Do y'all throw legal fish back? I assumed that we were all in it for the eatin.

All the time. When the freezer is full and I don't feel like cleaning fish, I'm just fishin' for fun. It's actually more relaxing that way.

I'll keep 10 or 15 but that's it for me.

There are plenty more out there for another day.

If I have fish in the freezer I release. No filets and I keep.
Or if we want fresh while we are at the lake, I keep enough for a meal.

this ^^

Yes, catching a limit is great but catching enough to eat is just fine for me and releasing the rest is GREAT TOO!!!

We release most of our fish. We get to go on the steady bases, so I like the fish to be fresh. we usually keep 1 mess of fish. Once we eat them, the next trip we keep another mess.

I'm not cleaaning all my fish, and having to give them away at the end of the year. Don't see much use in catching a limit 2-3 times a month, and cleaning them, just to haft to give them away.

keith

I am appalled when I see the pictures of a group keeping dozens if not hundreds of fish, even though it is legal. When every 10 inch crappie is kept there are none left to grow to be slabs.

Crappie used to be considered so prolific that they could not be fished out. That was before so many anglers with modern sonar took to the lakes. Now the big fish are taken out of the small lakes early in the fall, leaving only small crappie.

I release lots of fish. Even with my daughters and grandkids invited over often for fish dinners, there's just no need for me to keep anything under 11 or 12 inches.

I C&R all the time. When I keep fish I try to stay in the 11"-13" range because that's the size I prefer to eat. Smaller and they don't have alot of meat, larger and the fillets are thicker than I prefer plus I like to think I'm helping the gene pool by releasing the bigger fish.

I love to eat fish,therefore, I fish to eat.....period!

I toss keepers back frequently, if it's a slow bite I won't head home with 2 or 3 fish to keep.

It depends on what's in the freezer at the time. I always make sure there is a good supply should I not be able to go for awhile because we eat them regularly. If I have plenty I release or give them to older people that are bank fishing at the ramp, they always appreciate it.

You bet.

Only keep what we need for a fish fry and always release anything 14 inches or larger. Them big crappie have the good genes and they need to be allowed to keep spawning IMHO. We release the big kitties so why not the crappies too!

I will only keep enough to eat. If I some in the freezes I will catch and release exclusively.

I am with the rest of yall. I'll keep some if I don't have any in the freezer, but otherwise I just catch em for the fun of it.

Same here

I keep enough to get some friends together and have a fish fry. I don't like to take more than I need though. I just love to be out there catching them.

+1

Plus CPR (Catch Photo Release) fish over 2 lbs
I have no business eating a 2 pound crappie.
Improve the gene pool and let someone else catch a biggun.

Food for thought from Crappie dot com -
to let the big ones go.
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Crappie typically don't get off a good spawn until around age 3, at about 10 inches long. Second-year fish, 6-8 inches, occasionally do lay some eggs, but not nearly as many as more mature fish. Crappies in their fairly short 5 or 6 year life span only effectively spawn 2 or 3 years if they are lucky—that is if they live that long without being harvested. These facts should really begin to show us the importance of maintaining certain numbers of mature crappies in our area lakes and reservoirs consistently year to year.

A large female for example may produce well over 100,000 eggs.
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In case you want to read the article-
WHAT'S HAPPENED TO THE BITE ON MY FAVORITE LAKE???
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/content/284-article-what-s-happened-bite-my-favorite-lake.html

I keep all the legals I catch. Then give em away to friends, family, or bank fisherman depending on the day.

9 months out of the year I don't get out often enough to make a dent in the population. I might get to go twice in a month, and will generally keep the legal fish I catch. If I were out there 2 or 3 times a week I wouldn't keep them, if only because I wouldn't want to clean fish that often. It's hard to believe we have that much effect on the numbers if you look at what happens on Palestine every winter, all those boats yanking out limits every day for several weeks. They always come back. I think the tpwd does a good job with bag limits and would move the number if needed. Just my two cents.

+1 TPWD has some very smart people working for them that decide how many fish is acceptable to keep. Dont go over the legal limit and I dont have a problem with it. THat being said I dont keep every legal fish bc sometimes I dont feel like cleaning a limit.

I've released all of the crappie that I've caught from the last several trips, preferring trout that I'm catching in the local ponds for eating, at least for now. I've eaten plenty of 2 pounders caught during the spawn too though.

I think that the regulations for Texas are fairly conservative, i.e. the 10" size limit means that there should be plenty of spawning fish. However, like with any general rule, it is not perfect. I recall a few times running into schools of runty crappie in ponds. It seems like a 5 fish general limit would make more sense in a smaller bodies of water, but I suppose rules like that only complicate things.

I suspect factors other than harvesting play a big part into the population. No doubt a big spring flood must be good for the spawn. For Lake Lewisville, it seems like blue catfish and sandbass would take over the whole lake if people didn't fish for them heavily. The old timers tell me it was a much better crappie lake back when it had more cover.

I did some digging and found this link showing fish populations sampled from various lakes.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/lake_survey/index.phtml

I can see the following from 2007 for Lake Lewisville:

Crappie: The white crappie population declined over previous surveys. Black crappie relative abundance increased since the previous survey with mostly sub-stock fish collected.

i keep all keepers in april for fish fry on mothers day in may annual thing

This is an interesting topic because I used to be in the keep every fish I caught group...came from my grandparents.

On average now I release about 95% of the keeper crappie I catch, which last year was close to 750 keepers released. If we do keep, dad and I went to an 11 inch minimum in regards to earlier posts on size and spawn. The amount of meat on a 12 inch versus 10 inch fish is nearly double it seems. Also, any fish 14 and above goes back (tourney money). I even did this when I guided. The only exceptios are badly hooked/injured fish.

