Are Pike Good for stocking ponds???????

Question

Hi I want to stock my 1-2 acre pond with Pike already filled with LargeMouth, Yellow Perch, Golden Rainbow Trout, bluegill, BullHead Catfish, and Silver Channel Catfish, and an overpopulation of White Crappie!!!! Will The Pike do well??? And if so will the overpopulation of the Crappie be controlled?!?!?!?!? Which of the above fish can control overpopulation of Crappie?????

Answer 1

NO, NO, NO......that is, unless you want the Pike to take over the pond?  Research Lake Davis in California.  I used to love fishing there and Pike got into it.  They had to poison the lake twice....hopefully no r****d puts any more in it.

Pike are fun to catch, don't get me wrong, but as far as controlling the population of other fish.....they'll decimate those populations.

Answer 2

I disagree with the other posters. I'm a keen pike fisherman here in the UK and I've seen good waters annihilated when the pike get taken out.

Pike are quite lazy fish, and usually lie in wait under overhanging trees to pick off any dying or diseased fish that happen to come within a few feet of them. Also, and I know this from hours of fishing , pike don't eat all day, every day. I always liken them to a python : fill up, then digest it for a few days.

If I plan to fish a new water, I usually fish for "bait" fish such as roach or bream first. If I catch small fish, then I won't bother fishing for pike. BUT, if I start to catch big, healthy specimens, then I'll look for a nice overhanging willow tree and I'll have a decent pike within 20 mins.

Its all about eco systems and getting the balance right. At a rough guess, stocking with around 5 fish at 5 - 7 lbs, and 10 at 2 - 3 lbs should be ok for a pond of 1 - 2 acres.

Remember pike eat other pike so expect to lose a few, and expect your other fish to take a bit of a pasting in the first 2 years. After that things will level out and so forth.

Answer 3

if you stock it with pike thats the ONLY thing that will be in there. here in california if you catch a pike it is illegal to release them dead or alive. there are no pike in california because they eat EVERYTHING

Answer 4

you do not want to put pike in there. it will be a BIG problem

Answer 5

Adding pike can be a problem , the reason for this is if your ponds just starting out and you have just stocked it with small fry and maybe a little bigger stock then the pike will eat them, i wouldn't advise stocking them unless all of your fish are well grown on but even then its a risk, pike are notorious for eating anything, even the baby ducklings from the surface, the trout and small mouth should eat the fry produced by the crappie, the pike will survive but you could lose lots of your present fish stock if you do introduce them, also it seems you have got a wide amount of species in there so i wouldn't add any more, as the trout etc grow bigger you may want to add one or two pike, but no more.

Answer 6

Pike are good if you want to catch a nice fish that puts up a fight.  but if you have bass, blue gill, crappie, or any other smaller fish in your pond the pikes are most likly going to eat them and once they eat all the fish you have to restock so they dont run out of food

Answer 7

I agree with the posts - Pike eat anything and everything - Pickerel, pike and musky - freshwater barracudas if it's moving they're movin after it!!  They can eat most of your trout off the bat - or whatever isn't moving quick enough - they don't have all those teeth for nothing!!

Ultimate freshwater eating machine - but fun to catch... they're usually introduced when you have a severe over population of suckers, carp, bluegill - they get right to work knockin it down.

Answer 8

i dont think so