I HAVE FISHED RAY ROBERTS SINCE BEFORE IT OPENED, HAVE LIVED HERE MY WHOLE 53 YEARS. THE QUESTION I HAVE IS WHERE ARE ALL THE BIG CRAPPIE GONE. WE HAD THEM BEFORE. FOR THE LAST 5 TO 6 YEARS WE HAVE CAUGHT NO TELLING HOW MANY 9 TO 9 7/8 INCH CRAPPIE AND THE WHOLE TIME WE KEEP SAYING NEXT YEAR WE WILL HAVE A LOT OF KEEPERS BUT EVERY YEAR IT IS THE SAME THING. IT DOESNT MATTER IF YOU FISH THE TREES OR BRUSH PILES. ANY BIOLOGISTS OUT THERE, DO WE HAVE TOO MANY CRAPPIE, OR DOES THE LIMIT NEED TO BE CHANGED TO TAKE SOME OF THE 9 INCHERS OUT. SOMEONE GIVE ME A TAKE ON THIS. CATCHING CRAPPIE HERE IS NO PROBLEM, IT IS JUST CATCHING 200 TO KEEP 5. GENE

i bet cliff spindel knows where they are

This past year we probably had about a 1 to 4 ratio of big to small at Ray Roberts. At worse, it might have been 1 to 6 unlike Lewisville where I was easily getting 1 to 20-30 range in the summer months. Most of my bigger fish came off of the timber there in RR last year and caught more small ones off the brush. I guess it might just depend on where and when you are fishing.

I am guessing it is not due to over population or lack of forage, but rather, that the flooding we had two years ago led to a really good spawn season, but the two years of drought before that was a bad spawn season.

Remember that 9" fish will soon be legal. Not to worry, there are plenty of big ones there, they are just outnumbered by the smaller one now. Lots of action and soon to be great fishing. I've been using 3" lures and doing OK.

I wish the limit was 12" and 15 fish.

catching beats fishing anyday

I fished Friday and caught about 25 on jigs, but only 5 keepers, I chalked it up to I was fishing deep (24 feet) and the juvenile fish were there? The older/larger fish had made their way to spawnig areas?

RR is full of big Crappie.
You have to realize that like with bass, The big ones stick together.
June-08 through November -008, I caught close to 600 Sacalet from one tree in forty feet of water. All on Jigs. There were some short ones but many were 1.5 to 2.5 lbs

Caught 20 last night with only 2 unders. Two were over 15" and the biggest was a 2lb 6oz.

Gene RR still has lots of big crappie but yes a bunch of smaller ones as well. Seeing that you fished RR back when it first opened as I did, I know what you mean. Back then you could catch a limit of 1 1/2 to 2 lbers day in and day out.

I don't feel that the crappie population is to populated with all the smaller fish, It just shows that the future fishing for crappie will remain good. Here is my take on why a lot of times we catch a bunch of small crappie. 1. I feel that crappie travel in schools from the time they are fry. So when you are fishing say a brush pile and one of these schools of 9 to 9 1/2" crappie stop in on it that is mainly what you will catch. My suggestion is if your in a school of unders even if your catching them left and right, Leave that spot and go another to find a school of bigger fish. This strategy has worked well for me. 2. The crappie fishing popularity has sky rocketed in the last few years at Ray Roberts and popular spots like COE piles are hit daily so if you hit one after one or 2 other boats, mostly all remaining is the unders.

TIP:
Before you go to the lake make a plan on what area of the lake you plan to fish. Have about 5 to 6 spots in that area to hit. After about 30 minutes in a location and your not catching many or the right size fish move on to next spot and do the same. By having a fishing plan you will save time and money on gas running all over the lake.

Best of Luck to you and don't worry the bigger fish are still there you just have to find them. Yes its not like the glory days of when the lake was new but its still very good.

Cliff

Great advice Cliff!

I agree Cliff. I've have crappie fished Ray Roberts for awhile now and usually just fish bp's. We used to mainly fish one west of Pecan Creek ramp and caught hundreds of em between 9 to 10 inches.One day we decided to troll around it a bit and found a bp a bit past the large one. It had much larger fish so

I would agree with CLiff. He is knows what he is talking about. But i fish that lake a lot and the big ones are out there. You just have to keep moving around.