Starting Tues Dec 1

You are suppose keep every Crappie you catch on Lake Fork ( no mattter the size ) until the end of Jan,

I know there are a couple of other lakes that you have to also do this,

If they all don't go over the dam Bad time for high water.

LOP falls under the same ruling.

Pines & Fork Rules:

Crappie Fork black and white crappie caught from DEC. 1 through the last day of FEB., there is no minimum length limit and all crappie caught must be retained. From March through November, minimum length is 10 inches. Year-round daily bag limit is 25 crappie in any combination.

Why is this? And is this normal for this time of year?

I think it has something to do with their inability to decompress the air from their bladders. After being pulled from deep water if released they will die of the Crappie Bends

Exactly

Thats it, most fish caught this time of year are caught in deep water, and will not survive if released. There are more lakes in our area that need the same restrictions... IMO

For big blues I keep a burb tube...don't think that would work to well for crappie.

I keep a burp tube by the kitchen table always

I don't like keeping less than 11 inches, but worst I hate seeing crappie die wasted. Maybe it's time we see what we can get done about lakes that are deeper than 32 foot.