Lake Aquilla, catch bunches but lots of small fish, my understanding it's been that way for years now. I would say about 30% keepers. But what I always tell folks, if they are bitting good, we'll catch lots of big ones and most (80%) will be big. On slower days you still catch bunches but small (30%) keepers. (I had one trip there we caught over 100 but only kept about 15 keepers. Bad day!).

Navarro Mills, catch bigger fish, slow days about 50% keeping rate. Good bitting days 80% keepers. But generally bigger fish in Navarro Mills that Aquilla.

Richland Chambers very high keeper rate (80 to 100%). Very Bad day it's still 50% keepers.


Granger is proabbly like Aquilla (I think too many crappie in the lake). You guys need to catch them out of there! Balance things out.

So far with the responses I am getting, it looks like there is a lot of short fish at Granger compared to other Lakes.
Oh well, still a lot of fishing fun, catch and release of all these little fish. Still enough gooduns to keep the freezer full if you fish as much as I do.
Thanks for all of your responses.

when i normally go i have a 0 to 0 ratio which equalls zero keepers and zero throw backs. but thats just me. i guess yall could use me as the control group

That's got to make for some fun around Athens, huh?

Well I got to give my 2 cents worth. I believe it all boils down to forage base and predation. Predation being all other species of fish that forage on crappie. There ain't no way you, your brother, your brother's wife's family and so on, will make a dent in the crappie population. I don't believe, like the guy posted in the Granger thread, that just because a crappie reaches 2lbs., that it is some how then considered a thoroughbred of crappie.
I have stocked tanks on our place with crappie. I talked with the people I bought them from about what I wanted. I said I would like to stock crappie. They said unless you have a lake larger than 100 acres you should not stock white crappie. They told me that black crappie would still way over populate the small ponds I have ,but don't reproduce quite as fast.(# of eggs) There for I would have small, malnourished fish.
How many people do you see crappie fishing every time you go out? I have been to Palestine, LOP, Lavon just to name a few. I see way more boats crappie fishing than on , say, EM, BP. The ratio at those lakes seem to be way better than the latter 2.
So through all this wind I have blown, I believe it is the other way around. Over population, lack of forage base due to over population and so on.

Yeah...just reading the Granger thread you would have thought DBMan singlehandly ruined the crappie fishing by keeping one 2 lb crappie...

Not the craziest thing I have read on the TFF but might make the Top Ten...

Yeah, it's a shame how one man and his wife can flat out ruin an entire lake for the rest of us...shame on you DB and company. LOL

Your right, the two pound thing is getting old, need to put that thread to rest

Cool thread, nice to hear folks share their experiences.

Here is the Granger Reservoir - 2004 Survey Report
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/lake_survey/pwd_rp_t3200_1301/#download

Read about other Texas lakes here:
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/lake_survey/index.phtml

An Arkansas lake report here:
http://www.agfc.com/pdfs/fisheries/mgmtplans/crappie_management_plan.pdf

I mainly fish Palestine for crappie and the last time I went I caught my limit of 25 and probably threw back maybe 6 that where under ten or close to it. I have caught an unbelievable amount of crappie over a pound there and a few more over 2. There are some good ones in Palestine. On Richland Chambers I would have to say 40% keepers but the majority of them are about 11 to 12 inches. I might catch 1 or 2 a day over a pound. I catch alot more on Richland than Palestine but they are smaller so I opt for Palestine instead.

I know out here when the lake level was low there were more shorts. When the lake level rose the shad population increased because of more room and the number of legal fish rose dramatically. It really has more to do with bait fish population and cover than anything else.

Here is an email I just received:


I will try to address you question regarding white crappie and white
bass over at Granger Lake. Your question was:

"Is the size of the two fish mentioned, smaller on Granger Lake then
others say on Lake Travis or say Cedar Creek? If yes, why?"

You started the message talking about population size, but the final
question sounded like you were referring to the actual fish size. I
will brief you on both issues to cover all bases.

Granger Lake is arguably the best white crappie fishery in our district.
What this means is that this lake most likely produces more quality-size
white crappie per acre than any other lake managed in our district.
Conditions and habitat in that lake are favorable for that species to
propagate or thrive. Although white crappie are present in most our
reservoirs, the population density in proportion to lake size is
probably highest in Granger in comparison to other bodies of water, like
Lake Travis.

As for fish size, fish require space, forage (food), and longevity
(survive long enough) to be able to reach larger sizes. Space and
longevity are not an issue at Granger or Travis. Forage abundance is
related to habitat and productivity in the lake. If we compare Granger
to Travis we would notice that Granger may have an edge in productivity.
This is identifiable through the color of the water. Clear water is
less productive than greener waters. When you add this to preferred
available habitat (stumps, cover, murky water, etc.) one can see how
Granger has more to offer for the crappie angler. Based on reports,
anglers do well up river in Lake Travis, where the conditions on the
lake better suits this species. Still, large specimens should be
available at both lakes; however there could be a false perception of
fish being smaller at Granger because more small fish are available per
acre (more abundant) within the lake.

Central Texas is home to some of the best white bass fishing in the
state. The San Gabriel River is known for great white bass
opportunities as well as the Colorado and Guadalupe above their
respective reservoirs. It is hard to determine if Granger is home to
larger fish than any other system, but it being smaller than Travis and
other lakes, it may not sustain the numbers of fish the larger
reservoirs do. This is different than the white crappie scenario
because white bass do better than white crappie in clear-water
reservoirs. I have personally seen several large white bass (15 inches
or better) at Granger while electrofishing.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us.
Thanks for your interest in our fishing resources.

Marcos J. De Jesus
TPWD Inland Fisheries
San Marcos

Thanks for the great post Sabot.
Gotta get the lead to ya this weekend.
See ya on the lake!