big crappie vs smaller crappie and the spawn

[beagle man]

I have always thought a 10 to 11 in crappie would spawn more fry than a 14 to 16 in crappie in MO. waters, and have in the last year kept all the big ole fish and tossed the 10 to 11 in ones back,,,any thoughts on this...

[jigflinger]

As prolific as crappie are, it really doesn't make any difference.

[CrappieThumperMK]

Well Beagle.....I heard the opposite and have been doing the exact opposite as you. This should be an interesting topic.

[Tmason]

Fecundity (number of eggs) of crappie is HIGHLY variable...number of eggs a female will develop can change year to year, lake to lake...generally speaking a larger female will / can develop more eggs just due to her size...however, fecundity will change based on the density of the population, environmental conditions, etc. To explain...if a large year class recruits in 2012, then fecundity will go down overall the next year, if a bad year class recruits, you could expect fecundity to be higher the next year...kind of like deer...if the population densitry is high = one fawn....if the population density is low = triplets. like jigflinger said, crappie are prolific, and if you wanna take your legal limit of 10"ers or 14"ers....its completely up to you

[MOfishmgr]

The most biologically sound harvest practice for crappie is to harvest the 13-inch+ fish and throw back the 9 - 10's. By the time a crappie reaches over 13 inches in most Missouri lakes it's at least 5 years old and if it's a good growth population, they just don't live much longer. Nine and ten-inch fish are usually around 3 years of age so they are mid-lifers as opposed to old geezers. But Tory is correct. In msot waters it doesn't matter which legal size you take. Just know that throwing that 14 incher back so it can grow, spawn or be caught by someone else isn't likely to happen since it probably won't live another year.

[crappieslab]

Old geezers, I like that! I am going to start calling them old geezers instead of slabs.

[Tmason]

Thats how we usually refer to Jake

[beagle man]

The most biologically sound harvest practice for crappie is to harvest the 13-inch+ fish and throw back the 9 - 10's. By the time a crappie reaches over 13 inches in most Missouri lakes it's at least 5 years old and if it's a good growth population, they just don't live much longer. Nine and ten-inch fish are usually around 3 years of age so they are mid-lifers as opposed to old geezers. But Tory is correct. In msot waters it doesn't matter which legal size you take. Just know that throwing that 14 incher back so it can grow, spawn or be caught by someone else isn't likely to happen since it probably won't live another year.

told ya, told ya....

[MOfishmgr]

Tory's right. I am the old man in the state!

[olesilverside]

If all this is true about the bigger crappie dying in a year or so, then why not move the length limit to 11 or 12" and get rid of the bigger ones, and let the 9-10" get bigger? Them old big ones ruin my filet knife, there bones are hard as hell.... I still prefer the 10 to 11" for what few I do clean and eat.....bottom line, they all good eatin............