Thread: Let's get the debate started

From a conservation standpoint, it probably varies widely from one waterbody to another. Factors such as fertility, varying water levels, fishing pressure, and access to where the fish live, would make a standard set of rules ineffective. Factors such as pollution might(should) affect how many fish of which species we eat in a month from a given body of water.

That said, I'm a "reformed" bass fisherman, so most of the time I don't keep my fish. But sometimes I keep them, especially crappie and speckled trout. I'm sure on some bodies of water, fishing pressure has a major effect on populations. On others, such as Larto or Toledo Bend, the effect might be on a certain area of the lake, but because of size and fish populations, the effect would be mediated by fish migrating in from other areas.

On deep lakes such as Lake O The Pines, they require to keep all crappie caught in winter, because the are usually caught from deep water and have very poor survival when hauled up from deep and released.

The short answer is it varies!!

This is a very interesting debate you started Dewayne, to be honest I haven't really gave it much thought before. I usually don't keep anything under 10" but everything over is going in the livewell. I don't get to fish much except for the weekend so I stock up when I can.
Where I fish we usually catch a few over 2 lbs each year and these lakes have plenty of pressure so I guess I always assumed that if I don't keep it somebody else will catch it and it'll end up in their grease. All that being said, I sure would like to catch a 3 pounder one day. (I know these lakes hold some, I missed one off the net this past spring.)
So now I'm going to have to think twice about putting a 2+ lb fish on the table or just take a pic and let it go to grow and hope to catch it later. Hopefully I'll have my fair chances to make that decision over the years ahead. Good food for thought Shadow, thanks for bringing it up

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Originally Posted by hthoang

What's a 13" one weigh? Curious. 13" is about the length on a healthy black crappie that starts to look pretty impressive. I've always guessed about 1.5 or so for blacks, little less on whites.

99.9% of the crappie that I catch are black crappie. It would take a very thick 13" fish to weigh 1.5 lbs. Most of them weigh in the 1.2-1.3 lbs. In my experience the weight/length charts are on the heavy side. I've caught quite a few 15" or larger black crappie. As I said earlier, only one of them was over 2 lbs. It was a 15 1/2" fish and weighed 2.37 lbs. These are extremely well fed crappie too.

Glad you brought this up Shadow!
I have caught lots of over 2#, I always let them go.
In my mind a 2# probably lays over 10 times the number of eggs that a 10 inch” fish does.
That’s a swag!
Maybe D10 will see this and give us some real numbers.
So in my mind the 2# er are more experienced and have a better chance of raising us more Crappie.
I prefer to eat a 10-12 inch fish.
I haven’t caught a 3# but I’m trying! LOL


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I'd say it depends on da waters your fishing and what time of year. HTH

Originally Posted by shadow

Ok, guys/girls me and a few buddies have been talking about this for the past few months. Should we release fish over 2 lbs? Give me your reasons for and against please. Not looking to start any fights but wanted all of your honest opinions. I can see the benefit in releasing them but I also know how hard it is to release a possible fish of your lifetime! I have kept the 2 pounders I have caught in the past but was seriously considering releasing any that I catch from this point on, to hopefully catch that 3 pounder in the future.

i keep them if they are big enough to filet period

once these crappie tournaments started, crappie fishing has slowly started to slide down the path of bass fishing and deer hunting - all about trophies and I hate to see it

Keep enough to eat today all the rest back in the lake. Will release a big one if have enough small ones. All fish accumulate toxins with age. Larger fish will produce more eggs and more fry survival


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I agree with some of the others about throwing them back for conservation reasons. My family really had rather eat smaller filets, it just seems like they crisp up better. However we love to catch the big uns!!!