small crappie

[equalz0825]

Hey guys,
I got another question for the crappie.com world. I have been fishing a new lake recently and I am catching crappie everytime my lure or bait hits the water.
A buddy and I caught 70 the other day in less than an hour! The problem is, however, they are all small. When I say small I mean like 6 inch fish. These crappie are nowhere near keepable size. So my question then is this: why is all I am catching tiny crappie? Feedback please!!!!

[jigflinger]

Apparently the body of water in over stocked and the fish are stunted.

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[equalz0825]

Last month I took a 3lbs 2oz 17in slab from this same lake. Is this common on lakes that are overpopulated?

[mjm76]

Can be. I fished in a pond once that was over populated with crappie. You could catch a crappie every cast even on a bare hook. Most were tiny and so thin you could almost see through them. But 1 out of 100 you would catch a monster. Probably older individuals who were around before it got overpopulated. In a small body of water crappie need to be thinned out extensively or they will get stunted.

[Rees Guide]

Keep em all, especially if not many folks are fishing it. Find someone who will eat em that small, feed the cats, whatever. You cant catch em out if there isnt ALOT of pressure.

["G"]

Hey guys,
I got another question for the crappie.com world. I have been fishing a new lake recently and I am catching crappie everytime my lure or bait hits the water.
A buddy and I caught 70 the other day in less than an hour! The problem is, however, they are all small. When I say small I mean like 6 inch fish. These crappie are nowhere near keepable size. So my question then is this: why is all I am catching tiny crappie? Feedback please!!!!

This happens quite often especially in smaller lakes......there are not enough food supply ( forage fish) to feed the crappie.....they get enough to stay alive but not enough to grow.

[huntinslabs]

Keep em all, especially if not many folks are fishing it. Find someone who will eat em that small, feed the cats, whatever. You cant catch em out if there isnt ALOT of pressure.

+1

[feelay]

Try bigger baits. I have found that small fish are usually more aggresive and the big ones are somewhat lazy. A bigger bait may deter the smaller fish somewhat. If the lake is over populated, there isn't much that can be done other than killing the lake and restocking.

[Spawn]

Hey feelay, sometimes its because its over compition for food. The smaller ones are eatting the food so fast that the bigger ones never have a chance to eat. See for other stuff mabey catch some brim or a couple of the smaller sized crappie to so they can get alittle bigger and keep getting food.

[equalz0825]

Thanks guys great feedback!