re: Pond advice

quote:

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I was told to not add crawfish because it could cause holes in the ponds clay layers. I've actually heard both, some people say add the crawfish for the bass and other say absolutely not because they can damage things.

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every body of water will have crawfish. Our pond turned over and by the next spring you could walk the banks and count them by the thousands. One thing I do know, is a fish biologist recommended it and we saw almost instant results. If there are bass in the pond big enough to eat crawfish, they won't last long, but if there's not, then I guess they could do damage? Seems to me like letting trees grow on a levee or not staying on top of spillways and muskrats would be far more likely to damage a levee in the long run?

It sounds like he may not have any bass in the pond, or care to. In that case the crawfish are a moot point. I kind of agree with the old miss guy that 3/4 acre is hard to do for quality bass, but not on the 10 acre thing. A properly managed 3 to 5 acre pond will absolutely grow big bass.

However, I have seen and fished quite a few absolutely jam up 1 acre or less catfish ponds. One pond is maaaaybe half an acre, and you can pull out eating size channels all day. Of course he keeps a steady rotation of yearlings in the pond and feeds them heavily. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. If he doesn't want bass, I'd lay the high protein feed to the catfish, forget about the bass, and call it a day.