Only time I have ever been a expert crappie fisherman was in the late 70's fishing out of Tawakoni during the spawn. As long as you had a boat you could catch fish until you got bored. I think catching a limit during the summer and winter is what separates the good fisherman from the average Joe. I have never caught a limit during this time. I'm getting better have not not done it yet.

Reggie

I can't quite go back w u 30yrs in memeory at the age of 32.. But mt earliest fishing related memories in life are of crappie fishing, I remeber my grandpa and dad and me in an old vbottom boat.. 25yrs ago at various lakes.. Lewisville, fork, and even old whiterock. I don't remember days of 100's of crappie.. But I don't remember being skunked often.. 20fish days were good days which standard seems true today as well. What difference does strike me is how the sport has itself has changed. Seems to me that most crappie fishermen then were drowning minners, and a few were jiggin trees but for the most part.. This has become more competitive sport w a lot more emphasis on artificial baits.. And it has helped the sport grow tremendously! Glad to be part of it all, now if this weather will pass we can all catch em

This sounds like a question for Guy Paty or Earnest Skinner,them two fellers rite thar can set you straight!

catching crappie from spring to fall has never been a problem for me but like some people said catching them in the winter is harder! i have always thought bass fishing was harder to catch big numbers of them as crappie will bunch up on brush and its like taking candy away from a baby!

Crappie fishing and gambling go hand in hand. You always hear I won $200.00 last night,but you seldom hear about how much you lost the night before.

Maybe they forgot to mention that they were keeping 3 inch fish, which was legal back then.

well, i do not know about the rest of ya'll but, i catch 152 every time i go out.if u don't beleave me . then just ask me.lol

I think Crazy Angler nailed it on the head. But to answer your question Chuck, I think it is a lot different today than it was 30-40 years ago. I know for a fact it has changed for bass, and you would think the same would apply to crappie. I know in the late 70's you could catch 100's of bass a day on the old rd on the 154 bridge at Palastine. You could fish it for months on end now and not catch a bass. Why has it changed? I witnessed it at cooper first hand, even before all those fish died. When it opened I couldn't go out and catch less than a 100 bass. Then as it got more pressure it got steadily less and less. I'm sure a lot of these guys were fishing newer lakes back then, with a lot less pressure, and the fish were really easy to come by. I think thats what a lot of people are refering to when they talk about how it "used to be", like Crazy Angler up there.

Guy Paty or Ernest Skinner? I'm not sure which of us is the most insulted.

You're right about one thing though, we have been around a long time and grew up doing similar fishing.

In the old days few fishermen would venture out in summer or winter for Crappie. Most of our fishing was from the bank or from a rented row boat. No electronics and of course with minnows. No electronics, no size limit or quanity limits. A keeper was whatever could eat your minnow and a limit was a tow sack full.

Most of the great trips were outnumbered by the forgotten trips where you ate carp or catfish.

The "Good Old Days" are now. Sure you could sit in the shade and catch a few easy fish, forgotten is the fact that it might have taken all day to catch 8-10 mostly small ones.

Todays fishermen are impatient and want lots of big fish "Right Now". Crappie are one of the most difficult of all fish to catch on most days unless you are very experienced and are definately not kid friendly.

Still, take the kids and teach them, they will catch a few and will be happy.

Honestly myself and my COUSIN Landscaper guy about twenty years ago could catch Crappie like that every time we went out we caught our limit each and also sandie. And at that time we didn't even have depth finder. We would fish Grapevine all the time when we were a lot younger. We would do most of it at night. We would go out at night with our jigs and minnows and our old fashion crappie light and our beer then. And fish and had a great time. Catching them sometimes two at a time. That was the fun days me and my Cousin Landscaper guy

Well, I think that when you are young everything is exaggerated. You used to think that hill you climbed was a big mountain, now as an adult you see it for what it really is, a ten ft. hill. Or that giant mulberry tree that we used to climb to get the berries is now, through adult eyes is just a normal tree. I do remember as a boy I would go with my dad to put vinyl tops on cars in Crockett, and then leave and go to what I found out after I grew up was the Trinity River at something called a lock dam. I still don't know what or where it was. We would catch coolers full just standing there on top of something like a dam. We would catch 200-300 crappie. One of these days maybe I will remember where and what that was. But apparently there were no limits back then. Probably 35 yrs ago. And now, I am sure it was a certain time of year.

As a member of the old farts club, I can tell you that fishing in the 40's, 50's and 60's was a lot different. As a kid (40s/50s) we bank fished with a cane pole and minnows (that we caught out of the lake/creek first). And yeah, I can remember taking over a hundred crappie home several times, but, there was no size limit and no creel limit...and we fished to eat. No fish, no food. During that time, if we got a crappie that weighed a pound, it was considered a 'whopper'. VERY few 10"+ crappie caught. Then in the 60's we got a Lone Star aluminum 14' boat and started fishing the standing timber in the few lakes that were around then. We had lots of 100 fish days, but again, all small fish.

Everyone that is too young to remember those days, or just started crappie fishing in the last 10 years really don't realize how lucky they are. With the boats, electronics, tackle, and yes, restrictions that we have now, we're able to enjoy some of the best crappie fishing of all times, IMO. And for the record, as much as I fish now, it has been a few years since I had a 100 fish day. And I have never caught a 3# crappie.

Thanks Guy & Ernest, we knew you would recall those old horse & wagon days.

there is a guy from richland chambers that constistantly catches 3' crappie all the time on minners cant remember his name though

oh and for the record I have caught a whopping 13 crappie this winter out of five outings