Question about Spawn Fishing - Leave the Males be?

[John Doe]

I read in an "In-Fisherman" book where the author encourages anglers to release males that are guarding a bed. The author argues that the males need to b released to guard the bed to give the fry a good chance of avoiding predators. I had not thought about this until yesterday morning after taking 13 males and one female from a bedding area. The girls had already deposited a lot of their eggs.

My question for smarter people on the subject: Will other males take up guard duty while he bed is active?

[CrappiePappy]

Don't think I qualify as a "smarter person on the subject" ... but IMHO, I do not believe another male would move in and take over "guard duty".

I would think that predators would be the first to pounce on the unguarded eggs/fry ... well before a lone male, or even a neighboring male, would have time to herd the fry into their care. In fact, there is a distinct possibility that those males may even see the fry as "food" or "intruders". Crappie are cannibalistic to their own, at times, so I see no reason to conclude that they wouldn't eat the offspring of another.

[hdhntr]

plenty of males are taken every spring and mostly males and reproduction carries on quite nicely. Now it's like on deer, if population is down you leave does alone as bucks are not important. In fish if your water has experienced bad years and you want to help don't take males but go deeper and go after females which are offshore in structure. another male has no instinct to take over guarding as is more likely to eat fry there IMO.

[TeeDee]

Saw a Lindner show @ bream where they were promoting the same idea as the OP speaks of. Say that the bigger sizes of male particularly need to be released--more so than females--as they will protect fry and you will see a bigger population of larger fish from the effort. Supposed to have some DNR backing in Minn. IDK something to think about espec if they have some data that shows increased growth rates.

[tb27688]

We have arguably the best crappie fishing in the world in Mississippi and nobody does that. I could see it helping if your numbers are down but crappie are very prolific and will overpopulate smaller bodies of water if left alone.

[Royalwapiti]

There's a video from MN DNR or someplace floating around facebook this week and they were saying to do this for Bluegills. The male Bluegills are more critical to the population and protection of nests. My question was how do you tell a male from female bluegill. I know male white crappies have blackish stripes, compared black crappies having random black spots. But my knowledge is limited.

[Ketchn]

.....I have a very simple question that should be the answer as well ......
Can a male crappie identify its own young ?

[Specklocker]

I think the absolute best way to preserve the crappie population is to adopt a program similar to the state of Mississippi. Keep a couple of 3 pounders for the wall.. the biguns don't taste as good anyway... weigh and take pictures with the rest and put em back to reproduce. Keep the smaller one to one and a half pounders. It seems like the FWC/DNR's of the world cannot keep up with the pressure put on crappie these days. Weiss Lake, AL. seems to have a solid restocking program. I wonder if they are keeping up with the pressure and popularity?

[CrappiePappy]

My question was how do you tell a male from female bluegill.

(copied from How To Tell A Male and Female Bluegill Apart )

"The Male breast is bright orange to dark red while the Female’s breast is a bright yellow to a light pink. There are visible color difference in appearance between the Male and Female Bluegills. The Males will sport brighter and bolder colors during the Spring breeding season to attract the Females. The Females are usually duller, with less distinctive markings that make it easier for them to blend in to their surroundings."

[John Doe]

I think the absolute best way to preserve the crappie population is to adopt a program similar to the state of Mississippi. Keep a couple of 3 pounders for the wall.. the biguns don't taste as good anyway... weigh and take pictures with the rest and put em back to reproduce. Keep the smaller one to one and a half pounders. It seems like the FWC/DNR's of the world cannot keep up with the pressure put on crappie these days. Weiss Lake, AL. seems to have a solid restocking program. I wonder if they are keeping up with the pressure and popularity?

For lakes that produce 3 pounders that is solid advice in my opinion. But what about lakes that don't? My local 640 acre impoundment has a lot of crappie and I catch my share. It has a min length of 9", a limit of 30, and a 6 pole limit per angler. Best fish I have caught since last July is a 15" fish that maybe weighed 1.5. Typically, the fish I catch are 9.5 to 12". The good thing is I don't see a lot of sub 9" fish - at least I think that's a good thing.