This past year we actually instituted a no spawn keep rule. In fact, dad has even went to the point he doesn't care if he fishes the spawn for that reason. Let them do their thing and then keep them May-October.

There is also the concept of location management to consider. If you keep too many at a spot, even though, there are more in the lake you can decimate a population in a given area. I know of a situation where someone hammered them in the spawn one year and then the next few were very mediocre in that area due to keeping too many from that one spot. Some spots are on highways that always replenish...some are not. For me when I 'm keeping, I fish an area until they start to slow just a hair, then I move to avoid over harvesting one location.

I can't bring myself to do it....they are just too delicious. In saying that, my freezer never stays stocked, because I don't fish as often as I would like.

I'm guilty!!! Somtimes I end up giving them to some of the older folks who aren't having much luck.

After I threw out a ton of fish last year cause I didn't eat it I had a change of heart.

I throw almost everything I catch now-a-days back. If the guys on the boat want fish I sometimes keep it for them.

We have gotten real good at keeping just enough for what we want to eat. Good feeling.

To each his/her own. Unless I only catch a couple, then I throw back,or give to someone at the lake. I do not believe in wasting resources.If I don't eat it I have many friends, family, neighbors, and elders who no longer are able to fish who never turn down bags of Crappie.

Release to the grease

I kept everyone i caught last year .... All 6 of them . This year i plan to do the same .

I'm with Lucas and Salsa. Since I started fishing tournaments, when I need some fish, just take the cooler and collect some at weigh-in. Haven't had to keep fish for eating in a long time. I don't need to throw fish in the cooler to feel like I've had a good day. Keeping 4-6 bags of fillets ahead is plenty. I've thrown a lot of keepers back the last 4 years.

As long as within the legal limits do as you please.

From a conservation standpoint, I think catch and release is dependent on the waterbody and the waterbody has many factors that go into determining what is best from a conservation standpoint. Some you should release. Others you should harvest.

I would just encourage us to not be a one size fits all but view it from a specific waterbody standpoint and understanding of the factors/environment for that waterbody.

For example, I fish a lake in OK that has an 8" minimum size. The reason is they are abundant. Although a 8" crappie doesn't make for much meat I feel obligated in that environment to keep all I can catch to help the population.

I think in the end we need to understand the water and environment we are fishing and do what is best in that situation.

undersized fish have more to do with the forage base than it has to do with the number of crappie that are being caught and kept.
So to that end, keeping more crappie would work to increase the size of the crappie not caught more so than releasing crappie.

it is the same principle that fishery experts that run trophy bass private fishing lakes apply by making people keep all smaller bass.

If you just have to release some to feel like a sportsman, then keep all the 10 inchers and 12 inchers and release the 2 and 3 pound slabs. Their genetics actually help the gene pool.

Wes makes a a really good point about understanding your lake and its needs.

I definitely try to keep less from Stillhouse (only tourney or killed fish) beacuse the numbers of fish just aren't there. On Belton we do have a good crappie population, but not exceptional with generally a pretty balanced size.

The last two years on Waco has seen an incredible number of 10-11.5 inch fish. The first year I fished it I could have my limit in 2 hours or so if I kept them, but only 5 of my 25 would be above 12 inches. If a limit is coming that fast on average from multiple parts of the lake (was slower last year though), then definitely no issues with loading up, but also load up on those that are most prolific. They can overpopulate.

intelligent fishing pressure, with the hi tech sonar thats available to almost all fisherman nowdays,(quite affordable), is going to start making an impact on the fish. they may breed quickly, but they can be overharvested. Back when I was a kid growing up in Louisiana, we could go to almost any bayou, canal, ect, and throw castnets, and fill up a cooler with shrimp in no time. It started getting hammered by everybody and there brother, the trawls got bigger, the boats got huge, and it started to dwindle away very rapidly. We have a great thing going here in texas with the fine ecrappie fisheries, lets all just be respectful and appreciate, and dont waste fish. also consider releassing the swollen females during spawn. you got 11 other months of the year, to keep them, cant you just let them get thier spawning done in the approximate 30 days? spawn = fun fishing. May thru november.. EAT THEM!! plz just consider it.

+1 Leanin Post. I think you ae spot on. There's plenty of Crappie here, and intelligent conservation will keep thme here.

You bet - Release them when you don't need em,

Okay here is my rationalization – it’s just me talking,

I too was a multiple days per week fisherman (before I was a Guide).

I quit working the full time job back in May 2004 (I quit – no retirement – just up and quit).

Me and another old fart friend of mine (he’s retired) fished often 3, 4 or 5 days per week and by August of that year we were catching and KEEPING over 1,000 crappie per month. Both of our freezers were full and also most of our families and friends were too – just giving fish away.

Then it hit me – (What a waste of our outdoor resources) - We don’t have to keep every legal Crappie we catch – we have an option – We can Release them. I already practiced C&R on Black Bass for years and I release most of the White Bass/Hybrids/Stripers I caught, but Crappie – yea I kept them – way – way - way to many (I just got carried away with it).

My thinking is fish stay fresher in our lakes rather than our freezer (we can catch them when ever we want to – then keep what we need and release them when we really don’t need any). Those fish do all the good in the lakes and no good in my freezer. Plus I don’t have to clean fish on every outing (that’s a real bonus too).

I know it’s hard for a Crappie fisherman to understand the concept and benefits of Catch and Release – but it is an option.

As to Guide Fishing – most of the customers that use guides are not multiple days per week fisherman; most are a few times per year fisherman. You can’t keep the guides limit anymore – that went away some years back.

Catch and Release - It's optional (sometimes I think we just get into a habit (or of a mindset) of keeping everything we catch) But It's optional,

My Best Days On the Lake are When we don't Keep ANY!