Thread: Georgia lakes.....what can we do?

Coming from a family who fourtunately has a marine biologist working for FWC and who works on lakes in fla. I have asked her about the size limitations on fish and how to see how old they were. Here is the wisdom she gave me and i will pass this on to you guys. She explained that a 10 - 12 inch fish is approximately 8 to 10 yrs. old, many of the crappy do not last that long due to extreme weather conditions such as drought, freeezings, acid rain, and other natural happenings. She also said to determine the fish age there is a bone on the fish ear that has rings on it, every spring a new ring appears and that is how they tell the age of the fish. So putting a size limit on fish would not help the population of crappy, nor would it increase the size of fish in a lake. Can't control mother nature, so get out there and see if any of the big uns are there and catch them and remember how long they have been in the lake, and avoided being caught or lasted through all the turmoils of the lake you are fishing. This is all I have to say about size limits, and creel limits. thanks.

i have herd of taking 200 to 300 cought from lake eufaula or walterf george depends on the side of the lake you live on .
now i herd of the catch not being as good as it was .have saw some of them and was not that big.i like fried fish and like them cooked with the bone they have a better taste to me but i still like some meet on the bone.
as far as the post on the ring could that be a growth ring and stops when they git so big . like a tree growth ring the faster it growes the wide the ring .

# Yrs ago several of us met with GA DNR in a private meeting. We were concerned about the crappie population and wanted to know what we could do . We got the same answer as jack1 did.

If it doesn't work then how does Talquin, Grenada, and several other lakes all across the South produce larger average fish every year? I do agree on some lakes being more fertile than others. Just don't see how allowing more fish to grow bigger won't improve overall size of the population of those fish in that particular lake. Seems GA, FL, AL, DNR biologist could use a little field trip to MS to discuss it more and do a little research. MS also radio/gps tags crappie for study of life cycle. Think they are ahead of the learning curve. It aint' just a tournament thing either. Larger fish produce more meat. I like fish on the bone too, but there are plenty of bluegill and shell crackers and small catfish to cure that hunger.

I think a size limit and or Creel limit that is enforced would be the best solution. dnr say that deer on public land can't be managed but it seems that average size buck being killed is a lot bigger than even 5years ago. i I think that fish size would have same result if we all stepped up our keeper size. i noticed a lot folks keeping very small fish. really the only time i keep small fish is if they swallowed the jig to deep to save the fish.

gtb i could not agree more but like i said as well as you it is more of a mind set to just fish and not catching,take home a good mess for a fry but let the mammas and pappas do their thing and us as fishermen@women,and our children,and grandchildren we will always enjoy the bounty of a good catch