Would changing the legal limit to 12" and the max per day to 15 produce more trophy crappie in north and east tx lakes? I'd support such a change if it would make a difference.

Prolly not. Crappie reproduce so fast that it would prolly make more smaller fish around. Maybe lowering the legal length to 8 inch would make it better. Everyone talks about catching dinks (fish less than 10 inches) by the buckets, you make the length 8 inches and that takes away more dinks. Thats just my thought on it.

Arkansas is any length and 25. I like that. I could limit way more often. I have no problem scaling the little ones and eating them whole!

No meat on a 8 inch Crappie. The 10 inch Crappie don't have that much to speak of either. But I am with you I don't think changing the size limit will do much.

You belong over at the THF. All the trophy hunters hang out there.

growing up in iowa and the law still is last i checked no limit on size or how many and most you catch are small. Granted the growing season is shorter there but rarely do you catch a 12 inch, or at least i caught very few most i did catch that size were in the rivers. The lakes had plenty every season just the size wasnt there so when i go back and visit and we catch 50 crappie the biggest at 10 inches most in the 6-8 inch range i just look at my dad and say your cleaning them lol too me they are dinks now but growing up there they were nice size.

in louisiana there is no size limits, and I have seen PLENTY of fish 12-14 inches come from lakes outta Louisiana. Upping the size definitely will not help. I do believe that lowering the size on certain lakes (RAY HUBBARD to name one Specifically) would help the overall size of fish.

I read a study once about this very topic. It suggested that the limit would have to be decreased to 3 crappie per day to actually make a difference. It suggested that after studying the average Fishermans catch that most crappie fisherman didn't catch many to take home. I wish I knew where I read the study because it referenced a lot of research. It was very interesting to say the least.

As for my opinion, I think what the state is doing now works fine for CC. Obviously if the limits were less it would make my job easier and I doubt I'd complain about 15 per person limits.

actually having the bag limit we have now is probably helping the size of the fish... I mean lowering the limit would mean a bigger reproducing population and at that rate the fish population would jump and maybe produce more trophies but in the long run the populations might outgrow their food limitations and start stunting in most lakes after competing with bass for food.

I think it all depends on the lake. In Lake Lewisville for instance, some parts of it get hit pretty hard and those restrictions would probably help IMO. I've noticed that the creeks get more and more pressure each year and the fishing this year has been tailing off as the winter goes on. I don't notice as many fish on the finder either. Lewisville is a lake that I bet is about a 30 minute or less drive for about a million people. A lot of years the spawn gets messed up by wavering water levels and there isn't much cover.

But if you go a bit north, Ray Roberts has a ton of 9 inchers and setting those limits would only lead to more dinks. It would only be counter productive.

Now if you really wanted to help the crappie, remove sandbass and catfish limits, maybe largemouth while you are at it.

I look at it this way, in order to get big a crappie needs two things; food and time. If we want bigger fish we have to let a few "grow up". Slot limit for size and bag limit for population. But current regs are fine by me...a 10-12" crappie eats just fine.

If I were going to do anything, it would be a test. I'd pick 2-3 producing lakes that may be "dink mills" Remove all limits for 1-2 years. Then for 2 years make the limit 12 inches, and 15 total. In year 5 see what a 25 fish limit looks like with 10" minimum. Not really a suggestion, but an off the top of my head idea,just to set the record straight.
I don't think we really need any changes. Most lakes are producing at or above what they should. Trying to get these lakes to produce like a Mississippi, Alabama, or whatever southeastern state's lakes doesn't appear realistic. The trinity river doesn't move enough water thru Texas to compare to the water that moves through those states. We don't have a Mississippi, Alabama, Tensaw, Escambia, Tombigbee, Coosa, Conecha, just to name a few rivers that flow constantly here. The rivers here sit still until it rains for the most part. The nutrients in the land and lakes are not replenished here like they are there. That is why most of the best lakes in Texas are further east. More water, more rain, more nutrients. I say a 15-17 inch crappie that is not skinny, is a trophy fish in Texas. You want a really cool trophy? Mount a stringer of 7 15"+ fish in a glass case. That would be impressive to anyone. Just my .02 worth.

i am not sure about what makes em grow large ....
some lakes have alot more large fish .....
i think the only way a change in limits and size would really effect the the average size would be for them to have special regs. on each lake after a ton of study on each place .....now wouldnt that be confusing

I grew up fishing for crappie when there were no limits on them.We use to judge a good day by how many 48qt coleman coolers we filled up.The same on the white bass also.Seems to me with the limits we have now the average size from lake to lake hasnt changed much since the by-gone days.Theres just a lot more people fishing these days,hence the limits that are in place.

