Keeping fish

[captmikestarrett]

You will get some angry looks for keeping LGMouth at the dock. It is just a new mindset that C&R is the best for them. It seems a good thing as populations of LGMouth have never been better on the Potomac. Now comes the question of crappie keeping.

"If you do not cull the population of crappie they wil over populate and get smaller and smaller in average size till stocks diminish."

So is this a true statement?

My thought is yes, as areas I fish for thirty days a year only have more fish, and are bigger each year.. We do not have pike to cull the population. We do have LGMouth , Blue Cats and snakeheads.. But I think they like the smaller ones anyway.

What do you think?

Capt Mike

[ERNEST PATY]

Keep what you can eat and throw back the rest, I don't think you can ruin the Crappie population by keeping legal lemits. Sometimes releasing all the bass actually hurts the population. Lake Fork for example has an over stock of small (under 14") fish and the parks & wildlife is trying to get anglers to keep them.

[Ronnie]

They were all created to be caught and eaten, not played with. Catch and release is tournament terminology.

[DC Crappie Kid]

No single person is going to make or break a species with the amount he/she keeps. As long as they stay within the legal limits, that is. That's what the limits are for. Your local biologists know how many need to be kept/released, and that's the info they use to set the limits. This question is best suited for a small unregulated body of water like a private pond. But lakes are huge, and nearly impossible to overpopulate. JMHO

[gabowman]

You did right. Someone needs to help remove the "trash fish" from our crappie waters. :D :D