Thread: Crappie size limit

Really doubt we'll see anything

Originally Posted by Dask

...sad to say but one of the higher ups is a fish hog. He brags about being the BEST fisherman, refuses to go home without his limit, drops off his limit then back out again...

Not surprising Dask. A buddy of mine was stopped while deer hunting on his Grandmas property with written permission by a CO that had a stand on her property without any permission. When you are the "Law" whose gonna question you? I am sure a lot more crooked stuff goes on in the DNR than we all really want to know. It's a government agency...

As far as size limits... I hope it never happens! Regulate your own self if you want a size limit. Don't put a regulation on me if your ticked off because you only catch 9" crappie. Fish somewhere else then. There has already been a fish study done on Salamonie and Mississinewa to show a 10" limit would be pointless. My wife and I go out to have fun. We keep enough for a meal or two and thats it. The rest get released. If all I can catch that particular day is 9" crappies then so be it. They taste just as good!

My buddy and I fish for the sport of fishing not to see how many we can put in the live well. Sure we keep some once in a while, but not the big ones or the small ones. I personally think that there should be a slot length of 10 to13 inches and a lower bag limit, also there should be a boat limit it is not right to have a pontoon boat full of people with 130 fish. We should allow the small fish to grow and at the same time not remove the largest fish that are passing on the strong growth gene. The gene pool is not the same in all fish. If we constantly keep removing the largest fish we will deplete the strong gene pool from the fishery. Sometimes we have to sacrifice the present for the sake of the further.
Take a kid fishing.

size limits are only good if they are tailored to each lake. If you have a 10" limit on a lake that's over populated then you'll hardly ever find a fish that big. If a lake is shy on fish then it would give them a chance to grow and re-populate. Size limits are NOT a 1 size fits all.

I like the Illinois procedure, only 10 crappie 10 inches or bigger with the overall limit of 25. I feel it works well

Pepper

I have read all the posts and I believe in Indiana we are very slow to change. This can be good and bad. Still plenty has been tried in other states. I find that Wisconsin seems to over regulate, and yet they work hard to set many lakes with there own regulations or limits. It can be complicated for everyone. At least they are doing something. The Illinois thing may work on some waters. I could see that helping on a few lakes here. And I would be willing to try that. Now on the limits:

I am a meat hog to some degree. Still, I never need to keep 25 or 30 slab crappie. I think it is exessive and could be lowered to 20 fish per day or less. I eat fish at least twice a week. Even if I have to buy it at the store. I will eat almost any fish. But I have digestive problems and can no longer eat red meat. So I eat what I catch and fish when I can.

I will retire in about 5 years and I'm going to leave to find better fishing in other states. This state doesn't care enough for me. They have proven that over the 30 plus years I've lived here. It's just sad to me.

Dogwood now has a 9" minimum on crappie.

a 9" min.! what lmao do people keep them much less than that anyway? man that's hard up for fillets! seems like a useless law dont it? kinda like our 10" catfish law.