Now it's been four years since I left and all you catch now are little yearling bass and no other species. My theory is that the otters are always close by to eat the fish and they get most of the larger ones and pretty much only the little fry survive. Then as those grow the otters invade again and just the babies are left. Who knows. Who's to say that it wouldn't have happened anyway if I had never left. At least when I lived there, I was checking on the pond at least every other day or so. It's hard to see something that you worked so hard in making good, turn out so bad. I can't hardly even go over there now when we go home to visit. I wish all of you who are trying to make yours successful the best of luck. Just stay on top of it as much as you can.