fishin_hamilton Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 I am moving to a place that has a pond on an acre of land and the pond is 15-18 ft in the deepest part and it has perch, sunfish, catfish and a few largemouth but i am wondering if crappie would be a decent fish to introduce. i want something that can keep the catfish at bay and not let them overrun the pond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwl Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 My buddie had a pond on his farm before..and it was loaded with sunnies, cats, largies, and crappies, his pond always seemed to have a good balance of fish in it, they all grew big, some of the crappies had to be like 2lbs or more..even the sunnies where huge..they didn't do anything to the pond,it just sort of took care of it self, and was self sustaining for like 25-30 years...actually I wish he still had the property, I used to fish it alot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maka Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 If that was my pond I would try and thin the catfish out. I feel catfish should only be in ponds by themselves. If given the chance they will starve out the other fish. I really have never seen a stocked crappie pond do well. I have seen it attempted a few times but the results were poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishin_hamilton Posted April 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 i was there on the weekend and the cats are in a large group on the surface and there are a few large ones but the sunfish have exploded they are everywhere now and i am hoping the largemouth stay or i can get somemore and have them survive, i just want a nice contrast of fish and maybe when the water clears a bit. there wasn't alot of winterkill like i thought there would be so i guess the fish are doing well but not too many kids wanna catch ugly catfish but i don't mind it gives me a chance to fish whenever i want. i just don't want to kill off the perch there are few large ones in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Chopin Posted April 23, 2007 Report Share Posted April 23, 2007 There are a ton of website on managing ponds. I don't think it's possible to have the exact type of pond you want without starting over(if even possible) You need a forage base, preditors, etc. I haven't heard of many ponds holding perch? I thought they were a cool water fish? Here is a neat website. On the right side is some possible pond options. Sounds like Crappie Ponds can be difficult to manage. http://www.uaex.edu/wneal/pond_management/...g/stocking.html This may interest you as well, it's right in your neck of the woods. Free Pond Management Seminar Flyer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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