Very Intersting

[mistertwister]

I was out yesterday with a stomach virus and was able to watch the outdoor channel all day, between trips to the bathroom. Sorry to be graphic but i call em like i see em. Did anyone see the In-Fisherman show yesterday or last night. Lake Fork, Texas. Deep winter crappie. Doug Stange and his guide were fishing deep structure in December and something he said caught my attention. There is a period of time on this lake (dont know about other texas lakes) that requires you to keep all crappie caught between December something and January something. The reason being that the crappie are pulled from so deep that they would expire if you threw them back anyway. His quote was that you have to keep every crappie you catch until your limit. I was really educated by this. Having not heard this before, i wondered whether i had lived in a sheltered world or what. Does anybody have anything to add to this, confirmation, or something. I am sure if In-Fisherman published it, it has to be true, just had never heard of this practice being mandated. If this needs to be moved to the texas board, that is fine, i am certain we have some good expanations that would help us all with this.

Thanks
Chris

[LIL' Joe]

More than likely messes up the swim blatter just like pulling trout up from deep watter.

[ceb]

LiL Joe is right on. There are similar rules here in AR. Lake Monticello in southeastern Arkansas has the same regulations. During the winter time, you must keep any crappie that you catch, although the lake sports a 10" length limit the rest of the year. The lake's deepest spot is about 55' and the crappie will sit right down on the bottom in the coldest months. When you catch one from that deep, there is no way to release them alive. Even if the crappie comes un-buttoned before you get him to the surface, he will still float on up and you can scoop him up with the net.

There's you some confirmation, at least in AR, anyways...

Oh yeah, I saw that show last night...but I was surprised to see that they were fishing in 19-24' of water. I have released plenty of fish caught that deep and very much still alive. From what I've read, once you get deeper than say 35', then they are hard to release and still have a chance.

[Woohdog]

People have that problem with stripers around here, too. They'll take a needle and vent the swim bladder so that the fish won't die from the bends. Game and Fish would probably frown on that, tho. I don't think I've seen anything about it in the AR regs.

[ceb]

If you're going to release one...it's probably gonna be a dink. So with a hypodermic needle, you would probably do more damage than good, considering the size of the air bladder in a 6" crappie.

If your fishing one of those lakes with the "keep all" regs on crappie, you'd better not let the Game Warden see you trying it out...he probably won't be so understanding...

[Timmy Tom]

My pastor informed me about the regs on Lake Fork for crappie and said the same about keeping them all that time of year. I worked for a minnow farmer/distributor and every winter a man from Roland, Ok. came in and bought pounds of carp, goldfish and bass shiners to use on crappie. He said he didn't like catching little crappie so he used these for bait, for slabs. Made sense to me but hadn't put much thought into till now.

TT

[frank lawhead]

I,VE READ ABOUT KEEPING FISH IN SOME STATES THAT ARE CAUGHT DEEP---
ONE YEAR HERE IN ILL. WE FISHED EARLY WINTER AND CAUGHT DEEP 25-30 CRAPPIE [THEIR BLADDER SWELLING] ---THE SMALL [10"] LIMIT HERE DIED AFTER RETURN TO WATER

[kc outdoorsman]

I know that in the summer at the Ozark lakes like Table Rock you can catch bass (usually spots and smallies ) real deep in up to 40-50 ft. They have to be fizzed or they die but I have never heard of regs that state keep all deep fish. Interesting...

[ceb]

After looking over the AGFC regs, it appears that Lake Monticello is the only lake in AR with these special rules. The rule only applies to crappie in this lake. Here is a copy of the regs for Lake Monticello:

Monticello (Drew County) During the months of December, January and February, the minimum-length limit for crappie is waived on Lake Monticello and the harvest is regulated by a 20-fish daily bag limit. The first 20 crappie caught, regardless of size, must be retained: culling is not permitted. From March through November, harvest is controlled by a 10-inch minimum length, 20-fish daily bag limit...