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Thread: Kentucky Lake size suggestion?

  1. #21
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    If you are a meat fisherman, answer this truthfully. How many pounds of fillets do you get from 20 crappies that are 10" long vs, 15 crappies that are 12" long?
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  2. #22
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    The Problem with length limit is ..
    Say 10 inch if you catch a 9 1/2 In crappie and it swallows the hook..Dies..
    You Release it? Or keep it?
    No way to not break the law.....Hate length limit don't work!!!

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  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by jackie53 View Post
    The Problem with length limit is ..
    Say 10 inch if you catch a 9 1/2 In crappie and it swallows the hook..Dies..
    You Release it? Or keep it?
    No way to not break the law.....Hate length limit don't work!!!

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    You release it & let Ma Nature take her course. No laws broken. There are likely a thousand times more fish that die of "natural causes/predation" than fish that die from being caught & released.

  4. #24
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    There are a Lot of differences in Ky and Miss. First Miss has more game wardens and you will be checked if you go there much. They are nice people but if your fish dissent measure over 12in. You will get a ticket. Miss also has hatcheries that can supplment the spawn, and they don't raise and drop the water levels like they do here. Ky doesn't seam to care about the tourism that fishing bring in so they don't have hatcheries to supplement the spawn and TVA controls the dams so the water level goes up or down 5 ft in a manner of hours. The fish start spawning and the water drops out killing all the eggs. Then the Asian carp are still a major problem and you can fish Ky for years and never be checked for fish size. Just My observation after fishing both states for awhile now. Love catching doubles in Miss never done that on Ky.
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  5. #25
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    Great thread and great conversation. Some good data and insight. A lot of opinions, but that’s good. I like it


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  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Northforker View Post
    If you are a meat fisherman, answer this truthfully. How many pounds of fillets do you get from 20 crappies that are 10" long vs, 15 crappies that are 12" long?
    As a meat hunter, it would be easier to get 20 crappie at 10" instead of the 15 at 12"...........as meat hunter it's no fun having to toss fish back. Plus, the sooner I can get a limit of crappie in the boat, the quicker I can start on a limit of other species like bass.

  7. #27
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    Here's a conversation with a crappie biologist where they discuss this:

    Crappie Connection - Hard Core Crappie Facts with fish biologist Josh Johnston
    Hard Core Crappie Facts with fish biologist Josh Johnston - YouTube

  8. #28
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    I think Taylorsville Lake is a perfect example of what raising the size limit can accomplish, notwithstanding spawn success or failure. Just about everyone I know supported the move from 9" to 10", especially after they saw the results. Now I think F&W is considering a move to 11". During a creel survey back in June, I was asked if I would support an 11" limit. My immediate answer was "YES". The surveyor said there were massive amounts of fish coming out of the lake and they were fearful that the population was being impacted. I know one thing, I do enjoy catching 12" fish and you can't get there if they don't make it to 11".
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  9. #29
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    I think these discussions are great. Although, as some people have pointed out, I do agree that using data to make decisions is the best. Management of natural resources are not a one-size-fits all plan. Have you ever considered that the effect a recreational angler has on the the fishery on a body of water like Kentucky Lake with 2000 miles of shoreline and 160,000 acres of surface area (even more when flooded) is not even quantifiable (for sake of argument I'm referring only to crappies)? If you use the data of Kentucky Lake effort and split that up to hours along the shoreline or hours per acre it highlights how little pressure Kentucky Lake actually gets. I agree that the pressure ramps up several fold from March-May for crappies so you could change the math to fit different scenarios. Miranda published a study on Sardis and Grenada and showed efforts (fishing hours per person) higher on those lakes than Kentucky Lake creel surveys on average. I make the comparison to highlight the differences in these systems...it all comes down to productivity and growing season. If you take these numbers and estimate similar effort on the size lakes where you are making comparisons the avg effort in MS is an order of magnitude higher (more like 2000 hours per mile of lakeshore and hundreds of hours per acre.

