Like most, I don't think it hurts to keep what you can EAT, but I often keep 8-10 and let the rest go to complete the spawn. If someone goes with me and they want them them, we keep all we catch.

I have some soil conservation lakes I fish and I usually let the majority go during the spawn, but these are small bodies of water less than 5 acres and then keep all of them after the spawn that I catch in order to keep them from overpopulating. That way the rancher has several year classes in the soil conservation lakes.

Regards,
Mud-Dabber

I say catch and release "TO THE GREASE"

Eating crappie eggs, or as a buddy of mine called them "redneck caviar" is nasty in my opinion. I got swindled into trying them once, and nearly got sick... They were deep fried, and he liked them, but YUCK...

I'm a picky eater anyway, but that's a mistake I'll never make again...

personally I practice catch,kill,and release. (into the greese)

Ate a mess this past weekend.My wife said they tasted "hormonal".Tasted fine to me.Usually I keep what we can eat & a mess for later.Catch the rest for fun.Not exactly scientific but works for me.

nothing better than fresh crappie and a cold beer!!!

waterdog

Hey Split Shot......
I appreciate your concern of dwindling crappie population. I think YOU should put the big egg laden sows back.. The rest of us will not allow ourselves to be so concerned or do not have your will power. We just eat them.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i161/SplitShot77/ZachandJustink.jpg
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i161/SplitShot77/ZachandJustin.jpg

All,

Here are the photo's. No offense taken. I'm a big boy. But I could have sworn I heard it wasn't good to eat them during the spawn. Maybe that was shrimp. Yap, thats what that was. Oh, by the way. It was Guy Skinner who taught my son and I how to fish crappie. Cheers Guy. I hope all is well. We used a Bass Pro slip bobber, a pre-tied colored string stopper thingy, a number 4 split shot, 4" up from and a number 4 Eagle Claw crappie hook and a minnow, all on Mr Crappie bright green 8lbs test line. And we got everyone "In the boat" so as not to ruin the hole.

See yal on the Vine.

OH...well that changes everything.

You shouldn't eat the crappie on Grapevine. During the spawn. During the summer. During the winter. Never...ever....ever....ever.

Eating crappie from Grapevine only does one thing. Makes your tummy full and you have to go back and catch more.

We wouldn't want that now would we?


Crappie are like potato chips. Eat all ya want. They'll make more. Promise.


Unless you're fishing a small body of water and can take home a limit every day. Then...ya might have some problems on down the line.

I say don't worry about it. I agree with all those who stated that crappie proliferate (population-wise) so much, it's not a concern.

However, only filet what you'll eat now and in the near future (no matter whether they're females with eggs or not). Cull out any borderline keepers (11-12") and eat the bigger one's. They'll be there year after year. Been that way for years and should stay that way as long as folks conserve.

--Eric

Great pics by the way. Kids gotta love it. Can't wait til mine get a tad older to take em' out (the patience thing ya know).

--Eric

And I agree most with Waterdog...mmmm...a coldie and some good eats!

--Eric

410Man, I cannot speak for Split Shot, but I just saw your post as humor.

ccabal, sure. Any species can be overfished. That is why there is a minimum length and a limit as to how many you can catch per day. I am more worried about the crooks that are using nets illegally to virtually strip mine all fish from creeks or inlets on lakes.

Sheldon, mother fried roe just like you do fish. I never cared for it but my dad loved them.

Great pictures Split Shot. You have two great fishing buddies there. Love the Jimmy Houston shot of the one kissing the fish.

See the link you posted to your photos? See the full reply icon at the bottom of this page? In the full reply section there are two columns of buttons or icons for posting UBB codes.

URL..................EMAIL
BOLD.................ITALICS
QUOTE................CODE
LIST-START...........LIST-ITEM
LIST-END.............IMAGE

Click on the image icon and a window will appear. Copy and paste your above link and it should post the picture.



I worked all one afternoon trying to post a picture. Most of the time was wasted trying to post it from yahoo. Photobuck or flickr are very easy and even I can upload pics and post in just minutes.

Thanks TexasBlonde I'll try that on my next pictures. Should be this Friday as we are going back to the Vine.