Spawn Conservation?

[Darryl Morris]

I want to open for discussion something that I have been contemplating for about a year now. This all started after a lengthy discussion in a public forum with Arkansas Game and Fish about putting a 10" length limit one of the local state park lakes. They did so to increase the population of this popular crappie lake. Here goes, the setting and numbers I am using are for a fertile lake in the mid to lower latitudes. Of course, the same applies to the northern part of the US, just in smaller fish due to a shorter growing season. --

1. Crappie under 9" are immature and have little or no impact on a spawn.
2. A 9-10" female crappie in a fertile lake or reservoir is approximately 2-3 years old and will lay approximately 10,000 eggs.
3. A 14-16" female crappie is fully mature and reaching the end of life-expectancy and can lay as many as 200,000 eggs during a single spawn.
4. It is the male crappie that make and protect the bed until the hatch reach fry stage and leave the bed, then they do it again and again until the spawn is over.

Which do you feel would better increase and maintain an ample crappie population:
1. A length limit of 10" like what is most commonly set by Game and Fish departments
2. A slot restriction of 12"-16" crappie must be returned during the spawn only - no restrictions after the spawn
3. Restrict male crappie to catch and release during the spawn.
4. other.

[Crappie Attitude]

Darryl. I'm not really crazy about further "regulation" during the spawn.

Here in Missouri most of our crappie waters have at least a 9" limit. The lake I live on is 10" with a daily limit of 15 fish. I'm convinced we have some of the best crappie fishing year in and year out in the nation.

I personally have a rule of thumb, if the fish isn't at least an obvious 10" (without even measuring it) it goes back in the lake. However I don't see this as helping the big females during the spawn so I simply try not to take females during the spawn.

I never really thought about the impact of taking the males during the spawn. I suppose I just always figured if you caught one, there was another one there to take his place on the nest.

The bottom line from my perspective is; I don't like the idea of further regulation. We do however need to do a better job of educating people on what they might do to help the spawners at a time that they are vulnerable. I might even fall into that catagory.

[duane]

I want to open for discussion something that I have been contemplating for about a year now. This all started after a lengthy discussion in a public forum with Arkansas Game and Fish about putting a 10" length limit one of the local state park lakes. They did so to increase the population of this popular crappie lake. Here goes, the setting and numbers I am using are for a fertile lake in the mid to lower latitudes. Of course, the same applies to the northern part of the US, just in smaller fish due to a shorter growing season. --

1. Crappie under 9" are immature and have little or no impact on a spawn.
2. A 9-10" female crappie in a fertile lake or reservoir is approximately 2-3 years old and will lay approximately 10,000 eggs.
3. A 14-16" female crappie is fully mature and reaching the end of life-expectancy and can lay as many as 200,000 eggs during a single spawn.
4. It is the male crappie that make and protect the bed until the hatch reach fry stage and leave the bed, then they do it again and again until the spawn is over.

Which do you feel would better increase and maintain an ample crappie population:
1. A length limit of 10" like what is most commonly set by Game and Fish departments
2. A slot restriction of 12"-16" crappie must be returned during the spawn only - no restrictions after the spawn
3. Restrict male crappie to catch and release during the spawn.
4. other.

I would hate to have to learn how to tell male from female fish. I do not think it is as easy as telling a man from a woman, beside they do not wear pants you can just pull down.

[ncnat]

I want to open for discussion something that I have been contemplating for about a year now. This all started after a lengthy discussion in a public forum with Arkansas Game and Fish about putting a 10" length limit one of the local state park lakes. They did so to increase the population of this popular crappie lake. Here goes, the setting and numbers I am using are for a fertile lake in the mid to lower latitudes. Of course, the same applies to the northern part of the US, just in smaller fish due to a shorter growing season. --

1. Crappie under 9" are immature and have little or no impact on a spawn.
2. A 9-10" female crappie in a fertile lake or reservoir is approximately 2-3 years old and will lay approximately 10,000 eggs.
3. A 14-16" female crappie is fully mature and reaching the end of life-expectancy and can lay as many as 200,000 eggs during a single spawn.
4. It is the male crappie that make and protect the bed until the hatch reach fry stage and leave the bed, then they do it again and again until the spawn is over.

Which do you feel would better increase and maintain an ample crappie population:
1. A length limit of 10" like what is most commonly set by Game and Fish departments
2. A slot restriction of 12"-16" crappie must be returned during the spawn only - no restrictions after the spawn
3. Restrict male crappie to catch and release during the spawn.
4. other.

A 10 inch limit would protect more fish for spawning than a slot limit of 12-16 inches. Realistically, whose going to throw back a 15 7/8 inch crappie. It would be too much trouble to tell the differance between male and female crappie. My choice would be a creel limit set for each lake depending on the previous years hatches.

[Crappie Attitude]

Realistically, whose going to throw back a 15 7/8 inch crappie.

ncnat, I will. Crappie that big are much better in the lake than in the skillet. Take a pic, drop it back in the lake.

[FalconSmitty]

the lake I fish on has no limits as per size. I catch and release 90percent of my catch anyway. I just keep enough to keep filets in my freezer.

[TAE73]

I thought you could usually tell during the spawn, the males from the females. Usually the females bellys are huge compared to the males.

[Darryl Morris]

Hey gents, thanks for the replies and keep'em coming.

I don't want any more regualtions either. I think of them like taxes. I'll be ag'in'em no matter what they for. I was thinking more on the lines of if the majority of the crappie anglers were more selective during the spawn by releasing large females and males, the spawn could exponentially increase. It's usually really easy to tell the difference in a male and a female during the spawn. A male will turn dark, sometime even black, on its throat and gill plate. I wouldn't want to restrict myself or other guides from keeping slab (16") crappie from my clients, unless they just wanted to release it. But then again, I fish often during the spawn without clients and I see keeping a nice mess of 9-10" crappie and releasing that 15-16" crappie after a nice picture. Then you get into the major trophies, say 3+ pounds. That fish is definitely at the end of its life-expectancy and I would harvest it to the taxidermist.

[Ranger375]

Here on my home lake we have a 10"/10 fish limit. I can't say that it has helped or hurt the crappie population. There are other factors to take in to consideration. Such things as lake levels, weather to name a couple effect what the crappie do with regard to spawn.

My personal felling about the matter is that good ssportsman like we have on this board do not take more than what the will use and always put back small fish. I have seen numerous people keeping fish that from a distance I can tell are not the minimum length. This is what hurts the population more than anything. There are always reports in the paper about fines being assesed and I have been checked several times, but if I can see this happening at the same places time and time again I think the enforcement needs to be stronger for the regulations we now have in place not more government interference.

[D. Busman]

I'm right on line with Smitty. I release the majority and just keep a few for myself and the wife. Any big ones get to smile pretty for the camera, unless I'm on my buddy's boat...then cameras are forbidden. He thinks they bring bad luck!