    There are issues with the comparison below, but the point is that there are miles and miles of Kentucky Lake that never get fished (very hard). However, the fishing in those spots that get less pressure are not some magical hidden place that are full of fish. Instead, those places have the same population demographics as most other places. Why, because recruitment is the biggest challenge on Kentucky Lake. There are millions of eggs laid and fertilized all over Kentucky Lake. Some % of them hatch. Some % of them make it from larval stage to young-of-the-year by feeding on zooplankton. Some % make it to the size where they can start eating insects and other fish. Some % make it to the size where they hopefully bite your hook and are 10". The big hurdle is the larvae to young of year. We might have skinny adult fish some years but the bottleneck is still in the same spot. The data from Kentucky lake show that if you limit to 11" or 12" fish then the actual numbers of fish available to anglers to keep goes way down (yes fewer fish at 12" size) but mostly because mortality will remove many of them prior to reaching a 12" size. There are plenty of 12" fish in the lake, lots of 14-15" too, but the data don't support the idea that if the length limit is increased to 12" that you can expect the same numbers of fish to be there because they'll all just get bigger (eventually).

    Kentucky Lake
    shoreline length (miles) 2000 surface acres 160000
    1984 - 471,529 235.7645 2.947056
    1987 - 570,163 285.0815 3.563519
    1991 - 603,158 301.579 3.769738
    1998 - 172,890 86.445 1.080563
    2003 - 414,092 207.046 2.588075
    2007 - 401,714 200.857 2.510713
    2011 - 239,548 119.774 1.497175
    2015 - 276,039 138.0195 1.725244
    2017 - 283,323 141.6615 1.770769
    Average hours effort/mile shoreline 190.692 Avg/acre 2.38365

  10. #30
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    90% of the fish are in 10% of the water. Lots of unsuitable habitat.
    Quote Originally Posted by h20bugz View Post
    I think these discussions are great. Although, as some people have pointed out, I do agree that using data to make decisions is the best. Management of natural resources are not a one-size-fits all plan. Have you ever considered that the effect a recreational angler has on the the fishery on a body of water like Kentucky Lake with 2000 miles of shoreline and 160,000 acres of surface area (even more when flooded) is not even quantifiable (for sake of argument I'm referring only to crappies)? If you use the data of Kentucky Lake effort and split that up to hours along the shoreline or hours per acre it highlights how little pressure Kentucky Lake actually gets. I agree that the pressure ramps up several fold from March-May for crappies so you could change the math to fit different scenarios. Miranda published a study on Sardis and Grenada and showed efforts (fishing hours per person) higher on those lakes than Kentucky Lake creel surveys on average. I make the comparison to highlight the differences in these systems...it all comes down to productivity and growing season. If you take these numbers and estimate similar effort on the size lakes where you are making comparisons the avg effort in MS is an order of magnitude higher (more like 2000 hours per mile of lakeshore and hundreds of hours per acre.

    There are issues with the comparison below, but the point is that there are miles and miles of Kentucky Lake that never get fished (very hard). However, the fishing in those spots that get less pressure are not some magical hidden place that are full of fish. Instead, those places have the same population demographics as most other places. Why, because recruitment is the biggest challenge on Kentucky Lake. There are millions of eggs laid and fertilized all over Kentucky Lake. Some % of them hatch. Some % of them make it from larval stage to young-of-the-year by feeding on zooplankton. Some % make it to the size where they can start eating insects and other fish. Some % make it to the size where they hopefully bite your hook and are 10". The big hurdle is the larvae to young of year. We might have skinny adult fish some years but the bottleneck is still in the same spot. The data from Kentucky lake show that if you limit to 11" or 12" fish then the actual numbers of fish available to anglers to keep goes way down (yes fewer fish at 12" size) but mostly because mortality will remove many of them prior to reaching a 12" size. There are plenty of 12" fish in the lake, lots of 14-15" too, but the data don't support the idea that if the length limit is increased to 12" that you can expect the same numbers of fish to be there because they'll all just get bigger (eventually).

    Kentucky Lake
    shoreline length (miles) 2000 surface acres 160000
    1984 - 471,529 235.7645 2.947056
    1987 - 570,163 285.0815 3.563519
    1991 - 603,158 301.579 3.769738
    1998 - 172,890 86.445 1.080563
    2003 - 414,092 207.046 2.588075
    2007 - 401,714 200.857 2.510713
    2011 - 239,548 119.774 1.497175
    2015 - 276,039 138.0195 1.725244
    2017 - 283,323 141.6615 1.770769
    Average hours effort/mile shoreline 190.692 Avg/acre 2.38365
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    2017 Ranger RT188C Shadow Grass Camo
    Mercury 115 Pro XS
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