settle a crappie weight dispute at ky & barkley

ok i need you guys to help me or prove me wrong,i don't fish for crappie at kyor barkley but some guys i know go every year.here is what i need to know.he tells me they catch tons of 15-17inch crappei that go 13\4 to 2lbs all time,i've never seen them but i did see a 19 incher from the beechfork river that only weighed 2.6lb on accurate scales.Are the crappie really that much more "fat" there,i know there are differences in say rough crappie to dale hollow crappie but even the fattest 15 inchers i caught at dale would barely go 1.5lb not counting any eggs,anyway i told these guys they were too drunk to be on a boat if they thought those fish were that heavy,i can see maybe 13\4lb but not the 2+ with the consistency they say.are that size really that abundant and common place?

2+ is common......however, if they cut the daily limit from 30 to 20, it will be a thing of the past....

[QUOTE=artcarney_agr;295660]2+ is common......however, if they cut the daily limit from 30 to 20, it will be a thing of the past....[/QUOTE]

I'm a little confused. How will cutting the limit from 30 to 20 hurt the lakes producing the bigger crappies? The lake has plenty of cover and food for these fish and it will just give those 11-13 inch fish a chance to grow.

Charlie

I was wondering how cutting back the limits will reduce the quality of the fish also. If food sources on KY lake were tight I could understand it, but KY has plenty of cover and abundant resources from everything that I have read and observed.

As for the quality of the crappie on KY lake, I would say that your friend is probably correct. The 15" to 16" fish there will be a little over 2 pounds and are 1/2 again as thick as crappie from most other KY and TN lakes. We fish for crappie at KY Lake every year and are impressed year after year with the size of the fish. The crappie that we catch elsewhere (Cumberland, Watts Bar, Laurel, Dale, even Weiss for pure size, etc.) just do not compare.

i don't crappie fish on either, but i do catch them while bass fishing and yes, the ones i catch are pretty hefty.

As I recall, the last 18 inch crappie we had from KYL was around 2.25lbs. To look at this fish, you might swear it would weigh 3lbs but the digital scale has made an honest man of me!

I don't agree with you. KY Lake is one of the most fertile lakes anywhere and there are plenty of shad and other baitfish for the crappie to feed on. The crappie on KY will NOT overpopulate the lake and will NOT be stunted.

Hey Keith me and some buddies went down there last spring. I couldn't friggin believe how fat those crappie were down there. We didn't catch huge numbers but they were all BIG (as compared to what I'm use to at Nolin and Rough). I caught 10-15 that were around the 17 inch range and they were all right at 2 lbs(some over some under). They were so freakin thick it just blew me away. I gave up bass fishing for the weekend just to get some more of those monsters if that tells you anything.

That's about right for Barkley/KY. The crappie are thicker and I think taller (more round than long) than crappie from other lakes. I caught one several years back on KY that was 18" and it weighed about 2.75 lbs. 15" are common and they run at least 1.5 lbs. I am not a crappie fisherman per se so I don't catch the numbers but they are a fun (and tasty) diversion. I was on KY mid-April this year throwing a small suspending jerk bait for bass and nailed about a dozen of them at dark all 14" - 16". That can take anyone's mind off of bass for a while!

kc

i guess i have to eat crow then,sound like the kinda crappie i caught at toledo bend,i caught 2 on an 8in lizard,got my crappie jig pole out ith 6lb line and they would break it so i used my bass rod with 12lb and jigged them from shallow brush piles during the spawn.

[QUOTE=bullrdr6;295710]I'm a little confused. How will cutting the limit from 30 to 20 hurt the lakes producing the bigger crappies? The lake has plenty of cover and food for these fish and it will just give those 11-13 inch fish a chance to grow.

Charlie[/QUOTE]

I was talking with a fisheries biologist, one who knows and consults with Benjy Kinman, and lives down the street from him. He said that by leaving the larger numbers of larger fish in the water, the competition for food is a lot tougher for those smaller fish, hindering their growth. That one large fish can eat up to twice that of a smaller one. Ky and Barkley Lake could easily sustain a no limit on crappie, for their reproduction rate is unbelievable! However, he told me that what is best for the fishery is not always done. The public has to be kept happy and the public's opinion matters more than the fish....the reason being politics. Ky's fisheries biologists can do all the research, formulate the best solutions, and do all they can that is in the best interest of the fishery, only to have all their work and research shot down and ignored by a politician in Frankfort who has some upset voters on Ky Lake wanting a reduced creel limit. The voting public feels that there are fewer crappie on the lakes because they aren't catching them like they used to. I'd like to know how many of these people that are complaining know about the switch in population from a majority of white crappie to a majority of black crappie. Sure, a few years ago you could go out on a warm day in April and catch the heck out of whites during their spawn. Well, now that the crappie population consists of 80% black crappie and 20% white, it's no wonder they aren't catching as many crappie on a warm day in April! BLACK CRAPPIE SPAWN IN MARCH!!! You have to turn off the march madness basketball, put on some warm clothes, and get out in the cold to catch those black crappie! The fisheries biologist I talked to had no problem filling his limit this spring in MARCH with black crappie. There were many occassions where he caught several 2+ lb. fish. He said, "there are some monster crappie in these lakes, but it is ridiculous how many small ones there are! I have to go through a lot of small ones before I can get a keeper. Reducing the creel limit is not going to help, but rather further inflate this problem. People just haven't adjusted to the population shift like they should and this smaller average size proves it. We're not dealing with overharvest, but rather a lack of know-how." His crappie fishing was pretty much done when the fair weather fisherman started hitting the lakes after the whites. He had switched his tactics to Redears by then and was filling his limit daily, along with several other buddies of mine. They had a fish fry Friday, and I got the invite....talk about good eatin' !!!! :)

Correct me if i'm wrong but i thought the talk of limit reduction was a result of a couple of poor spawns not over harvest.They stated that in their netting samples that they had seen a drastic drop in 0 yearclass crappies therefor they are projecting that in 2009 there will be a big decline in legal size crappie.The spawns that are supplying them now had good numbers to supply what you are harvesting now and according to creel surveys up to half the legal crappies are caught.I would think with the amount of fishing
pressure makes it hard to hit the limits perfect,especially when you have some that keep anything with eyes and tails and all they want.If i interpret it right it will be kinda like an overdraft when the bad spawns show up and the fishing hits,lot more fisherman than keeper crappie causing an overharvest then and for a while it will be limits of 10 1\2 inchers.