Thread: Main Forage Food for Crappies In Weiss Lake?

I've been going to Lake weiss from the time I came into this world and have seen more crappie took out of that lake by the locals then the out of state folks. I was down there two weeks ago and seen some guys with a 50 quart cooler filled 3/4 the way up with fish of all sizes. When ask where they were from the answer I got is we just live right up the road maybe 2 minutes that's why we ride our golf cart to the bridge.

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Shad , shad, and more shad! It’s very well a problem on most all the lakes in every state with locals and non locals ! It’s a sad day when most places want enforce the law or look for a way to get out of enforcing the law! All we can do is our best and do right and report the ones that we know that are not doing right and hope something is going to be done about it ! At least you know you done the right thing !

Slabprowler, am I hearing you right that there is intentional choosing not to enforce the laws as would apply to fishing by most places?
How much of this happens to non-locals?
Would this possibly explain the scowls one man gave us as he slowly trolled past us last year?

Last year was the first time I've traveled with a friend to your beautiful state. It was to visit his daughter and family, so we also fished some at Lake Weiss.
It was the week after the storms and tornado went through. Never saw a crappie longer than 9 in. So it surprises me hearing talk of a 12" limit. I've never caught a crappie bigger than 11 in., and don't keep any shorter than 10 inches.

IMHO with a crappie less than 10 inches, its a waste of a living resource with the total length lost from the head to gill plates and a couple inches for the tail, the filets aren't big enough for me to warrant my killing the fish. I release them to get bigger.


Would making a 12 inch limit create a situation where most people would not be able to put together a legal limit for a full day of fishing?

The biologist sets the rules and regulations and I will leave it up to them if they think it needs changed on a particular lake then they can change it ! All lakes have their up and down years! Theses lakes have been fished for years and years and most fisherman can go to any given lake at the right time and do well unless it’s a down year on that particular lake! I have nothing against out of state persons coming to fish my local waters or any in my state and I will help them in any way I can as long as they follow the rules! I travel to 3-4 states each year fishing/hunting and I obey all the laws because they are set for a reason! We prolly have more locals breaking laws than out of town ers ! We have ask for help but The resources are said to not be their in most cases to help keep things in control! I fish for pleasure and I do keep some to eat but none is wasted ! When it gets to where I can’t go fishing and enjoy my day then I will find me another fishing hole!

Originally Posted by Centerliner

Slabprowler, am I hearing you right that there is intentional choosing not to enforce the laws as would apply to fishing by most places?
How much of this happens to non-locals?
Would this possibly explain the scowls one man gave us as he slowly trolled past us last year?

Last year was the first time I've traveled with a friend to your beautiful state. It was to visit his daughter and family, so we also fished some at Lake Weiss.
It was the week after the storms and tornado went through. Never saw a crappie longer than 9 in. So it surprises me hearing talk of a 12" limit. I've never caught a crappie bigger than 11 in., and don't keep any shorter than 10 inches.

IMHO with a crappie less than 10 inches, its a waste of a living resource with the total length lost from the head to gill plates and a couple inches for the tail, the filets aren't big enough for me to warrant my killing the fish. I release them to get bigger.


Would making a 12 inch limit create a situation where most people would not be able to put together a legal limit for a full day of fishing?

Next time your down her let me know and I'll try to make sure you catch one longer than 12 inches!

I have set here reading comments from different people, some I know and some I don’t know. I am 64 years old and have fished this lake from the first day you could fish to present. I know how many fish used to be caught here and how many are caught now, so you can’t blow smoke up my rear end and feed me a bunch of s***. Things have changed her for many reasons 1 the structure had disappeared use to you could wade fish and you had to carry a stick with you to keep from tripping over stumps, you don’t have that anymore. 2 you have guides and different people taking fish in large numbers and short fish, this is not to say all guides do this or all people do this it seemed that most just don’t care. 3 you don’t have the enforcement of the laws the game wardens are more worried about catching someone shooting turkeys over corn than working the lake,why because crappie and turkey season starts about the same time. They could set at the ramps and probably write more tickets in a day then catching one or two turkey hunters all year. It is just not High on there list of things to do. 4 you have runoff from all of the farms that have been bad for the fishing. Several years ago big Spring creek had a fish Kill that killed every thing there, it took several years to come back and now we are seeing it in other areas too. In the past they have had to stock crappie to get the seeds back in the lake. And what with black crappie. White crappie has always been the bread and butter of this fishery. Some people say there are plenty of fish here but that is not true. You can’t catch fish in the places you use to, some people say you have to change the way you fish for them, we have. So what is the excuse now. You are not a very good crappie fisherman. Well that is not true either. So what is the best step to take. Change the size limits and the creel limits and enforce enforce and enforce.


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Sorry for the complaining. To answer your question it is gizzard shad.


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CrappieFlopper, you need make no apology. I appreciate you sharing your wisdom and life experience with me/us.
I'm a young 63 years old myself.
I started this thread to learn about how to better match the crappie's main food source.

All of you who have posted in this thread have given a much greater gift of knowledge to me.
I appreciate very much learning about the truth of the situation with Weiss lake and the regional struggles you guys have to deal with. I imagine it must be true for a number of other reservoirs across the South, just as it is in the North. [the loss of original structure]

Our structure must be replaced because there is precious little left of the original from the time of the reservoir's creation. In Ohio, the ODNR won't allow us to add any. Only they can, and its not nearly enough.
We also have a growing problem of invasive species, the Zebra mussels and Gobies introduced into the Great Lakes by international ships have made their way into our rivers and lakes.

To me it doesn't matter where a man lives, if he's a responsible sportsman I'm happy to count him as a friend.

footballcoach - thank-you for your kind and generous offer. I appreciate it.