Crappie

[Buckshotdad1960]

Hello everyone,

I have a quick question! I live between Branson and Springfield. My neighbor built a nice pond a few years back and had the DNR stock it with minnows and green sunfish. Every summer since, my boy and I have been stocking the pond with fish that we catch from the Finley River. Nothing of any great size unfortunately but at least we’re starting other species in it. I’m sure in time they’ll grow. I’d like to start some Crappies (both white and black) but I don’t know where to find any that are close (so they can be transported in a wash tub without dieing). I’m sure somewhere in Springfield there has to be a stocked pond opened to the public just full of them (I don’t care what size) but I don’t know where. I don’t have a boat and most places to fish on Table Rock Lake, as far as I know are on private property. So I guess my question to you all is – Crappie, oh little Crappie! Where forth art thou, little Crappie this time of year?

[Bird Watcher]

a word of caution.

Crappie, especially white crappie, will completely infest a pond and stunt all the other game fish in the pond in a short period of time unless the impoundment is large enough to support their population. I have heard fisheries biologists state anywhere from 100 acres to 500 acres as the minimum size of a pond before they suggest stocking crappie.

They do make a designer crappie that is bred specifically for pond stockings. They are less prolific or maybe even sterile and therefore won't overpopulate like the pure strain whites and blacks do.

Just my .02.

BTW, Stockton is full of crappie and I am sure you could catch some there to take back. LOZ is also good and has a smaller length limit.

[Evolution]

Haven't really throughly read the MO regulations but isn't illegal to transport live game fish if you aren't going to eat them. This is illegal from where I used to reside in (CO) and would result in fines if caught.

[Buckshotdad1960]

Thanks for heads up Black Bullhead but wouldn’t any pan fish over populate and their growth be stunted if allowed to be unchecked without any predators in the pond? Seems to me if enough predators exit to eat up the excess then not only will the predators get big but a few of the pan fish as well, in this case crappie. One thing I loved about MN. is that there are black crappie every where. No matter the size of lake or pond there are crappies. In MN, if it rains over night and there’s a mud puddle in your driveway when you wake up, there will be crappie in it! LOL If you run your bath water then get a phone call, by the time you get back they’ll be crappies in the tub! LOL I don’t know if the DNR stocks them or if people put them in but their every where and nice sized ones too. Lake Stockton is too far and Lake of the Ozarks might as well be on the moon because I’ll never go there either. I need a place closer like a spot on Table rock or Lake Springfield. Maybe someone out there needs their crappie thinned out in one of their ponds. That kind of thing! And I have to be able to get at them from shore. I know they like to be in deeper water this time of year but in the fall don’t they have a false spawn in some places? If I knew where they liked to spawn I could start there and if nothing else I would have a good place to start looking for them in the spring. I would even settle for some kid fishing pond in the city. I would gladly pimp slap Mr. Rogers and steal the fish from the handicapped children of Springfield just to get a few breeding pairs! LOL, I KED, I KED! I joke with you! LOL I wouldn’t take them all, I promise!

[Buckshotdad1960]

Well, I won’t swear to it Evolution but I think your wrong on the illegal transportation of the fish thingy! How else are you supposed to stock your pond? Besides, what if I liked my fish kept live and fresh before I cleaned and ate them? As long as I’m within my limit I can’t see why there would be a problem!

[OzarkFishman]

Buckshot,

I think the reason crappie are not good in a pond is the mouth to length ratio (The same goes for green sunfish). Since a 9 inch crappie has a bigger mouth than a 9 inch bluegill or longear, the crappie can eat bigger bait fish and competes more with the bass for food. Like all panfish, crappie breed like wildfire so no matter what, there will end up being big crappie that sometimes outcompete the bass in a pond.

If you don't care about bass fishing, then I guess it really doesn't matter. If you just want to catch fish, then stock crappie (they will be small if it is a small body of water).

On a side note, my buddy has a old 5 acre pit/pond (I call it a pit because it has some places that are as deep as 30 feet). It was stocked over 25 years ago with largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill and others (catfish and others). I went fishing this past spring and caught many bass in the 3 - 4 pound range and 2 around 6 pounds (one just under and one just over). Two of these bass had big crappie tails sticking out of there mouth when I landed them. I also caught a good number of quality crappie (10 - 13 inches). Everything I have ever read says that 5 acres is not big enough to support this type of mixture of species (at least not with this quality). I think the reason is the depth, but then again the articles I read say depth has little to do with things as long as the average depth is at least 8 feet (they say it is all based on surface area).

