Crappie

Black crappie adults feed primarily on fish and aquatic insects. The young feed on microscopic plants and animals and on small insects. Crappie will not eat floating fish feeds. The diets of black crappie and largemouth bass are very similar. Even worse, crappie have a tendency to produce inconsistent but sometimes extremely large numbers of young. Crappie ponds get out of balance very easily, and frequently the crappie are either very rare, or the pond is overcrowded with small crappie that don’t grow very well and also compete with the largemouth bass.

Crappie can be frustrating but, especially in larger ponds, there are some things that you can do to increase your chance of success. In general, crappie should only be stocked in ponds of at least 25 acres in size. However, under the right set of conditions, crappie can be raised successfully in smaller ponds. The key to raising large crappie is to increase the density of predators by overcrowding the pond with largemouth bass. Large numbers of small, hungry largemouth bass will crop off crappie reproduction even in boom years in the crappie cycle. If poaching is a problem in your pond, this can result in over-fishing of the largemouth bass and ruin the crappie fishery. A poacher can remove enough bass in a single afternoon to upset this management scheme. It should also be noted that correctly managed crappie ponds usually will not have big largemouth bass to catch. If you desire big bass, then you should try the “Big Bass” management option outlined above.

There are two species of crappie, but black crappie are best suited for stocking in ponds. Stock 15 adult black crappie per acre in an established balanced or bass crowded bass and bluegill pond. Catch and remove largemouth bass when they are longer than 15 inches. This will create a crowd of smaller bass to control the crappie population and allow the remaining fish to grow faster.

Good crappie fishing in farm ponds is difficult to maintain for long periods of time. If the pond does get out of balance and overpopulated with small crappie, stock 30-50 adult largemouth bass (10 to 12 inches long) per acre. This will increase predation on the small crappie and help reduce the population size. If stocking does not seem to help, the pond should be drawn down to half its normal surface area in late summer or early in the fall. Bass harvest should stop during this time. The draw down makes it easier for bass to find and eat the crappie. Let the pond refill during the winter and spring. Repeat the draw down in the next fall if needed.