Reply With QuoteI'm not familiar with that area, but we have a similar lake (Watkins Mill) with stunted crappies. MDC asks us always take a full limit out (even tho they are only 6-7" fish) in order to get some of the small fish out of there.
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Slabmaster II
DC ROGERS LAKE, FAYETTE; Good and Bad
Had not fished here for about 3 years. The 80 A lake setting is really nice with nicely kept surroundings of wooded hills and and grassy fields. The water stays relatively clear (which is why we went there) even after heavy rain. Nice boat ramp with courtesy dock and ample parking with pit toilets. Lake has a no wake rule but no limit on motor size. Most folks we saw were at "idle +/_ a bit".
Slot limit on bass. Stocked annually by MDC with channel cat. That is the good.
The bad; crappie are micro-fish! We caught 50+ and not one keeper. No one we talked to had one. Quite a bit of fishing pressure. 5 boats on a monday morning. Most were bass fishing. Oh well, nice morning to get out and caught 1 nice bass and a nice cat between crappie.
Crappie.com 3K Star General
I'm not familiar with that area, but we have a similar lake (Watkins Mill) with stunted crappies. MDC asks us always take a full limit out (even tho they are only 6-7" fish) in order to get some of the small fish out of there.
Crappie.com Legend
Sounds like they need to pull a lot of those crappie out for the fish to get bigger. It must have kept you busy if you caught 50.
Crappie.com 1K Star General
NUMBER 1 ! Problem with crappie. This is the result of LACK of pressure.
Crappie.com 3K Star General
Not really. MDC NEVER stocks crappies into a lake less than 500 acres. These crappies were put in by some guy who thought he knew better than the conservation people, fishery biologists, proven statistics, etc. It's been proven that crappies will quickly take over a lakle of this size and ruin it for years. The fish are stunted because there is no food....not from lack of fishing pressure.Originally Posted by blackfish
Crappie.com Legend
tough going for you, sounds like a good day, but man 50 dinks, sounds like a wore out arm... better luck next lake
Slabmaster II
MDC stocked black crappie in all of the lakes at James A Reed wildlife area, and none of them are over 50 acres. If you stock crappie in smaller bodies of water, the only way to have good sized fish is to have a lot of pressure on them. If you take enough crappie out, the ones left will grow. It's the same issue with the Jackson Co lakes. Not enough pressure, so the fish run small, and the creel limits are 30 with no length limit. Creel limits ought to be 50-60+ on stunted lakes until the populations are down. Lake Jacomo has the most fishing pressure, and sure enough has the best sized crappie in the Jackson Co system.
Another 40 acre MDC lake I fish is stocked with black crappie, and the number of prespawn fish we caught in consecutive trips was 70, 30, 65, and 28. All tied to the same tree casting to the same 30' area. Out of 193 caught, 192 fish averaged 8.5", and one went 14". Textbook stunting.
With stunted white crappie in small waters I don't believe you can catch up through pole fishing.
Crappie Wall Hanger II
Pony Express has a lot of stunted crappie. I think they put muskie in the lake a long time ago, but it may not be for the purpose of crappie control. A big predator type of fish may be one way to get the numbers down- say stripers or flathead or muskie.
Slabmaster II
Used a two jig rig and we had doubles several times. 50 is conservative number. We tried pulling cranks but never had a hit. This is one of a very few lakes that has yellow perch in it in MO. About one out of every 500 fish might be a yellow perch so not very many but kind of unique.