I guess it really depends on the body of water. A shallow 10 acre pond may be less conducive to a mixture of bass and crappie than a deep 5 acre pit.

Tight Lines,

OzarkFishman

[Buckshotdad1960]

Ozarkfishman,

Interesting post! This pond, according to the owner who built it, he says its 7 Acers. That’s probably right. It has all depths of water in it with the deepest parts averaging between 8’-10’ all the way down the middle. I’m not much of a fish eater, I just like to catch and release. I do like my crappie fishing but I haven’t run across any water around here yet that’s like MN. for crappie. Stockton I’m guessing would be the closest to that. The owner has plains on down the road to develop the land and sell lots for building homes like Saddlebrook has done, if you’re familiar with that? Someday there will be kids fishing this pond so I am interested in having a healthy echo system that will produce nice fish but a variety of fish. Not only will I enjoy using this pond but I hope others will too. I have put a lot of pumpkinseed, bluegill, red ear, green, goggle eye, small mouth, large mouth as well as some long ear in it. Plus I’ve put in a couple of channel cats in it along with one flathead someone else I know put in. I’d like to add more channel and flatheads next summer. I’m hoping that the big mouth of the crappie will help eat up some of the fry from the other pan fish. I don’t want to stunt the pond so I want to add as many predators as I can but keep away from adding the toothy ones except for maybe a few walleye. Any idea where I can find some war mouth? I’ve never caught any and I’m not sure exactly what they are but I heard their a cross between a bass and a sunfish and fight like the devil!

[OzarkFishman]

Usually ponds aren't stocked with that many different species. Probably because it is easier to keep an eye on the "balance" of the pond with only three or four species.

The smallmouth probably won't make it. They like cooler, swifter water than a pond offers. Many people have tried to stock ponds with smallmouth, but they simply can't survive in ponds this far south.

The flatheads have a big "roaming" area, so there lifestyle is not conducive to a pond. They may survive, but probably will not reproduce.

Channels need to be restocked every so often (2-3 years).

The panfish will overpopulate quick (especially the green sunfish). Most articles suggest anywhere from a 3:1 all the way up to a 5:1 harvest rate. That is 3 pounds of panfish harvested to every 1 pound of largemouth harvested. You may be thinking that the largemouth should not be harvested, but in a pond you want new genetics coming through. Obviously, throw back the big ones.

If you are managing this pond, then you could set up a "fish and keep" day once a year. Have kids come and fish, record and keep what ever amount of fish you deem necessary. Harvest is best done in the fall to ensure that reproduction is through for the year. If you do this, I better be invited (I am a kid at heart, which is why I teach).

[Buckshotdad1960]

Well, I don’t know who you are or what you teach but it sounds as though you have been around the old pond a time or two so I consider your advice valuable. As far as the kid’s fish and keep day, well, that’s up to the owner of course. If it was up to me you would be invited for sure. This pond is not on my land and therefore is not under my watchful care and ever Seeing Eye. I’m sure in the future there will be some people that for one reason or another decide to keep some of the fish they catch. I have promised myself not to cry about this when it happens but I may find myself a bit on the jealous side when it comes to the thief robbing snakes and turtles. Did I mention I hate cranes? They eat my bullfrogs up like popcorn and can out fish a man five to one. I also heard that cranes can transport Reed and Lilly Pad seeds into your pond when they get stuck on their legs from fishing other places like rivers. I like Reeds and Lilly Pads, I think it gives an area personality and provides habitat for fish but if uncontrolled and if the pond is shallow enough along the edges as this one is, then over time the pond will be circled by Reeds and Lilly Pads cutting off all access to it.

Word has it that the location of the pond (although dug out deeper and made larger) was at one time where a trout hatchery use to be. It is some what spring feed and is dug deep enough to be below the water table of a nearby spring feed creek. The pond has the capacity to be much deeper than it is on average but only fills and spills into the creek when heavy rains occur. The run off comes out of a mature forest and instead of being left to run straight into the creek, it was turned to fill the pond instead. While in the summer along the shore and on the pond surface the water warms, but in my mind I have always pictured the bottom of the deep water as being colder. Does that sound right to you?

[Phil Lilley]

I'd call or go by MDC in Springfield and talk to them. I'm sure they have printed material plus people there that can tell you what the best plan of action is.

If you do, get back to us and let us know what they say.