Small fish.

[Noodle rod]

As a change of pace, we fished a Lake only 12miles from my home Lake. Only was able to catch two small crappie, about 10 small bass, and many stunted bluegill and other sunfish. Is it possible to tell if the crappie are young, or stunted adults?

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[SKs Crappie Catching Adventures]

What I've seen is if they are stunted there's eyes continue to grow......
There's a lake that ole Ketchum has allowed me to fish with him where they are Big Eye crappie from it being over populated...

[SKs Crappie Catching Adventures]

Do you pull your knot towards your hook point after you catch a fish?
If not that could contribute to you not catchn more or bigger fish.....
A loop knot works wonders......
Just sayn.....

[Noodle rod]

What I've seen is if they are stunted there's eyes continue to grow......
There's a lake that ole Ketchum has allowed me to fish with him where they are Big Eye crappie from it being over populated...

So do those seem like big eyes, or normal?

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[Noodle rod]

Do you pull your knot towards your hook point after you catch a fish?
If not that could contribute to you not catchn more or bigger fish.....
A loop knot works wonders......
Just sayn.....

I do understand that the jig needs to have good attitude and action in the water, but I have not used a loop knot in many years. I have managed to fool over 800 so far this year though of which 10 were eaten.

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[SKs Crappie Catching Adventures]

The angle of the pics make it hard to tell....

So do you pull your knot towards your hook point?

[Noodle rod]

The angle of the pics make it hard to tell....

So do you pull your knot towards your hook point?

I make sure that the jig travels through the water as a baitfish would swim,sometimes if casting far and fishing shallow the knot is pulled up front to the nose. Other times the knot is pulled closer to the hook point as in vertical presentations.

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[D10]

The only real way to tell the fishes age is to remove the otoliths (ear bones) and count the number of rings on it (like a tree). Most of the time we crack the otoliths in half and look at the exposed surface under a dissecting microscope. If it is stunted the rings will be supper close together and hard to count without the aid of a microscope. If this is a public lake, I would call your local Fisheries biologist who manages the lake and ask him to age a few fish for you. Who knows, they may already have this info.

In a lake with normal growth in the south, the fish in your picture should be 1 year old based off its size.



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[Noodle rod]

The only real way to tell the fishes age is to remove the otoliths (ear bones) and count the number of rings on it (like a tree). Most of the time we crack the otoliths in half and look at the exposed surface under a dissecting microscope. If it is stunted the rings will be supper close together and hard to count without the aid of a microscope. If this is a public lake, I would call your local Fisheries biologist who manages the lake and ask him to age a few fish for you. Who knows, they may already have this info.

In a lake with normal growth in the south, the fish in your picture should be 1 year old based off its size.



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Thank you, I think that these are young fish and that I would need to do my homework better to be able to find the big crappie in this lake. You guys did answer my questions though, thank you. I think I will try this little lake in pre spawn time and may shorten the learning curve.

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[SKs Crappie Catching Adventures]

I make sure that the jig travels through the water as a baitfish would swim,sometimes if casting far and fishing shallow the knot is pulled up front to the nose. Other times the knot is pulled closer to the hook point as in vertical presentations.

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Yes if you're casting it don't matter much.....

Good info D10 that is the most accurate way of telling their age...... I've never did it on a crappie but back in my salty days we would pull them out of speckle trout to age them.....