A perfect day...

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on Lewisville of course since I rarely get to fish anywhere else. Cool, cloudy, not too windy, all in all a perfect day to fish.

James and I fished from 6:00 AM until 11:15 AM and boated over a double limit of legal crappie. James needed fish for an event so we kept 35 over 11". All on minnows.

It was a little windy early so we decided to stay near the marina. Probably used less than a gallon of gas.
We fished only places we had not tried this year, some for several years. Livescope made a huge difference. On some piles there was hardly anything left at all but we were able to see a few big fish hanging around.

In the future our boat limit will be 12" and 15 per person. Got to protect our lake from over harvesting. Livescope could have an impact on the number of fish harvested.

Hat tip for taking care of our resources.

We kinda do the same thing, we rarely keep any crappie at all. We have a little different take on the size we keep.
I'll keep the 10-11 " fish for eating, and let the bigger ones go for breeding,...and photos.


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Ernest and I have talked many times of the improvements to the fisheries in Mississippi since the limit was changed to 15 per person or 40 per boat. At the same time a legal crappie was deemed to be OVER 12 inches. As someone who has been fortunate to fish Sardis, Enid and Granada for years before and since those changes, I can attest that the fishing there has never been better. On our last trip we used a self imposed 13 inch limit and had no problem catchining fish much larger. There were initially great concerns from anglers about those new guidelines. No one that I know complains about the terrific long term results.

Really?

For a jig fisherman, this is a great compromise. Although I may be tempted to use minners, I am still resisting. Today we fished, and like last Friday, when using only a plastic jig - if I did not use somekind of "slobber" on my plastic, nothing would bit. But, with the "slobber" - immediate bit/fish in the boat!!

We were on Lewisville, and my wife caught the biggest crappie (13")! Wonderful three hrs on the water.

Update on problems with my networked Xi5: I disconnected my Point 1 and the Xi5 worked better. 😣

All in all - a great day. Will do it again soon.

So we are gonna keep 15 over 12” unless there’s an event then we can keep all we want over 10”?

I used to keep every legal crappie I caught...it's the way I grew up. Then I looked in the freezer one day at all those bags of crappie filets and it hit me..I had no need for that many fish in my freezer. Now, I keep a couple of small bags of filets around.

No. Boat limit is 12" now, 10 max per person, event or not. (may impose a boat limit of 20, thinking that way)
Most fish I catch are released. I keep around 5 per week to eat fresh. Rarely freeze any.
If my passenger wants to keep some I don't care as long as they follow boat guidelines.

When I grew up there was no size or quantity limit on sandbass or crappie. We caught a lot of fish but not many over 10".
When the limit of 25 and 10" minimum length was put in effect Fishermen screamed bloody murder. Couldn't catch 25 that
size they said, fishing was ruined.

After a couple of years went by and suddenly they were catching limits of big fish, over 10" the screaming died down.
I would like to see the size limit increased and the daily bag limit reduced. 11" and 15 per person would be a good start.

When livescope first came out I thought it would not negatively impact the crappie population. After using it for a few months
I'm not so sure. It's a wonderful tool to increase your fishing pleasure but will also make it easier to catch more. Got to release a lot of them.

Maybe a slot limit might work, not for me to say.

Just my opinion for what it's worth.

Great idea Ernest.

Same here. I usually keep 10 Crappie that are 12" long. No more than 14 crappie. I probably have 35 bags in the freezer and have fished very little this year because of the high muddy water.

They will be there in Sept. - Nov. once the temps. are cooler and the water has cleared up.

I don’t see the average guy going out and hurting the population too much. If I get a guide I’m not going for food. I’ll release them all. The biggest thing I want is tips and tricks to help me catch fish when I’m out there by myself.

I think a good guide could make a living even with a catch and release policy. Do any bass guides ever keep fish? Does anyone hiring a bass guide ever expect to keep fish?

It’s not how many you keep per trip, it’s how many you keep per year. Crappie is seasonal for me, I only fish for crappie 6 months out of the year, once maybe twice a week during that time. During the winter I’m duck hunting. I’ll put enough crappie in the freezer to last thru duck season, and I put enough duck in the freezer to last me thru crappie season. My rule is first in and first out, and eat all game before next season starts.

I got one batch of duck left, saving it for my cuz when he comes in town. I enjoy the full experience with hunting and fishing, 1) the chase, scouting and finding the game, 2) the catch/shooting, and 3) the culinary part of it, I even enjoy the cleaning part

Many just like number 2, to each their own.

I think every lake is different. I hired a biologist to help me manage a private lake a few years ago. He told us to never throw a crappie back, ever. He said if we didn't want to clean them, throw them on the bank for the coons.
When i compare Bob Sandlin to LOP or Fork I see a lake that is on the same water shed as LOP but has very little pressure put on the Crappie. LOP and Fork get pounded and have a law in the winter that you MUST keep every Crappie you catch. Fork and LOP consistently produce 2 plus pound fish. Sandlin on the other hand is crammed full of little fish with big heads. It is easy to catch a 100 in a morning but a 2 plus pound fish is rare. I believe there is just not enough food in the lake to grow big fish as the crappie have out produced the food chain.
Maybe the numbers need to change on the lakes that are around big cities to 15 fish per day but I hope they leave LOP and Fork alone and I would love to see them remove the limit all together on Sandlin until they get control of the stunting I see.

JMO

Limit in OK is 37.

Buy everyone a Livescope and let's do a test.
Everyone that uses Livescope should have stricter limits.
The overwhelming majority of crappie fishermen will not, or maybe, cannot afford such toys. Why punish them/us?

Choose which one is most probable and abide in it.