# Farm pond - Crappie and Bass



## Blue.dog (May 8, 2005)

Thought I would post a couple of pictures from my previous trip to my farm up in North Louisiana. Crappie are getting bigger, I think that they have decimated my bream population.

Blue.dog


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

How large is your pond? The problem with Crappie in small ponds (less than 10 acres) is their spawning habits which range from very small numbers of spawn one year to huge numbers another year. Makes it very difficuly to manage the population that way and hence most small ponds with Crappie experience stunted fish fairly quickly. White crappie are worse than black.


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## great white fisherman (Jun 24, 2008)

He is right about that, small ponds do not do well with crappie but you just might be making a lier out of that. Nice pictures and really good lookiing fish. I would love to take a 10 year old kid out there sometime. I live in Carrollton, North of Dallas. Thanks


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## Blue.dog (May 8, 2005)

the pond is 7.5 acres.

Also, I have not caught bream in the numbers that I use to 2 years ago. bass sizes are down also.

blue.dog


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## Blue.dog (May 8, 2005)

Great White,

It would be a disservice to a 10 year old with expectations of catching these fish. I have to throw jigs and 'flee-flys' as I call them a lot to jush catch what you saw.

blue.dog


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## activescrape (Jan 8, 2006)

I love it. Brings back memories.


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## johnmyjohn (Aug 6, 2006)

What a trade, a lake full of crappie for a lake full of bream it's like winning the lotto. good pictures too.


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## great white fisherman (Jun 24, 2008)

Thanks for sharing. You might need to check and see how much bait fish you have in the pond. Not enough bait fish can result in smaller and fewer fish as well. I had a friend that his pond was low on bait fish. One of the thinks we did was go and catch shad at a lake and transport them to his pond in a shad tank. We added hundreds of shad bait to his pond. Many of them got eaten but we put enough in that lots made it. He also has a crappe problem. To many and stunted.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Be careful, very careful about adding bait fish that have been trapped/caught in public waters....you may add something you will regret. For example, gizzard shad can be problematic in small ponds...unless the pond has very large LMB. Gizzards can get too large for the smaller bass and can take over small ponds...if you don't believe me check w/TP&W.

The most economical, safe way to increase your forage is to add BG. It appears from the shape of your bass you need additional BG. I never, ever remove BG from my ponds, only if the fish is gut-hooked. They are the basis for the food chain for the LMB. If you ever get to the point where you have too many BG, just add a few bass, but that rarely is a problem.

If you really want to supercharge your forage system, add Tilapia. They provide tremendous numbers of ideal shaped forage...plus they eat filamentous algae, aka pond scum, so that in effect you are feeding your game fish pond scum. It has worked for me for many years.


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## Blue.dog (May 8, 2005)

What is BG?

Louisiana Law forbids Tilapia in Ponds. not sure why. I have grass carp; however they are too big now and compete with the catfish for the catfish food. I need to get rid of them and put some smaller ones back into the pond. They are the size of Bull Red Fish. 

Have not figured out how to get rid of them except via bow-fishing. I don't have the proper bow and they don't appear on command, so inviting someone with bow is not a sure thing.

thanks for all your advice.

blue.dog


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## Stealth19 (Jul 12, 2005)

Blue.dog can put you on the fish in that pond! Can't beat catching fish in the afternoon and frying them up that same evening.


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Sorry...BG = Blue Gill. 

Yeah those Grass carp really get big and unfortunately, they really go for catfish food as they get older rather than do their intended job of vegetation control. Sometimes I can catch them when they are feeding on catfish food by putting a plain old red worm in front of them. I've also caught them on small flies the same way.

Personally, I like to get my grass carp out after about 3 years and replace them with younger, hungry ones....but it isn't easy, as you say. 

Too bad they prohibit Tilapia. I really love what they do in ponds.


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## stonedawg (Feb 4, 2007)

Meadowlark said:


> How large is your pond? The problem with Crappie in small ponds (less than 10 acres) is their spawning habits which range from very small numbers of spawn one year to huge numbers another year. Makes it very difficuly to manage the population that way and hence most small ponds with Crappie experience stunted fish fairly quickly. White crappie are worse than black.


I took a class in college(few years ago) over pond managment and crappie being my favorite fresh water fish I did research on crappie in ponds. If the pond is to small it will stunt the growth. By the pics u have those slabs are nice I wouldnt worry to much. For the carp my dad has a pond and he had a big problem too. We caught alot with corn. Just put a few on the hook and wait.. Its almost that time of year...nothing but Crappie fishing. By the way great pics and even better Slabs.


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## Blue.dog (May 8, 2005)

Stealth,
I can put you on them; however, can you catch them... crappie, i mean.
blue.dog


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## Stealth19 (Jul 12, 2005)

Blue.dog said:


> Stealth,
> I can put you on them; however, can you catch them... crappie, i mean.
> blue.dog


I will give it my all if I get another invite. I know I can catch the bass


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## atcfisherman (Oct 5, 2006)

Man ole man, those are some nice eating fish. I raised crappie, perch, and large mouth bass in a series of aquariums for 10 years and then released them in our farm pond, which is 1 acre. The bass won out and by the 10 year, we caught 2 huge bass. One was 21" long and the other was 24.5" long. The crappie didn't do well although we still could catch a few, they were very small. I guess the bass used all the others as their food. There are plenty of brim, perch and some catfish, but all are minnow size up to maybe 10 inches. But you can catch 2-4 lb bass all the time.


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