Ok, so I am in favor of at least some limits on size and numbers taken daily. I have thought about this quite a bit, I am in favor of practices that will increase the overall size and abundance of Crappie in all Iowa Lakes, especially Ratbun. I have formed my oppinion based on what many southern Lakes have done to improve their Crappie.

I recently read this article at Iowadnr.gov that has me a little perplexed though. It seems to say that creel limits have little or no effect on Crappie, when lake levels are above normal pool between April-August, as has been the case for most of the last 5 years. I am curious as to what you guys think about this...

The dnr article:

Crappie is the single most important sportfish at Lake Rathbun where as many as 300,000 have been taken by anglers in a single year. A research investigation showed that the number of crappie harvested was directly related to the number of crappie in the reservoir. Furthermore, the number of crappie available to the angler was definitely dependent on the hatching and nursery conditions, two, three and four years previous. The most favorable conditions, which produced the greatest number of crappie, was high water from April to August. Other important conditions included adequate spawning substrate, uniform and increasing temperatures during spawning and clean water. The number and size of crappies harvested by anglers had little to do with total harvest in subsequent years. Harvest regulations, either by creel limit or size limit would, would have little or no effect on crappie fishing at Rathbun Lake. The most important things which affected crappie angling were attributed to the environment. Now that we have this information we are currently developing a water level management plan with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This agreement will result in water levels being held to certain levels throughout the year. Specifically, we hope to have the water levels at stages that are most beneficial to crappie production.