Has it been discussed to put in an open bag limit on sand bass at fork? Crappie have that for a certain time of year and wondering what the biologists have to say on open season for White bass?

Open bag limit or restriction on when/what size fish must be retained?

Well... The sand bass definitely are plentiful this year, and without intervention, I think they will be a HUGE nuisance in a few years. But I also think most of the sand bass I've been catching are too small to keep to eat. I can't see TPWD doing an eradication project on the sandies.

I don't think they have an open bag limit on crappie. From http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fishboat/fish/action/fishregs2.php?water=0433 :

"For 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."

The only reason they remove the minimum length on crappie during the winter months is to eliminate the waste. Anglers are typically catching the crappie in deeper/colder water during the winter and when they tried to release "short" fish, they couldn't swim back down due to swim bladder issues. So, the comorants were having a feast on under-sized crappie, hence the waste. Now you MUST keep the first 25 you ctach, regardless of size. Don't get caught throwing back little ones either, lol.

My mistake on the open bag limit on Crappie but the state does make exceptions on size during a certain time period.

I think they could also make a limit exception for one calendar year on White Bass to see how much it would effect the population. I catch more and more each year fishing square bills and spoons and most are over 10".

Folks just need to keep and clean the ones they do catch. Most are released.

I haven't been catching as many over 10" this year as last year, but I'm catching ALOT more of them and most are very small. Hence why I made the comment above about the future being grim.

A sand bass/yellow bass guide would have an EASY job on Fork right now. I even considered doing it on the weekends this fall to help with population control. I don't think there are many people interested in catching or eating them, which is why there are so many out there.

Which is funny because so many people fish DFW lakes for them yet only 100miles away is a lake filled with "Magnums".

I am surprised there is not a Sand Bass guide on fork, plus they would probably catch a few overs in a season to boot.

Headed out tomorrow, havnt been on the lake in 3 months, any tips on where to go try for sandies? I will be fishing for bass for the most part but will not mind filling my freezer back up

We were catching them almost every cast during the bass champs tounry.. had to move.. put in west side near axtons bass city.. head north to where the point comes out and crosses the boat lane (about 1/4 mile if even that far, its a long point) and its about 3ft of water.. fish the south side drop off..

Sorry for the late reply. I wasn't able to post from last night until this morning. Kept getting an error message.

You can catch them on just about any point or road bed. The key is finding what depth they are in on any given day. Three weeks ago they were in 16-18'. Saturday, they were in anywhere from 14-25', depending on the area of the lake. If you're good with a graph, you will be able to find them a lot quicker. If you don't have a graph, just grab a map and a smaller spoon. Weight on the spoon hasn't seemed to matter, but a 2-3" one with a smaller hook will result in more hook-ups. Go to a point that looks good on the map and start working around it and at different depths until you find them. On a road bed, just start working your way down it until you find them. Good luck, please take as many as you can, and thank you.

The Lake Fork Sportsmans Assoc had TPWD folks in ablut 2 years ago to discuss the exploding sand bass and what could be done to tone it down. We suggested opening open a season much like the first poster has suggested and the bag limits so that those that wanted to catch big bags could..

Unfortuneatly they did not see it that way. Sand bass are considered a game fish and therefore they will not change the rules.

One thing they did say was that the sand bass are cyclic. They are born when the water is running. Need a good rain storm for them to spawn. And after about 4 years any that have survived die off. Perhaps that is why we are seeing so few keeper size now but a ton of those under 10".

Pretty dumb that sand bass are considered a game fish. Especially on a lake like fork where TPWD should be focused on the large mouth population. This last weekend my dad landed 4 sand bass that were all over 2lbs. I have caught some monster sand bass on 10xds out there. Might make a dent on the population if all the guys that fish Twok, Cedar creek and Chambers to come over and catch as many as they could.

Did you keep and clean em? And it's not dumb.....just because a bunch of folks put large mouth bass on a pedestal doesn't diminish the value of other species.