Another limit sunday

[Larry-Southern Indiana]

I left the north boat ramp on Patoka Lake at high noon and 1 1/2 hours later put my 25th crappie in the livewell. All were caught around 25' to 30' deep in and around deep cover. I tightlined with a 3/8oz weight on the bottom with a single hook two feet up. All were caught on minnows. Between 8" to 11" and the fattest crappie you've ever seen for their length. These crappie have huge bodies to say the least. I filled up a one gallon ice cream container with the fillets. Now if I could just find the bigger ones I know are there. Water temp on top is in the low 40's air temp was low 50's with the wind blowing yet again. Can't it just be calm for once?

When I got home I called Moose to let him know how the fishing was since I thought he might show up. Man some of those word combinations I heard after moving the phone atleast a foot from my hear I'd never heard and I work on construction sites everyday!! :D Last night we had a mess for supper.

Those fish were exactly where I thought they'd be since the weather around here still ain't that bad. This weekends weather is looking not to bad again so looks like another trip to me. I'm far from an expert but damn it's sure fun to go out and catch fish this time of year and in this kind of weather. Not too many other boats out either. Trash fisherman I'd say. If anyone wants to go give me a hollar my boat is ready to go and more than likely will make several more trips this year weather permitting. Heck 40 degree air temp ain't bad if the wind ain't blowing. I've got a walls blizzard proof outfit that I bought for working in freezers that stay 20 below all the time. And you will stay warm. It's also waterproof but I ain't going to try it out this time of year. Hopefully I'll have enought sense to stay home if it's raining.

Moose is rubbing off on me this is a post the length of his shorter ones HuH? :o

Larry

[fatboy]

Moose can't go fishing, he is too busy on here.

[PIGINTHEPIGPEN]

You actually keep 8" crappie? I know if your good with a knife you can still get a decent piece of meat of a 8". I personally would not keep an 8" no matter how fat it was. To each there own is what I say. I just wish I could catch fish that deep. Deep for me is 18'
That's a lot of fish in a short time. Congrats

[Moose1am]

Well I have my 10X XL Thinsulate Ultra Coveralls and some new Wolverine 800 Gram Thinsulate waterproof boots. All I need now is a propane heater for the really cold weather so that I can warm my hands up when they get wet.

Good to see that the crappie are heading deeper at Patoka Lake.

Larry one day we will get a day on Patoka where the lake is like glass on the surface and we can fish that river bend spot and see if the big slabs are hiding under that undercut in the outside bend of the river. If there are no crappies there then I bet that there is a big 60lb bluecatfish hiding down there.

If I can get these map finished this week I will be ready to fish next weekend if the weather is ok.

Glad that you caught the limit. That spot is proving to be a good producer year round. No wonder Patrick and Tim come into that spot to fish a lot. lOL

I left the north boat ramp on Patoka Lake at high noon and 1 1/2 hours later put my 25th crappie in the livewell. All were caught around 25' to 30' deep in and around deep cover. I tightlined with a 3/8oz weight on the bottom with a single hook two feet up. All were caught on minnows. Between 8" to 11" and the fattest crappie you've ever seen for their length. These crappie have huge bodies to say the least. I filled up a one gallon ice cream container with the fillets. Now if I could just find the bigger ones I know are there. Water temp on top is in the low 40's air temp was low 50's with the wind blowing yet again. Can't it just be calm for once?

When I got home I called Moose to let him know how the fishing was since I thought he might show up. Man some of those word combinations I heard after moving the phone atleast a foot from my hear I'd never heard and I work on construction sites everyday!! :D Last night we had a mess for supper.

Those fish were exactly where I thought they'd be since the weather around here still ain't that bad. This weekends weather is looking not to bad again so looks like another trip to me. I'm far from an expert but damn it's sure fun to go out and catch fish this time of year and in this kind of weather. Not too many other boats out either. Trash fisherman I'd say. If anyone wants to go give me a hollar my boat is ready to go and more than likely will make several more trips this year weather permitting. Heck 40 degree air temp ain't bad if the wind ain't blowing. I've got a walls blizzard proof outfit that I bought for working in freezers that stay 20 below all the time. And you will stay warm. It's also waterproof but I ain't going to try it out this time of year. Hopefully I'll have enought sense to stay home if it's raining.

Moose is rubbing off on me this is a post the length of his shorter ones HuH? :o

Larry

[fatboy]

Moose, simplify things, you gonna go fishing with the guy or not? GEEZ. Show him a thing or three about fishing with all that scientific knowledge you have.

[Moose1am]

Larry and I both keep the 8" fish. Here is the reason why. Patoka lake has such a huge population of crappie that the fisheries biologists are wanting some of these fish removed to help improve the growth rate of those left. So in a lake that is overpopulated with small fish it helps the lake to remove a lot of the smaller fish. Another good thing about catching and eating smaller fish is that they have less mercury and PCB in their flesh. The older a fish and the larger a fish the more time it has to accumulate these toxic chemicals. So you are exposed to a lot less chemicals when you eat the smaller fish.

These Patoka Lake crappie that are 10" long weight about 1/2lb and they produce some nice filets. The 8" fish also will produce a filet but they are smaller. But they can add up to a nice meal.
I was like you were and would not keep the smaller fish in the past. But after reading the fisheries biologist's reports on the lakes that I fish I started to change my mind. I was catching 25 fish this spring and tossing them all back in the lake before I talked to the DNR guy about this very subject. He told me that the fisheries biologist wanted people to harvest more of the smaller crappie at Blue Grass Fish and Wildlife Area's BlueGrass Pit, Loon Pit and Otter Pit to help remove the excess small fish and let the remaining fish grow bigger faster. So from a fisheries management view point lakes that are full of small stunted fish need to have the harvest increased.

