Thread: people an size limits.

In smaller waters, thinning out the small fish can improve forage for the rest, allowing them to grow bigger. Not sure if it applies to the situation you are speaking of, but there is a lot to consider when thinking about water body management.

IMHO, as long as they are respecting the legal limits & the lake has a healthy eco-system, keeping small fish will not hurt the lake at all. Voluntary releasing of larger females to reproduce is probably a better plan.

Our local reservoir had a 10” length restriction for many years, & during that time you had to catch & throwback a boatload of 8-9” fish in order to find a few keepers, and 1.5-2 lb fish were extremely rare trophies. Several years ago they finally removed the restrictions & ever since then the average size of the fish has steadily increased. I’m no longer surprised when I catch a fish in the 2 lb. range. On one outing last week I caught nothing under 11”.

If some people want to eat light, more power to them! LOL!


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Any body of water in our sate that’s less than 500 acres has no size limit ! Except for some of the state run lake!for the simple fact of over population is a problem because of all the small fish!

Only a few lakes in Arkansas have a min size limit . But as stated most small lakes and some bigger ones overpopulation can be a problem . I try not to keep any under 10'' and much bigger if fishing is good .

I will keep some ''Conway tens'' if they have enough meat to filet, but I try to harvest 10-13 inch crappie. I cleaned a 15'' 2 pounder last month and questioned myself afterwards. Small lakes are hard to balance for crappie, keeping the little guys may not be a bad thing.

Originally Posted by Dirty mike

I will keep some ''Conway tens'' if they have enough meat to filet, but I try to harvest 10-13 inch crappie. I cleaned a 15'' 2 pounder last month and questioned myself afterwards. Small lakes are hard to balance for crappie, keeping the little guys may not be a bad thing.

What is “Conway tens”?


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My dad likes "scrapers" much better than "slabs." Catch what bites and keep what you want to eat......that's how we do it.

Crappiebattie - do a quick search on post that I have done in the past. Sometime ago I wrote an article on why minimum length limits work and down work and why they are appropriate for some lakes and not others. This should help explain things. Thanks.


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