Toronto 2014?

[bugman]

Love that little lake(thanks chatt)but haven't been out there for a couple of years and numbers were hard to come by then has it bounced back with any numbers and size?My ole fishin buddy has never been out there with me and is a doubter on the size of Kansas crappie and i want to make him a believer this year.

[Blackdog40]

Fished Toronto two time dipping trees this summer, first trip was a bust 4 fish, second a little better had 16 with three people fishing. Size was not as good as past years.

[drifter106]

took the boat over to toronto couple of weeks before Xmas...shad were stacked in front of the dam (water at the dam was pretty dirty). Shad were stacked in the river along the rocks on the east side (where the river makes a bend). Didn't fish long...no fish.

Fishing over at Fall River....people have been fishing off the dam, some days have been good. Saw a lot of dead crappie that they throw back, it has to be at least a 50 ft drop from the top of the dam. Day I was there counted 2 doz dead crappie (3 to 7 inches) from the fall.

Melvern has been the most productive for us this year.

[mkeller]

it should bounce back in a year or two, several years of over harvest in the winters combined with poor spawns has most crappie in the 6-8" range.

[Blackdog40]

Need to cut back the limit to 20

[springhillwantabe]

think chatt and some of the mo fishers pretty well cleaned it out?

[Crappie Chatt]

think chatt and some of the mo fishers pretty well cleaned it out?

Well,,, I know I tried too. <*)}}}><

[HootieHoot]

February 2014 Fall River/Toronto District Newsletter

There were 91 lakes and 23 reservoirs trap netted in Kansas in 2013. Although the crappie populations in Toronto and Fall River Reservoirs were on a low cycle due to drought conditions again in 2013, they still ranked highly, especially for big fish. The largest crappie sampled by biologists this year was at Toronto. It weighed 2.20 pounds. Fall River produced a crappie nearly as big at 2.10 pounds and ranked as the third largest crappie sampled.

While small lakes with their stable water levelsand weedy shorelines provide ideal habitat for growing bass, crappie are another matter. Small lakes typically don't have the nutrient inflow of the large federalreservoirs; therefore, crappie growth is slower. The best crappie population in Kansas for fish over 10 inches was at Howard City Lake. Furthermore, it tied for the most crappie over 12 inches, and had the second biggest crappie sampled at 1.76 pounds. Eureka, Lyon SFL, and Sedan Old City Lake are also among the top crappie lakes this year. These are all good lakes to fish when you get blown off the better producing reservoirs. Anglers can easily fish these lakes from shore, too. Eureka Lake even has a heated fishing dock, if you get spring fever this winter and want to get outdoors, but not too much.

Many anglers mistakenly think that throwing back small crappie will allow them to grow to a larger size. At least in lakes where I've conducted age and growth analysis from scale samples, throwing them back would be counterproductive. You would actually improve the crappie population size structure and fish condition by harvesting every fish you catch. In other words, crappie would grow bigger, faster, and weigh more if there were fewer mouths to feed in the population. In high-density populations like these, crappie die of old age (about five or six years) before reaching larger sizes. Due to the isolationism of the Fall River/Toronto Fisheries District, I have yet to document angler overharvest of crappie. So enjoy yourself and have at 'em.

[fishlessDan]

Need to cut back the limit to 20

I used to agree with this, but after 15+ yrs of fishing for crappie as a dedicated fisher, I no longer agree. JMO

[mkeller]

Be careful what you wish for on creel limits, I say leave it to the bioligist to make these recommendations, thats there job, not ours. If you fish a lake that has a 50 fish limit and feel that to be to many for that body of water, then dont keep 50, keep what you feel is right for you. We cant worry or control what other fisherman keep if they are abidding by the creel limit for the given lake. Sometimes we get caught up in what others are doing instead of what we can control, ourselves. We all love chasing and discussing crappie or we wouldnt be on this site, everyone has a opinion and different point of view and thats what makes it great. Good luck out there and be safe.