MO Fun crappie tournament

[duane]

I would like to try and get interested people togeather this Sunday online in the CHAT room of crappie.com about 6pm.

[TAE73]

Duane,

I dont know if I will be back from the boat show in STL in time. But you know me I am game for this.

[duane]

Duane,

I dont know if I will be back from the boat show in STL in time. But you know me I am game for this.

Well with the way people have been answering the post about this fun torny nobody may show up online but me any way. Think they have lock jaw of the fingers.

[Kit Papermouth]

I attended the Missouri Department of Conservation Meeting Wednesday Night at the Taney Center on 160.

Very interesting data was presented by the panel. If I knew there would be so much good information, I would have taken notes to give you better details.

Here are some of the the Details off the top of my head.

Table Rock: James River Arm: Crappie Electro shock results showed 18 Crappie per hour in 2002, 28 Crappie per hour in 2003 and 235 Crappie per hour last year. That was not a typo, 235 Crappie per hour in 2004. Kings River shocking had similar increases in Crappie. The biologist do not know why they had such good recruitment.

Lot's of Walley in the Kings River Arm. They are going to focus more on stocking the James River Arm now.

Largemouth Bass are coming out of the big kill off of 1998. Populations are stable, but with bigger fish.

Bull Shoals:
Did not have a crappie report from the Biologist. I've been hearing of good catches going on this year.
Bull Shoals White Bass population is not trending upward. TR White Bass are low as well.
Average Walleye length of shocked fish was 17". Walleye reach full maturity in only three years. One of the fastest growth rates in the nation.

Bull Shoals LMBass has not had a good Bass Recruitment in 12 years. Fish are not as large as Table Rock and don't have as many number.

The conservation folks talked about successful spawning.
There is a partnership that exists between MDC, ADC and Corps. of Engineer to keep the water level as high as possible through the Spring and Summer to help Crappie and Bass spawning. This is something they don't want to do every year though. The longer the water is up, the more shoreline brush that dies and reduces brooding cover. Smallmouth bass spawn better with the water low. There is give and take that needs to take place in order to keep good populations of different varieties of fish.

To compensate for loss of cover, Bass Pro and MDC are planting Christmas Trees every year into Bull Shoals and Table Rock. Some are shallow, some are mid level and some are deep. I picked up maps of the Bull Shoals drop zones and put them into .jpgs. I can email them to you if you email me at [email protected] and request them. They are of poor quality, but may work out.

Something I wasn't aware of was Crappie don't always spawn every year. Conditions have to be right. Stable water levels, sunlight, temperature and bedding. With all these as factors, some fish stage for weeks and then don't spawn. They drop their eggs where they are and leave.

About dropping brush in the lakes. I spoke with the Conservation Officers there and there isn't a law agains planting brush in the lakes according to their codes. But keep in Mind that the Department of Natural Resources and Corps. of Engineers have jurisdiction as wall on Bull Shoals and Table Rock, so I'll have to check with them to make sure it's okay to drop brush.

The officers recommended using natural materials for cover.

Another important detail they mention is Lake Dardanelle, Arkansas and Grand Lake, Oklahoma have Zebra Mussels now, so bleach your livewells and bait buckets when returning from these lakes if you go there. Hot water over 104 degrees will kill them also.

[TAE73]

Well with the way people have been answering the post about this fun torny nobody may show up online but me any way. Think they have lock jaw of the fingers.

Lets hope not, need to get this rolling if we want to have one soon. Might just come down to you and I.