A couple weeks ago i walked down to my dock. i saw 4 or 5 fish floating under the dock My first thought was that "fish kill" was happening. Strange that they were all right there together Then i noticed that a couple of fish were alive and that they were all crappie. Couldn't figure out what was going on until i saw a boat at my neighbors dock. The guy had a Livescope and he caught a fish and put it back into lake. He then caught another fish, however this time he put that fish in ice chest and took fish from ice chest and threw it into lake. At that point i knew that he was culling fish.My question is has there been any research on survival rate of released crappie, obviously fish in ice chest are not going to survive. Several of my fishing buddies and myself have noticed that the catch rate of larger crappie seems to be declining, My question, is it time to start thinking new regulations regarding crappie fishing? Maybe lower limits and a slot. No culling yr round, like in winter months on certain lakes. Its sort of like having termites, you don't realize you have a problem until your porch caves in. i understand this an't a popular post with some. Some folks have a kill'em/catch'em all attitude, i get it! In my younger days i was somewhat like that but as an older guy (much older) i realize that there will be a price to pay for over harvesting. A lot more fishermen today than 30 yrs ago. As a matter of fact a whole lot more crappie fishermen since Livescope Catching fish today an't that difficult. There are guys today catching fish that yrs ago couldn't catch one if his life depended on it. They never put out a brush pile(still don't) and wouldn't know how to find it if they didn't have a Fish Finder. Too much work and a little skill The new attitude "let somebody else do all the work ! We all know that and they know that. Not trying to offend anybody just hoping someone will think about the future for your Grand Kids and my Great Grand Kids. The technology is wonderful but better start making some adjustments. I remember when "spinning wing decoys" showed up. Everyone became expert duck callers Ask an OLD DUCK HUNTER how they helped duck hunting. You guys have a great weekend and be careful in that heat. Drink a lot of water!

I haven't seen a study on that, but I would venture to say any crappie that isn't hooked bad or comes up from very deep water and returned straight back to the water will be just fine. Any fish that has been in a livewell for a considerable time is going to encounter a lot of stress, especially in this heat. I have seen studies on bass that sit in livewells all day end up dying 2-4 days later from the stress. This is why we throw keepers on ice, and never cull.

As far as everything else goes, I think we will see a 15 man limit on some lakes in the not so distant future. I do know that the amount of crappie fisherman had gone up considerably in the past few years. Everything is constantly changing, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.

Crappie breed like rabbits, there will be no shortage at the current harvest rate and size limits. It’s likely that weather conditions and lake levels play a much bigger role in population than anglers. Throwing fish in a cooler and then filling out smaller fish from a cooler might meet the definition of “waste of game” though as the fish is dead and being thrown away. Fish that are caught and quickly release from shallower water like in the summer have experienced very little fight time and very little stress, I assume they will be ok.

We have 2-3 lakes nearby that have regs that prohibit the catch & release of crappie during 3 months of winter, if you catch a 5 inch crappie, it goes in your livewell/icebox and counts as one for your limit. Reason, being caught deep then released they will die. The same should be true in the summer, crappie put in your livewell then released may not live and IMO they will not live if put in an ice chest, then released back into the low oxygen water that summer produces. Caught and put right back into the lake during the summer probably does not kill many crappie.

I put fish on ice right away when I keep some and I throw them right back if I do not. Some swallow the bait and there is nothing I can do for them. A bird, or bigger fish will eat it. Nothing goes to waste in nature

I understand that the LA Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has posted a Notice of Intent to modify current crappie regulations on Bayou D’Arbonne Lake. Passage of this NOI will change the daily take of crappie that measure over 12” in length to 7 per person; the total daily take will remain 50 crappie per person. Personally, I’d support lowering the daily take from 50 to 25 in Louisiana. I live near the TX/LA border and fish lakes in both states frequently in addition to Millwood and Erling in Arkansas.

I won’t be surprised to see crappie regulation changes coming in more states, with an emphasis on protecting the larger fish.

