For the last 2 years, all of the black crappie in my Dad's 20 acre pond have been small. Previously, we have taken some nice, but not too big, crappie out (about 25). They were 11-12". Since, all of the crappie have been under 8", but there's a lot of them, and no keepers. There is a very good population of LMB in the lake, with quite a few over 6#. There is almost no fishing pressure on the crappie in the lake otherwise.

We have caught the small crappie in the same spots as the larger crappie - around brushpiles, cypress and weedbeds. There are a lot of weeds in the lake - hydrilla and others. It has been really bad for the past 2 years.

My question is why there don't appear to be any keeper crappie in the lake? Is it possible that we're just not catching them and we're just getting into schools of smaller fish?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

panko,

You're description is classic to stunted crappie in small bodies of water. Crappie are notorious for that due in part to their propensity for widely varying spawning characteristics.

It would be interesting to determine the age of those fish you are catching...that can be done by examining the otoliths. At a recent conference, the Texas A&M fisheries science department demonstrated by showing us crappie of about 8 inches in size that ranged in age from a couple of years old to 17 years old....all stunted fish and all about the same size.

Maybe you are just catching small fish, but more than likely you are experiencing what most others experience with crappie in small bodies of water...stunted fish.

I agree, this is the reason why stocing crappie in smaller bodies of water isnt adviseable. I would try to get rid of as many of the crappie as you can.

So, it's possible to restore the fishery to catchable sized crappie by removing all undersized crappie? I'm not at all opposed to harvesting tender and delicious 8" crappie (if approved by the HOA). Is it necessary to continually remove the undersized fish to maintain a sizable average? Im not afraid of filleting little crappie, for sure...

Panko,

I wouldn't want to minimize the efforts that may be required to restore your fishery...one female crappie can produce thousands and thousands of offspring. They spawn well before other pond fish giving them a competitive advantage.

In a 20 acre pond/lake, it may require incredible efforts for one person to catch and remove enough small fish to restore it...efforts that may not be even possible.

If you have other folks fishing, and can force them to remove ALL small crappie, then your chances are improved. Perhaps a more efficient way would be to enlist natural predators to help out...for example overstocking LMB or possibly stocking HSB. Both of those approaches, however, may have unintended consequences, such as smaller LMB.

Part depends on your objectives for the pond/lake...but managing for a 12 inch crappie fishery may be one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult, of all small water objectives.

Thanks for the very informative replies. I guess that I always thought that those big crappie were just hiding somewhere...

We'll just focus on those huge redears instead.

do you need some help getting rid of them?? you knew someone was going toask. will help, if needed. i could use a blck crappie for the multi species contest. will buy lunch for permission??
later, troutbum