This is probably a question that should be in general discussion. But It regards Crappie in major conversation. I have a pond which is now 3yrs old from clean out and is not large in size(1/2 Acrea 13ft deep full pool) Now I was first interested in growing largebass(most common) because I was always told that a pond that size would not produce quality Crappie. Well I fudge the rule a bit after the first year and slipped in a few Crappie(just slipped Well after adding some channel cat, blue cat and tons of perch and after not catching anything ,I scratched my cowlick head. Now to date it has been 4yrs and I spend almost every evening with my pooch at the pond out back. Mainly just cork and a minnow for grins.I have now caught over 20 crappie lately around the 6 inch mark and have never put any fish in there under sized. I just caught a 13in fish(crappie)I ve only caught a hand full of cats(all fat) and no Bass to speak off. I guess after all this B.S. Im wanting to know how many off you folks have raised pond fish with success and does the crappie ever get to legal size or do they always multiply with short growth due to pond size?
I used to visit the pondboss.com site regular when this all began and the advise was that crappie would not reproduce(or grow large unless min. 10 acrea pond) That very well could be true on the size, but I know for a fact they reproduce in my pond.

Veterans fill me in on the pond expectaions, (should I add or deplete.?)

P.S. My pond has tremendous frog ,crawfish, grasshoppers and minnows and I always bring live shad home this time of year in my bait tank for dessert.
How fast do Crappie grow in a generous setting?

I took over a little pond close to the house, just this side of Grapevine. It's got some really good fish in it but it's difficult to keep folks out of it.
That Skinner boy just won't stay out. Oh, well, he has a good time out there and it keeps him out of trouble.

Really, I know some buddies back in ET that keep their ponds stacked full. Pets really.

I have two ponds with black crappie in them...One pond is a bit over an acre in size and the other is a bit under an acre. Both ponds do well with the black crappie. Black crappie are not as prolific as white crappie so you can put them in smaller bodies of water. White crappie reproduce so fast, they are only recommended for large bodies. If I remember correctly, black crappie will grow bigger and faster than white crappie. I know I stocked one pond early in the year and we were catching crappie already in the fall...we stocked them at 3-4 inches in size and when we started catching them on lures/live bait, they were around 8 inches or so. I guess the key is to have plenty of minnows/bluegill for them to eat and they'll grow fine.

If you think you are already catching the crappie offspring, I wouldn't put any more in the pond.

I heard the same thing about better to stock blacks instead of whites. Im not sure of the stats on which ones I released, but Im sure sure there were some of both. But no more than a dozen, because I did see some die and I feed my coon traps with them. By the way off topic but I just caught a nice 100lb missy in my Hog Trap, and I have some new sweet seasonings for the holiday coming up! FRESH SAUSAGE ON MY MENU!

Cliff,

I've caught good crappie in all sizes of ponds. My brother has two ponds and we caught a bunch of dinks in them at a certain time of the year. I know they have good crappie in them because he has wore them out the past two years.

Perhaps it's just that post spawn time of the year for dinks. You might give it a little time for the dinks to reach maturity and then you would know for sure whether to thin the herd because they are stunted or not. Just a thought as I am by no means an expert in pond fish management.

I believe the OKLA state record is from a pond...over 4 lbs... and recently a lady caught one ( on the okla crappie forum ) that could be a record breaker and it was from a pond. I agree that water condition and food are the two most important factors in size.

I know of a pond in Desoto that holds some crappie...

The key in my opinion is having enough bait. Stocked 3-4" crappie in a 5 acre lake full of shiners and shad. Was catching 10-12" in 2 years. Once you start catching little ones from a spawn, better start keeping some.

Have seen them overpopulate and stay small in 10 acres ponds that had little bait.

I could tell you what I think I know, but you would do better learning from where I started.
Call the TPW fisheries in Athens Texas and they will give you a great education on what works as well as how to best address your specific pond. I had a massive die-off from low oxygen a decade ago and they saved me a lot of wasted time with accurate facts.

Now if I can just get rid of the cormorants and bullheads.

Good luck, Phill

Lots of minnow is the key. I put some in a pond 3 years ago and they are now 9 inches.

Well my grandpa has several pounds most being 1 acre in size. Everyone of the ponds has white crappie that average bout 8-10 inchs. In everyone of these ponds though the bass are of very good size. The one pond though that does have decent crappie in it sizes range from 1-1.5 pounds and few up to 2, the bass are not of good size. The bass are very small and though that probably doesn't have a thing to do with it, I thought that was very interesting. I would say the key is food for the fish to eat on. There is even black crappie in one of the pounds and they are also small. Just my thought which isn't much.

I also noticed you stated when will they get to "LEGAL SIZE" I just wanted to make sure you know that if they are in your personal pond then there is no LEGAL SIZE per say you can keep any fish of any size YOU choose from that impoundment and you do not need a fishing license to fish a private pond.

I think it depends ... I would call the experts. These guys are real nice:

http://www.dunnsfishfarm.com

100 crappie stocked per surface acre, so for you 50. Get some fat heads and crayfish, etc. Sweet, sounds like fun.

Just read this:

There are two types of crappie that are most common, the Black Crappie and the White Crappie. The Whites are much more prolific than the Black. White Crappie in most cases, take over smaller ponds and lakes. White Crappie should never be stocked in impoundments less than 100 acres. Black Crappie can be stocked in ponds as small as 1 acre without any concern of overpopulation. Since they don't propagate to the extent that the White Crappie do, you will find the average Black Crappie will grow faster and get larger than the average White Crappie.