- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
Stocking Crappie and Bass in same pond
Posted on 4/24/24 at 2:33 pm
Posted on 4/24/24 at 2:33 pm
Built a pond two summers ago, 6 acres, levee area 11 feet deep (about a quarter of pond), rest about 5 feet deep. Stocked it in March with fathead minnows, coppernose, shellcracker, and bass. Thinking of adding Black Crappie. The literature is mixed on whether stocking both bass and crappie in a pond is prudent as both can be consumers of the same food source.
Anybody have experience or opinion on stocking black crappie with bass?
Anybody have experience or opinion on stocking black crappie with bass?
Posted on 4/24/24 at 2:38 pm to MAEFIELD
Don't do it unless you want a crappie pond with skinny undersized starving bass. They don't co-exist well in small water. Crappie win.
My pond is 4.5ac impounded in the 60's and has both LMB and Black Crappie.
Crappie own the pond.
Little known fact- once all forage is depleted from the pond, crappie can filter feed on plankton and eat their own young to survive. Bass and bluegill can't.
Don't put crappie in there.
My pond is 4.5ac impounded in the 60's and has both LMB and Black Crappie.
Crappie own the pond.
Little known fact- once all forage is depleted from the pond, crappie can filter feed on plankton and eat their own young to survive. Bass and bluegill can't.
Don't put crappie in there.
This post was edited on 4/24/24 at 2:42 pm
Posted on 4/24/24 at 3:01 pm to deeprig9
Crappie are delicious though.
Bass are too, but some people don't like to eat them, they like to throw them back.
I aint one of those people.
Bass are too, but some people don't like to eat them, they like to throw them back.
I aint one of those people.
Posted on 4/24/24 at 3:43 pm to auggie
Bluegill/Coppernose/shellcracker taste good too. No reason to add crappie just because you want something to eat.
This post was edited on 4/24/24 at 3:44 pm
Posted on 4/24/24 at 3:54 pm to deeprig9
Thanks for the feedback Deep, been chewing on this one for a while.
Do you supplemental stock feeder fish (minnows or bluegill) or add crawfish?
Do you supplemental stock feeder fish (minnows or bluegill) or add crawfish?
Posted on 4/24/24 at 4:25 pm to MAEFIELD
Feed the bluegill during the growing season (water temp over 70) and they grow really fast, larger bluegill lay exponentially more eggs = more fry = more minnows = more little bluegill = more bass food = healthy bass. That's a little oversimplified but that's the philosophy. Basic food chain stuff.
Adding fatheads and crawfish definitely doesn't hurt either. I've explored both, but finances won't allow it, and the fact the crappie would decimate the fatheads quickly is a downer.
I'm not the end all be all expert, I've read and learned a lot from this forum over the years, Pond Boss, TAMU extension office, MsSt extension office, et Al.
I'm just imploring you to not put crappie in that pond.
Adding fatheads and crawfish definitely doesn't hurt either. I've explored both, but finances won't allow it, and the fact the crappie would decimate the fatheads quickly is a downer.
I'm not the end all be all expert, I've read and learned a lot from this forum over the years, Pond Boss, TAMU extension office, MsSt extension office, et Al.
I'm just imploring you to not put crappie in that pond.
This post was edited on 4/24/24 at 4:33 pm
Posted on 4/24/24 at 6:08 pm to MAEFIELD
Bass is fine, but I would stock it with blue cats. Nothing more fun than catching blue cats.
Posted on 4/24/24 at 6:55 pm to VABCHTIGER
quote:
LINK
I subscribe to Bama Bass youtube channel in your link, but it is certainly not best practice pond management. It is a guy with a big chunk of change running a large scale aquarium. Not putting him down, like I said I subscribe and watch his videos, but this is not pond management 101.
Posted on 4/24/24 at 8:23 pm to deeprig9
quote:
but this is not pond management 101.
What do you mean? He said in his lastest video he needed to watch the bass spawn to make sure they didn’t over run his 5ac pond
Posted on 4/24/24 at 8:52 pm to GooseCreekMafia
quote:
What do you mean? He said in his lastest video he needed to watch the bass spawn to make sure they didn’t over run his 5ac pond
If you have unlimited funds to make a Margaritaville pond, by all means do it, and I subscribe. But that's not pond 101.
Posted on 4/24/24 at 8:55 pm to MAEFIELD
quote:
Pond pics
That's absolutely beautiful.
Don't put crappie in there.
Posted on 4/24/24 at 9:10 pm to deeprig9
No crappie it is.
Will need a boat product to fish it at some point, what do you use? Thinking classic aluminum John with trolling motor, but have looked at the petit two-person mini pontoon like BPS prowler.
Will need a boat product to fish it at some point, what do you use? Thinking classic aluminum John with trolling motor, but have looked at the petit two-person mini pontoon like BPS prowler.
Posted on 4/25/24 at 7:16 am to deeprig9
I've done a lot of reading and watching videos on pond management. The common thought seems to be don't stock both in a pond less than 5 acres. Based on what I've read I would push that number out to 8-10 acres. Like everyone has said, Crappie take over.
Posted on 4/25/24 at 9:24 am to MAEFIELD
My dad and I had access to a 6.5 acre pond that were the only ones to fish.
My dad drew the plans on how it was dug and we put structure in it like crazy.
It was stocked with both bass and sacalait.
That pond kicked butt for 10 years from 1998-2008 with big bass and sacalait being caught.
Over time the sacalait took over and all we would catch is undersized fish.
That pond needed to be drained and restocked and sadly the owner we knew sold it recently.
Moral of the story is DON’T put sacalait in it!
My dad drew the plans on how it was dug and we put structure in it like crazy.
It was stocked with both bass and sacalait.
That pond kicked butt for 10 years from 1998-2008 with big bass and sacalait being caught.
Over time the sacalait took over and all we would catch is undersized fish.
That pond needed to be drained and restocked and sadly the owner we knew sold it recently.
Moral of the story is DON’T put sacalait in it!
Posted on 4/25/24 at 9:53 am to MAEFIELD
quote:
petit two-person mini pontoon like BPS prowler.
Don’t do it. It gets cramped fast and sucks for bass fishing. It’s “10’” but it’s really only about 8’ useable and you have someone 3’ behind you. If you are always by yourself you can make it work, but the Aluminum Jon boat is a better option.
Posted on 4/25/24 at 1:23 pm to MAEFIELD
quote:
Stocking Crappie and Bass in same pond
everything i heard about crappie is they are not good for ponds because they quickly overpopulate it and have nothing but small undersized ones and then the pond cant support their numbers so they run out of food and everything dies but the catfish
you need large bodies of water with lots or predators to keep the populations small if you want crappie
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News