# Buddy wants a pond with no bass!



## Curly (May 15, 2006)

O.k. a friend of mine was selling his house last year and asked if i could transport some fish from his old pond to his new one. Naturally i said..."heck yah". So me and my buddy catch about 75 fish. Probably about 25 bluegill, 40 crappie and 10 largemouth. When we told him the fish we transpoted he said.."i don't want those stupid bass in there". He just wants catfish, crappie and bluegill in it. Do you guys think this will work? I always assumed bass and bluegill went hand in hand. Any input is appreciated.


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## ohiomelvin (Jun 22, 2008)

that sound ridiculous what is a pond without bass, he might as well not have a pond at all


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

It's his pond, but he has to have more predators than just some channel cats. Bluegills and crappies will explode out of control very quickly.


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## Salmonid (Apr 14, 2004)

each pond is different, the problems with a LM pond is that they ( as the top predator) quickly out spawn there own good and if you do not take a bunch of lbs out every year, will all become 10-14" long and skinny and stunted. BTW, my pond has no LM in it. Instead I am managing it for trophy Black Crappie and Yellow perch with some larger Blue Cats and a small number of Hybrid Stripers to round out the carniverous top of the food chain. Its a new pond and in another 3-4 years, Ill let you know how it works out.

Bottom line is all ponds need a lot of management and to each his own. Im having fun experimenting and I am learning that with enough food to go around, everyone will be happy. 

Salmonid


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

I guess it mostly depends on how much the crappie reproduce in the new pond. Crappies are somewhat unpredictable, especially white crappie. Large channel cats are effective predators on panfish which is why I wouldn't recommend them in a big bass pond. In your friends case it may work out just fine, he'll just need to closely monitor the crappie population to keep catching disireable sizes. I don't think crappie would be harder to manage than bass. Crappie and bass stocked together are a different situation, often resulting in both species suffering but there are certainly exceptions to this as I believe the state record crappie came from a bass/crappie pond. The way I see it, I think your friend will end up with some nice channel cats regardless. He could end up with some nice crappies or bluegills too. Worst case would be a lot of small gills and/or crappie with some big channels. If it were my pond and I didn't want bass, I would replace the crappie with hybrid stripers and feed pellets since hybrid stripers grow bigger, grow faster, fight harder make just as good table fare and are easier to manage since they don't reproduce.


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