Lake Darbonne in Louisiana has a rule where you can only keep 7 fish that are 12 inches or larger. Locally we refer to it as the 7-over-12 rule.

There have been days when I only brought home 10 fish in the cooler but caught more than 30. Very odd feeling to find yourself wishing for smaller fish to bite LOL.

Anyways, it is almost time for the jet skis and tubing boats to take over the lakes for the summer and for me to start night fishing. Good luck out there everybody!

Great livescope video.

Great video. Do you guide on Darbonne?

Thanks so much! I always say it's like getting to go fishing twice making these videos because I get to really see what I'm doing right/wrong.....now if I would just stop doing the wrong stuff I might catch even more lol!

I don't guide, but I know there are a few guides on the lake now. There's a facebook group called "lake darbonne crappie report" and if you ask on there I bet you'll have the whole lot of them offering up dates.


*If you have a boat and electronics though, you might not even need a guide on Darbonne as the crappie are fairly predictable and plentiful. Here's my general guide on where I look for them at different times of the year:

May-August: 15-20ft flats or edge of main channels at similar depths
Sept-Nov: 15-20ft timber or near timber
Dec-Jan: Main channel or any deep water
Feb-Apr: Spawn time!

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It’s hard to catch small ones!! We kept fish there last year and I think I had 9 keepers one day and 11 the next! Granted I wasn’t looking for small fish or fishing small fish stuff but our guide buddies there said it killed guiding on the lake.

Oh man.... I bet it is tough telling customers they've got to throw big fish back in the water if they've got less than 10 in the cooler. Hopefully they'll figure something better out soon. I think it kind of punishes the occasional anglers much more than us die hards that are out there a silly amount anyways. Some folks only get out on the water a few times each year and I wish they could get a good mess of fish to be able to share with family and tell some stories about.

I do not envy the biologists that have the jobs of maintaining these fish stocks. I'm sure it is a constant balancing act.

Some of the so called biologists are not worth scrap. If you are catching fish too big for the slot all the time then morons came up with the slot. Generally some kind of democrat. Washington state had a rule you couldn't keep any fish over 28". Fished for three days, caught tons of fish but not one keeper.

Why don`t you do us all a favor and climb down off your and YOU run for the office that gives you the GONADS to change it & keep your PU litical opinion off our forum.Besides How do U know how he voted?

I see your reading comprehension could use some help. Read it carefully again. I mention no one on this board and mentioned a real problem. I made an obvious point and you throw a fit. As a matter of fact what political comment did I make? "generally some kind of democrat" when talking about Louisiana fish and game is not a stretch at all. So get off your soap box!

So, talking to all the locals regularly like I do, the opinions seem to be split on what the real reason for the 7-over-12 rule is.

About half think it's entirely geared to keeping more big fish in the lake to make it the premier destination for crappie tournaments and have a chance at rivaling Grenada for average size one day. (this sounds good, but the majority of that group has begun taking a sour look at the tournaments due to this)

The other half believe it is just an overreaction to a sampling that was done after a very tough year on the fish population due to a drawdown and algae bloom that happened the previous summer.


Now, that's all from me talking to maybe 50 or 60 fishermen (I will talk to just about any boat that drifts close enough lol). I don't have enough information to weigh in or take a guess on the accuracy of any of that, but that's basically the two things I hear repeated.

I do know some fish and game folks local and have a contact for a biologist that works Caney Lake (had to reach out to them to see if I could legally sink artifical brush).
Will reach out to everybody and see if I can get the mystery solved once and for all.