How to get around the issue?

[Big Zig]

Each year I manage to bring crappie home that have eggs in them. I don't do this on purpose, and get disgusted with myself for taking these fish from the lake(s). How does one distinguish between a male and female crappie while on the water? If I can avoid taking egg bearing females (early in their development), I'd like to be able to do this.

With ice season bearing down on us, I figured now would be the time to ask this question.

[duane]

Each year I manage to bring crappie home that have eggs in them. I don't do this on purpose, and get disgusted with myself for taking these fish from the lake(s). How does one distinguish between a male and female crappie while on the water? If I can avoid taking egg bearing females (early in their development), I'd like to be able to do this.

With ice season bearing down on us, I figured now would be the time to ask this question.

from what I have heard even males can have eggs in them, but only female lay the eggs.

[big "E"]

I dont kill myself over it.If all the females layed all their eggs in a year the crappie would become stunted from overpopulation.Thats what happened with the bluegills on my home lake.Theres just too many of them to grow to any size.

[Bruce Carp]

Often crappie do not lay all of there eggs and even now you find fish with eggs in them. It's just a part of nature. enjoy the sport and don't worry over the small details. Happy new year, Bruce

[Barnacle Bill]

Each year I manage to bring crappie home that have eggs in them. I don't do this on purpose, and get disgusted with myself for taking these fish from the lake(s). How does one distinguish between a male and female crappie while on the water? If I can avoid taking egg bearing females (early in their development), I'd like to be able to do this.

With ice season bearing down on us, I figured now would be the time to ask this question.

I'm glad you said that. I thought maybe it was just an age thing with me. I figure the only way around it is to stop fishing during the spawn. Since that ain't gonna happen, I started just keeping fish over 10" long. We still get plently of fish to eat year round.

I had a hard time convincing my 80 year old fishing partner to do that. He was raised by a very poor family on the Tennessee River and they had to eat everything they got or not eat. Roadkill did not go to waste back then, unfortunately there wasn't much of that because most people around him "drove" mules. I guess old habits are hard to break.

[Roberta]

I don't get too worked up about it, mainly because we have changed how we approach crappie fishing. We are keeping fewer and larger fish. Three or four 10 inch fish make a meal for the two of us, so we generally only carry home enough fish for one fresh meal and one for the freezer.

As Bruce and Big E said, they don't lay all their eggs anyway, and crappie can quickly overpopulate a lot of lakes. Sometimes, though, during the middle of spawn, you can notice a bulging belly on the females. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you. I have stopped keeping channel cats that I think have eggs, since they don't reproduce at the levels of crappie and bluegills. - Roberta

[Kokanee King]

I Cry a little.

[CrappiePappy]

unless you are fishing a very small lake, that is heavily pressured by some good Crappie anglers ........ you probably aren't going to make that big of a dent in the overall population. It only takes a handful of spawners to put thousands of new fish back into the population ... early spawners and those that spawn and are never even fished near, are going to get some percentage of their prodgeny back into the system. Most 3yr old (mature) fish can spawn ... and they can be non-keeper size, all the way up to Slabs (depending on the lake). And, since the females lay eggs in several different nests ... the genetics are passed on, for potentially large fish, thru several different male members. So there's less chance for us to deplete the gene pool.
Some think they should release all egg bearing females, and keep only males ... but, the flaw in that is - the males guard the fry, once they've hatched. Your best bet scenario is to keep up to the limit of a mixture of both sexes ... and let Mother Nature balance out the population. Crappie live around 6-8yrs ... and with the first couple of years being their "non-spawning" years ... that gives them 3-5yrs to put on size/weight and get in a few years of replenishment spawning. As cyclic as they are (usually due to bad weather or water level fluctuations during spawning times) they still manage to get in several spawning seasons, in their lifetime... and even with a 10-30% survival rate (to maturity) for the fry - that's hundreds of new fish from each spawner (whether they're a 8 incher or a 18 incher), each year. Limits (size & number) are set according to the capacity of the lake to produce and replenish ... so, as long as we maintain our "sportsman" attitude and follow our limit laws - I don't think we do as much damage to the population, as we think we do. Bad spawning weather & water conditions are probably more likely to be the culprits responsible for the "cyclic" nature of the population (missing or small year classes), than the proficiency of the anglers. .............cp

[Moose1am]

Crappiepappy nail this one guy. I have to agree with him here.



My only question in this thread is why the Kentucky DNR and the TN DNR slapped a 10" size limit on KY lake? It could be that some of the better fishermen on the lake have found the 10% area where all 90% of the crappie hang out. LOL


One thing I would like to add to what CP said. He was right about taking the males hurt the eggs or fry as the male crappies are guarding the eggs and fry for a week or more and they are easily caught by angles since they are spawning in shallow water. The same thing happens in smallmouth bass. If you take a male smallmouth bass off the bed during the spawn the next will be unguarded and predators can eat the eggs. There is an article in the FEB editions of In-Fishermen talking about this effect on the smallmouth bass population.


I wonder how many crappie are taken out of KY lake each year?

[lovetofish]

I like to think of these things by doing a little math!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let's just say for instance that:you have 2,000 females that lay up to 100,000 eggs equals 200 million eggs and have a 10% survival rate equals 20 million fish divided by 365 days per year equal 54,794 fish per day divided by 25 fish creel, you would have to have 2,191 fisherman out there. DON"T THINK THAT"S GOING TO HAPPEN!!!! The GOOD LORD knows what he is doing and I don't think he really needs our help. Well, that's my two cents worth.






A Bad Day Fishing is Better than a Good Day at Work!!!!!