I seldom keep more than five crappies, as I like them fresh. But I can fish every day. I don't have a problem with people keeping 25 as most can't fish every day and most don't catch 25 keepers every time they fish. From my experience lifescope is not producing the tremendous slaughter of crappie that many fear it does.

On the lakes, I fish it's not the number of crappie in the water, it's the size of the crappie. Most are under 10". I personally only keep crappie between 11"-12" and return everything else caught. But I would like to see the size limit reduced to 8". I believe this would increase the overall size of the crappie if smaller crappie were kept.

I know many will disagree but I saw this happen on a lake that was swamped with small bass. Fish & Wildlife changed the rules so that you had to keep every bass that you caught under 12" and release all bass caught 12" and over. Three years later the lake was producing 18"-30" bass and the lake was set back to normal size limits.

Asleep at the Reel had a TPWD fishery biologist on his podcast talking about crappie. It is a must watch for all the fishermen that believe all the crappie lakes are going to be over harvested because of the new technology that is out now. It can can be seen on YouTube.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wHoAviZRZ18&feature=share

did your neighbor have water and a bubbler in his icechest or just ice? if just ice, he should be charged with waste of a gamefish... he is stealing from you, me and the whole state
intentional waste of game in Texas really burns the gamewardens arse.. theres no excuse for it,,,
most of the miscreants can lie abt oh, my fishing license, ohh, I forgot,, fish too small, I didnt know the regs,
snagging fish,, well we do it in alaska, I thought we could do it here.,, and on and on.,
but intentional waste of game,, your screwed!!

as far as crappie populations and thier decline due to
1 ALOT of new fishers due to the pandemic that are now lifelong fishers
2. almost magical technology, and its not just livescope,, google earth is another great tool for people to see lakes at normal pool and during low periods.
public forums that share great knowledge that would take years to learn otherwise
3. most states DO NOT have crappie stocking programs Texas included...
4. fish sampling is non existent on most lakes due to they cannot net or electro shock them
5 abnormal weather patterns like the 7 year drought in texas that causes stress during spawing season
and last but not least..

6. The mindset of biologist ( that is based on NO tangible evidence brought forward in past or present) that crappie re populate at a faster rate than can be harvested NO MATTER WHAT.

nobody has a clue how many crappie are on a lake at any given time, or from year to year.. its all based on ASUMPTIONS that are not based on any scientific data.., and most times when assumtions are made, they make an [censored] out of u and ME

Good rant Leanin post !! Any changes made at the state gov level will take time, maybe years to trickle down to the end user, on the lake anglers. I personally feel game management starts with each angler and their attitude . We all witness over harvesting a species , freezing the filets and throwing them out after 6 months due to freezer burn.
How to train said individuals to think and act out this way of life , IDK.

Great advice here.

I have fished alot of 10-200 acre lakes in Louisiana that had a lot of pressure for White Perch as we called them. One was a private club and we had a couple of people who were running hundreds of Yo-yos on a 250 acre lake. Everyone went nuts and banned Yo-Yos altogether and put in a 10" minimum and a 30 or 35 fish limit. Fast forward 15 years and the lake was in much better condition when those restrictions were not in place. As far as crappie reproductive numbers that are "assumptions" speak to anyone with a smaller lake/pond and they are usually stunted due to the shear numbers of crappie even with decent numbers of White and Sand Bass. I have even seen it on certain lakes where the numbers are awesome, but the crappie were all 7-8". I think the TPWD may be on the right track by having a "let's see" approach as there hasn't been enough time yet to see how this new technology affects populations. The good news is that if it does affect numbers, crappie lay tons of eggs, so the recovery won't take decades it will take 3-5 years tops.

Those “assumptions” are based on years of research and predictive models developed by scientists who devote their entire careers to this type of thing. These are biologists who entire job is to take detailed surveys of fish and their behaviors, they determine things like water temps fish spawn at, growth rate, spawning rates, and age of sexual maturity and develop regulations based on their findings.