I have actually thought about that as he said we can bring fish in. They have been doing surveys on this but I do not know the findings.

plz keep us updated. no reason we cant do it ourselves. cumulatively as fisherman we can collect alot more data than they ever could. they dont catch enough fish, from different lakes to make an accurate assessment. as I mentioned, they cannot sample by shocking, or netting, they are guessing for the most part. They are going by the spawn conditions from year to year as well as egg counts that crappie generate. They really have no solid data to back up anything, other than the amount of eggs a crappie is able to produce. In my opinion there are WAY too many other variables involved that constantly change.
it may be something they could start doing though, maybe also a tagging program, to see how many fish are actually making it to full maturity.
The big hurdle to overcome though, is the biologists mindset that is cemented in the belief that there is no way crappie will ever be affected by harvest rates or anything else.. Whats not being considered though is other influences such as changing biological and enviormental conditions. maybe we can try and provide more information so we can prove them right, or maybe generate enough information that they can make a more informed assessment.
I heard the gentleman say that females reach sexual maturity at 10 inches. My belief though is that most of the small females dont drop thier eggs. The larger females go to deeper, more stable areas and spawn. If many of the larger females are harvested year around, my guess is that it certainly will gradually have an affect on crappie populations.
In spring, when the young males and females stage in shallow water, most of them dont stay for the whole process, wind and wave actions run them out of the areas, they scatter, and reabsorb thier eggs, or drop them in less than suitable conditions, where survival of the eggs is less likely. The larger males likely run the smaller males away from prime cover and structure. JMO
Folks with livescope are beginning to realize that the larger males and females tend to spawn in deeper water. just look at all of the pictures of crappie posted during spawn that are caught near the bank, not all, but most are small, 10 to 12 inch fish.

I personally have seen a monster dead crappie somewhere but I can't remember where I was. I think it was in a gravel pit if I remember right. I really don't think you would find many like that as they get eaten pretty quick I would think. They are pretty tasty after all

I personally think it is too early to tell what the effects of livescope on the big fish is or will be. It has only been a couple years and there is only so much data they can gather in that short period of time. So many variants exist in some of that research (Time of year, location, depth of water, condition of the lake and weather all go into their shocking results). Only time will tell. I still believe the people who see it first hand more but definitely respect the biologists opinions because I am no biologist.

I saw a dead monster crappie floating on Texoma last year. I wish I picked it up and measured it, especially after I looked up the lake records.

The one dead SLAB I did see was eaten within short order by a gator..... Thought I was recording when it happened but nope cam was not on.....

The crappie guy is right. You cannot fish out crappie. They spawn very effectively.

Great video! Thank you for sharing!