settle a crappie weight dispute at ky & barkley

[bullrdr6]

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

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

[SDK]

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.

[trentonc2000]

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

[davidsa]

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!

[artcarney_agr]

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 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' !!!!

[CTFSHWHISKER]

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.