Table Rock Crappie Populations

[cjones]

I was going to hijack the "question bout crappie bed" thread, but thought i would start my own. I noticed kit papermouth's comment about the low crappie popluations at table rock and was curious if anyone had any insight to why that is? I have a place down by aunts creek and bought it with the intentions of doing a lot of crappie fishing, boy was i wrong. I drive to LOZ every weekend instead.

[beagle man]

up till last year crappie on table rock lake was good to great, on kings river, james river,flat creek. then the rains came the water went up and stayed up and the fish slowed down I talked to sever from my area and they report the same low numbers. but it has happened before and it wil turn arround I think this spring will set the bar for the rest of the year. there are a few being caught now but not numbers. If I start catching them in the near future I will try to keep it to myself, good luck

[Just Jiggin]

I talk to a guy this weekend at a crappie seminar & he said the bluff past the docks just past pebble beach is good right now. Limits in short time.

[kazualobzerver]

Beagle, you said it, it cycles. In late 2003 the former chief fisheries biologist for MDC told me to look for 2-3 years high quality crappie production on Table Rock. The number of keeper crappie hauled out of the upper James and Flat area for a couple of years was staaggering. Lots of folks are looking at Truman right now as a crappie factory but it's not that long ago when fish over 10 inches weren't easy to come by. Stockton has had a great year for quality fish in 2008, want to guess what "might" be coming behind it for a year or two? Time will tell. Back to Table Rock, it hasn't had good numbers but maybe we have to be content to go for quality. An acquaintance hauled some monsters out of the Long Creek area during November and December. Seldom would he have more than five or six keepers in a day but one day I recall he said four of his five keepers weighed over pound and a half with his largest at 2.4. Fish like that make up for low numbers would seem to me.

[Kit Papermouth]

Refer to the next post for my comments on the chart.

G.

[Kit Papermouth]

I made the charts shown below from some numbers I received from Matt Mauck at MDC in Ozark. I haven't been able to reach him since last January.
The chart is from their yearly shocking studies.

2003 was a banner years for numbers on the James River arm. This indicated their was a good spawn in 2001 based on the growth rate studies. Table Rock Crappie usually top 9" in two years which is a good growth rate.

Since then, the population has been decreased but the average size has increased. Barn's and I's fishing experiences have supported this data.

I always heard Long Creek had numbers but not a lot of size. This year Barn and I experienced the opposite. We had a few fish, but they were huge. I can say the 8lbs for 7 fish limits during this past spring tourney were caught on the long creek arm a good ways into Arkansas.

The James produced some good fish last spring but not nearly the numbers from the previous three years.

There are two up sides I'm banking on. I've caught more 8" & 9" fish on the James recently than I have in the four years I've been down here. So I'm thinking there was a decent spawn in 2006.
I also believe with the high water this year that was held high and stable into August created some excellent spawn areas that aren't usually available. Time will tell if this helped with the spawn this year.

From the postings Stockton was phenomenal this year as well as LOZ and Truman. If you're looking for numbers with good quality fish, those are the best opportunties. Table Rock does have some quality fish, but a lot of water time is needed to find the pigs.

If anyone has the Biologist for Table Rock's name and number. Please let me know who it is. I'd like to get back in touch with the MDC to keep tabs on the shocking study results. With the lack of tournaments on this lake, this is our best method of determining what is to be expected.

G.

[cjones]

Refer to the next post for my comments on the chart.

G.

thanks for the info. I honestly haven't hit it too hard on table rock. Like I said i bought a place down there and we went several times last fall in the aunts creek area. I fished several spots with good structure, or what i would consider good structure on any other lake, and we didn't even get a bite. Ive never made it up the james very far but i've talked to a couple people who have this fall and they did fair. its just hard to commit to a place i haven't had much luck to pass up a trip to LOZ where i can usually catch a limit everytime.

[LOZcrappie]

Good work, Kit. I tell ya', that's thorough and very well thought out.

[Crappie hazard]

Table rock should be excellent this Spring, if its not 10 to 20 ft. High.

[barn dog]

They don't seem to be in any hurry to drop the lake level so if we get some heavy rains again this spring were going to flood and have high water again for the spawn.