I have often wondered if its the rate of fish being taken from a body of water or change of food source. Back in the early 90's Ray Roberts was on fire with easy limits of 14-15" crappie with very few short fish...... now all i catch from there are short fish!

I thought eating whole fish (like Asians) will make you smarter (Smile). If we filiet then it will waste at least half to 2/3 of meat.

I have noticed over the years(maybe its just me) but if you have a bad spawn year cause of drought conditions it will show in a cpl years with the size of fish you catch. I know a lake by me that has a ton of dinks, just one after another. When i started fishing it they were mainly in the 10-12 inch range. It had problems with keeping water and now mainly dinks but if you catch a keeper it WONT be under 14 inches. They are either 6-8 inches or 14 or better but the bigger ones are hard to find and few. This place is very small maybe 5 acres and a long walk to get to it so it doesnt get much pressure at all.

IMHO ...the best fix is .....
put a bounty on water turkey ,that would help more than anything else ....
every other crappie has water turkey scars on it no matter what lake i ketch them in .....
some even have multiple scars ....
and i never seen water turkey like we have them now ....
huge flocks everywhere eatin the fire out of crappie and bait .....
i bet that by itself would make a HUGE difference .....

I am with Jacob 645, scrape, fry and eat. Just great!!!

I guess I have been out of crappie fishing too long because all I catch are 8 to 10" and not very many of them.The limit doesnt seem to bother me since I usualy only catch 3 or 4.I just started back crappie fishing last summer when I retired,they are sure a lot harder to catch then sand bass which is mostly what I have been chasing.My two grandsons like a lot of action so that is what I have been chasing for several years.I want to think all you guys for all the tips and pictures that get posted,it makes me want to try harder to figure them out.Maybe the spring spawn will make it a little easyer for me.Agan thanks for all your posts.

I fish fort phantom a lot used to be 8" size limit and you couldn't catch one over 7" bumped up to 10" now you catch some good fish, It's worked there quality and quantity wise, now with bass it went up to 16" and it was hard to catch keepers in tourneys normally one fish would win it, state changed back to 14" this year decided it didn't improve there fish surveys. It did take some time on the crappie to improve but well worth it. I don't keep alot of fish but whenI do there good ones 12" or better, very meaty

I was watching Outdoors in the Heartland and they were on Lake Rend in Ill. They said that since they put a limit on the crappie the fishing had gotten much better. It's a different kind of limit and interesting....you can keep 10 crappie 10" and above and 15 under 10". I'm sure it wouldn't be good for all lakes, but interesting none the less.

I saw that same show Tony. It was interesting. I'd like to fish where they were a little.

I guess I missed on word choice... I should have said "bigger" crappie instead of "trophy" crappie. Not that interested in trophies per say, just thinking about the occasional 3 lb fish or more 14+ inch fish. 3 lb fish are very rare in this state. I've seen several very well accomplished crappie fishermen who have never caught one even fished TX waters their whole lives. Just an interesting deal to me. I love crappie fishing and we're blessed to have so many good lakes in this state.

What are you filleting them with, a chainsaw?

Exactly. Filetting when done correctly there is VERY little waste unless you like picking thru bones while your eating..

I think doing away with the size and bag limit of the fish that eat the crappie would do wonders?
I caint keep count of how many LMB ruin the crappie fishin for a few minutes when they cruise thru. I know they do cause I catch em. Really ticked me off once and I just kept em and ate them too. Prefer the succulent baby LMB but 7# and 8#'s will eat too.
And if I can ever turn those big flatheads that just strip my line, I'm gonna eat those suckers too. Note to self: take cat rods next time too.