Thread: Evansvile courier journal.......Steve ford outdoorsl

How do we get the state to work with rather than against us???

Very good question! The DNR just doesn't seem to care about how to make our lakes better. Have the DNR and biologist ever offered up what we can do to make it better?

Here is a reply by T9 that was on the forum 9/25/13, that may help put some additional light on the fish structur and size limits in Indiana.


Being a biologist isn't easy, especially when it comes to crappie anglers. One subject that constantly gets brought up is why we don't have a size limit on crappie. Seems like crappie anglers are always wanting bigger and better crappie fishing in their lakes. The simple answer is because it largely wouldn't work on most of our waters. Research and modeling suggest you need a population with good to above average growth combined with low natural mortality and heavy exploitation (people keeping fish) for them to work well. This is the exact criteria that both Ohio and Pennsylvania have adopted for their crappie programs. Indiana biologists have looked at the stats for a lot of our reservoirs, and to the best of my knowledge, only a few bodies of water have been identified that fit the above scenario. For certain, a statewide blanket regulation wouldn't work. Anglers think that you can simply slap a 9" or 10" size limit on a lake full of 6"-8" crappie and in a year or two, all those fish will have grown to 10" - WRONG. In many if not most cases, they'll stunt out and the population will be worse off than when you started.

Back on the original point. Biologists over in Illinois (Rend Lake) came up with a creative idea to improve crappie fishing for larger fish while stabilizing the cyclical nature of the population. They took their existing 25 fish limit and applied a tiered bag limit, such that you could only keep 5 of your 25 crappie >10", and the other 20 had to be <10". They later (2004) revised the over 10" component to 10 > 10", with the remaining 15 having to be under 10". This forced harvest of smaller fish while protecting for overharvest of larger fish. From a recent presentation on the results;


"The size structure of the crappie population improved noticeably following implementation of the regulation. Data from the fall 2002 trapnet survey showed a sharp rise in the percentage of the crappie population > 10 in and this increase has remained relatively stable for eight years post-implementation. Creel data also showed a dramatic increase in catch rates and harvest of crappie > 10 in."
Sounds like a win for crappie anglers. Some posters on fishing forums even pointed out that it is, at times, difficult to even get your 15 fish under 10". However, the majority of the posters complained that they didn't like the new tiered system, instead arguing that they would just prefer a simple 25 over 10" limit, which as was already mentioned, won't work on a majority of crappie lakes in our region. Some went so far as to call the regulation "stupid".

It just goes to show that there are many facets involved with setting regulations, not the least of which is angler opinion. In this case, even though the fishery probably wouldn't have improved, and maybe even gotten worse, anglers would rather have a simplified creel limit instead of a specialized regulation. Part of this likely stems from the nature of crappie fishermen, that being primarily a catch and harvest type endeavor. Surveys show that not many edible sized crappie get released by anglers. Unlike bass or muskie fishermen who have a very strong catch and release ethic, crappie anglers, along with bluegill and walleye anglers, are more geared toward harvest. As such, any regulations that negatively impact that ability to harvest are frequently met with criticism. In several instances, this has resulted in crappie size regs in other states having actually been rescinded. While many conservation minded folks follow and post on these boards, they make up but a tiny fraction of all the crappie anglers in the state, the majority of which don't have that same mindset.

-T9