Thread: Weiss Lake - What needs to be done to make it better ?

i think size limits as well as creel limits should be set and then they need to be renforced.look at it like this,folks who deer hunt and want to harvest that big buck,have a better chance, if where they hunt is managed(let the small ones walk)in this case little ones swim.

I have personally fished with 3 different guides the past 4 years and between the guide and myself we used 7 to 8
rods at any one time between the two of us on all 3 trips with different guides.


Maybe enforcing the locals to follow the same rules us out of towners have to follow would be a good start to some iomprovements.

I agree with lowering the creel limit. I think it would have a similar effect as lowering the fishing pressure (reducing the total number of fish being harvested). I also think releasing the bigger females would help. Those bigger females (say 13" and larger) are the best stocking program you could have. I rarely keep anything over 12" for that reason. I think the 10 and 11 inchers are much better eating than the larger fish anyway. I used to fish primarily for bass, and always found pleasure in catching a nice Largemouth, and then releasing that big girl to live and fight another day, and produce offspring for the future.... Just my two cents....

I too have seen some local boats with way too many poles out for the number of people in the boat. I've seen some throw fish in the cooler that were no where near the size limit either. I realize the guides need to make a living too but when you think about it, people hire the guides to get their limits and then take what the guide showed them to continue their success for the remainder of the trip. If you lower the limit to 15 per day, your number of visitors will drop significantly. People will not travel from any great distance for 15 fish, they can do that anywhere. Kentucky Lake has dropped theirs and they are seeing the effect on business. Stocking programs are good for everyone as long as the stripers dont get them first. I think the fish are still there but the species has changed and the old way of catching them has also changed. The guides dont seem to have any problems catching them.

Selective harvest but most people are greedy and want to brag about how many they catch and carry home

Just some food for thought (My opinion)

1) You can have the best genetic's, food plot's etc. for deer. But they'll never reach their full potential without the most important part of becoming a trophy buck. AGE!
2) Yearling or 1st year of breeding status for doe's, usually have only one fawn. Older doe's generally have twins and even triplett's. There again, age plays an important part.
3)Searches on the internet vary, but seemed to be consistent that older female crappie layed significantly more eggs. Some examples that I found were that a 10"crappie would lay 10000, where a 14" would layed up to 200000. This was probably the most extreme that I found. Still I think you'll find generally the same results showing that the older larger layed the most.
4)If you left all the female crappie in the lake for 1 to 2 years till they reached 12", just think how many more tens of thousands of eggs would be laid rather than filleted. Again age is part of the formula.
5)Females are only present for a short period of time at the nest. It's the males that has the responsibility to see the yearling's reach the age to where they can survive on their on. Catching the males off the spawning grounds plays a big part in the spawns success or failure to a point.
6) Nothing you come up with will work without enforcement. The lake has got to be patrolled and everyone kept in check.
7) Wild one here! Make it illegal to catch and release striper's on Weiss. Donate all the meat to the food banks at the very least!!!

Weiss has had down years, even 20 years ago fishing got tough certain years, she will come back. and this may be the year. The economy is the biggest problem with folks traveling, maybe a bounty on stripers and a week open season on those birds. I still think weiss will be good this year,

Slot limit may work?keep fish 10to 13 inch range anything over 13 throw back this will produce bigger brude fish.I know this works with other species..