Now KY lake has too much fishing pressure for Crappie and they must not have been having good spawns or something. There must be a reason why they Impossed the 10" size limit on Crappie at KY lake as both the State of TN and the State of KY agreed on this and both put the 10" size limit on thier sections of KY lake. Some lakes are famous and get a lot of pressure. And if you have guys that can catch 100 fish a day then it would not take too long to deplete the resource if you were to take all the small fish too.

Each lake is different.

Besides most of the fish that Larry and I caught the last time at Patoka were over 9.5" and a lot were 11" in lengh and weighted more than 9 Oz.

So Larry is actually doing us all a favor by removing these exess small crappies. LOL. He has caught some nice 15" crappie from this area last summer. So not all are small fish.

My last trip to Patoka Lake fishing with Larry netted 17 crappie. It made two big meals for me. I had a few 8" fish mixed in there with the 10" fish. But most were 10" or at least 9.5" in lenght. I even weight them on my postage meter electronic scales. I put a plastic backet on top of the scales and then zeroed or tarred the scales out to zero. I added the flipping fish to the basket and did a quick weight before the fish could jump out of the baskett. LOL I would have put a heavy weight over the fish but it would have exceeded the weight that the scales can tolerate. These small digital scales only weigh up to 5lbs in total. I was not sure how much those fish weighted and the only weights I had in the house were 5lb weights. So until I can get a piece of metal plate like Richard Used at the TeeZur Crappie fishing Tournament and a large scales this method will have to do for now. Maybe I can super glue the crappie to the bottom of the basket LOL. I was curious as to how much the Patoka Lake fish weighed compared to their total length. So far it does not look very good. The growth rates of the Patoka Lake Crappie are not a good this year as in the past. You can find the 2003 fisheries biologist online report on Patoka Lake at the following web site.

http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/publi...otes/notes.htm

I included the page that shows the links to other lakes in IN too. But to find the Patoka Lake 2003 management report just scroll down the page and look for Patoka Lake under the left column which is the fish reports. The right column is for the wildlife research stuff

You actually keep 8" crappie? I know if your good with a knife you can still get a decent piece of meat of a 8". I personally would not keep an 8" no matter how fat it was. To each there own is what I say. I just wish I could catch fish that deep. Deep for me is 18'
That's a lot of fish in a short time. Congrats

[crappie66]

I keep crappie that are 8 inches also. Some lakes have huge populations of crappie that are only 8 or 9 inches. By harvesting a bunch of the smaller crappie you will increase the chance for the fishery to support larger crappie. And besides the 8 inch crappie taste much better than a big fact old 14 inch crappie, the meat is much more firm and less mushy.

Don't get me wrong though, I would prefer to catch the larger crappie and target the larger crappie, but when the 8 inchers are the only ones biting they are the only ones going into the bucket.

[PIGINTHEPIGPEN]

I guess I see you guys point somewhat ,but there really is two sides to the arguement that a lake can have to many 8" crappie in it and what to do about it. There have been times when I can catch 60 plus crappie that are 8 8.5" and let me tell you. I just don't have the patience to clean that many small fish even though they probably do taste better. I like the big ole slabs that look like walleye fillets and they still taste fine to me. Why?? because there Crappie I really don't have to worry about it to much because the lake I fish most often has a 10" 10 fish limit. As far as a lake having to many short fish. Taking all the short fish out is not the answere in my opinion. That is when a slot limit can help matters.

[chaunc]

Here in n/w Pa. we have very liberal limits on panfish. On my home lake we can keep 50 panfish, any combination. A lot of my friends will and do keep 8" crappies. This lake is full of nice panfish so it doesn't hurt the population of them. Some days i will keep a few 9.5" crappies but thats as small as i go. If i cant find the bigger fish, i dont take many home. 10 of those 9"ers will give up some nice fillets. If i have them in the livewell and i start catching the 10ers, i throw the 9ers back.

[Larry-Southern Indiana]

One problem with Patoka Lake is the DNR won't put a size limit on the fish. Most lakes south of us have atleast a 9" size limit. I've talked to the head man in Indy and believe me they won't do nothing to help the average size get bigger. This state has to have some of the brain deadest people in charge of our lakes. Just look at some of the sorry docks we have at Patoka for tying your boat up to while getting you truck and trailer. Pitiful at best. There are big crappie in this lake and from time to time I catch them. But on the average the size we keep is what you can expect most of the time. We just have to make do with what the state wants us to have for now. We need someone put in charge of the DNR who wants to improve the fisheries in the major lakes in this state. Until that happens we keep on fishing along. I for one would like to see a 10" size limit on fish. You would have to give up a year of keeping fish but in the long run it would be a better lake for bigger crappie. And the bigger the average size of crappie they can also feed on the shad which this lake has plenty of. DNR still doesn't care. One other problem this lake has is it probably doesn't flush itself out more than once a year. No current and clear water are two things you have to deal with when fishing the main lake. Another one of the reasons I fish deep most of the year. Hell nobody fishes where I do almost 100% of the time. It's like having most of the deep water and fish that live there all to myself. I hope this helps you understand what we have to deal with in fishing this lake. If you ever make it over this way I'd be happy to show you the pictures of the big crappie we caught in the spring of 2000. The 15 biggest went a tad over 25lbs and our laying next to a 22" golden rule. The pictures are hanging on the wall at our camp. Moose as seen them. Come to think of it I believe his drooling is still on them :D . Just kidding. I would love to sit out on the channel and fish my way out there all day. But with the boats flying by on the weekend it could get real interesting. Most here don't respect other boaters as I'm sure they don't in the rest of the country. If I could stay awake and night fish the areas I fish during the day who knows what you might catch. Can't get anyone to fish at night and don't want to get in the habit of going by myself. Everything changes after dark as you well know.


Larry