Maybe I was wrong??

[Lonnie84]

On my home lake there has been a 10" length limit for as long as I can remember probably more than a decade now. For most years I've constantly grumbled about the 20 to 1 nine inch fish that I seemed to always catch before I would pull in a keeper. I have always believed that after so many years of short fish that a good supply of big fish just wasn't going to happen and the limit should modified. Well maybe it's just been a run of good luck..... or maybe I've been wrong all along??? Either way I'm happy to report that so far this year I'm catching on average about 5 to 1 keepers, and not just barely either most are running in the 12" to 13" range so don't know if it will continue but if it does then "Hats Off" and to all those fisher biologist out there that figures this stuff out!

[deltarat]

It always hurt to through back the 11 7/8 here, but it sure is nice to catch the 12 and betters.

[SKs Crappie Catching Adventures]

May be there are just to many feesh in that thar lake and it needs to be feeshed to thin'um out so there's more forage for the otherns.....

I've seen that work on a few lakes I feesh...

[Bigskyfisherman]

Been a lot of big fish all over the state this year.

[Ketchn]

the 10 inch thing is set up to keep the populations up for the future . fish under 10 can reproduce like crazy so there will never be a shortage of crappie. crappie seem to run in cycles best I can tell with some years being really good for larger fish and some not so . I think on some lakes in selective situations a longer fish size and a smaller limit would make for some really big fish and if you look at grenada and some of those spots the proof is in the pudding .
Around here I think only one or 2 lakes close to my house that might be able to produce really big over 3 regular fish with the right regulations but for sure the state of Texas seems to have no current interest in producing trophy crappie , just numbers for the masses .

[dhaire]

We have yet to catch a fish on Lake Austin that was not a keeper. We consistently catch 11-12 inch fish and larger upon occasion. Not much crappie pressure as our lake is a bit hard to fish with the recreational boaters along with current caused by letting water out both ends. We like it that way.


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[doggone]

We have lakes that are predominantly known for having smaller fish than others. Efforts to change that have been only partially successful.

Most of the Lakes that 20 years ago were struggling....are still struggling.

Unfortunately ....if you look at the percentage of funds that go to fisheries from the overall fish and wildlife budget it's usually pretty small.

I think with the environmental pressure's on our waters ...and I mean all sources of pressure from water quality,fishing pressure,imbalances in the ecosystem. They need constant intervention and money and hard work to correct them .

We have massive efforts to sustain the trout fishing here in Missouri. Without that intervention it will suffer.

When I was a boy....we had four Missouri Conservation lakes near me. They were incredible fisheries for there size. The MDC made sure that the lakes were stocked and constantly monitored conditions. They made sure each lake had a concession stand that rented boats,sold bait and tackle,food,etc. They made sure the parking lot lighting worked. And patrolled them enough that you knew your odds of being caught for illegal activity was very high. IT WAS ALL ABOUT QUALITY FISHING AND FISHERMAN.

Now ? They rarely stock anything. They rarely supplement forage. There are no more boat rental or concession stands. The lighting is usually not working. They came in and put handicap accessible docks and put brush around them. But the poor people who fish them can't catch decent fish but on rare occasions. They would better off with the old docks with fish around they could catch. New bathrooms,walking trails,bicycle trails,bathrooms. I fully expect they will say " gender neutral " on the bathrooms soon.

I live in a rural area...as Missouri as become more Urban...the money for wildlife and fisheries is a much more political thing then it use to be. Way more people involved in the process,way more science but less common sense, and practical solutions. Much money goes toward things other than the pure process of improving fishing. You have to be a "special fish" to get much attention now.

Okay let the bashing begin.

Like Forrest Gump says " I'm not a smart man"...but I am not blind either. I know what I have seen happen over the last fifty plus years.

And don't get me started on paying to launch on a lake that is built,staffed,and paid for with tax dollars. Worst case of double taxation I have ever seen.

[dhaire]

Concur with your observation. Although my post was sort of complimentary about our lake we no longer have any natural vegetation as the wealthy water front home owners did not like the hydrilla so they coerced our Texas Parks and Wildlife and our Lower Colorado River Authority to introduce Asian carp. It worked so they figured a few more would be even better. The Asian carp ate every smidgen of vegetation in the entire lake. And, of course, they still are alive so it will be like this for years to come. Our feeble attempts to place bamboo in concrete blocks is effective for our crappie fishing but it is astonishing that a small group of wealthy influential folks can bully our state agencies into doing something so shortsighted. It is not like the issue of Asian carp had not been revealed in a multiplicity of states and waters. Someone should be sent to jail to bring dumb actions to the forefront. Duh!


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[Ketchn]

all lakes go down hill as they age for the most part . smaller spots silt in and even larger lakes do as well . cover deteriorates and fish populations follow trends in habitat .
some lakes may remain good for very long periods of time though and some not so much . natural alkalinity levels and things that mother nature comes up with are contributing factors as well .
the good news is that white crappie love a good ole mud hole and thrive in them ,so not all is lost ....LOL