Long term livescope effects on big 4

**mperry** · 03-18-2024, 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by Wannabe...

IMO the numbers of fish fill not be impacted both juvenile and legal fish….but the number of big fish over 15” will come down.

For me, I’ve taken to catch and release for at least half the fish I catch and anything over 2.00# goes back in the lake. Maybe they don’t survive, maybe they do, but that’s my contribution. I think the time of year released heavily impacts there survivability, so I tend to keep more when the water temp goes over 80.

There was a time when i kept every legal fish I caught. If I had to guess, my keep rate is the same but the numbers I catch are way up.

Wannabe…

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I’m not a fish biologist but I would think a 12” size limit would be a bad idea. Wouldn’t that allow taking the big fish out of the lake? ��

**SlaterSlinger** · 03-18-2024, 12:54 PM

I don't know the answer to that, but I do know I'm seeing lots of guys, alot of em younger, who did good to catch a handful at Grenada, some with just a couple year's experience being the captain of their own crappie rig, going out day after day and absolutely mopping up with their livescope. And ain't nothing going back in the water, either - big pregnant female or not. If you took that livescope off that boat they'd be back to square 1 being solidly middle of the pack to below average catch rates. That's just the cold hard truth: fishing prowess used to come through years of learning. You can look at who's winning bassmaster tourneys nowadays (alot of rookies and newcomers) for proof of that, let alone everyone's anecdotal experiences on the water.

I'm no fisheries biologist, but once prices come down, which they inevitably will do (and are doing so now), and more and more people learn the livescope technique, if the results are the same as the example above for even a fraction of the people using it, I don't see how it couldn't have at least SOME effect on the fishery.

Call me old school, but it is perplexing to rack up decades of experience and knowledge and get absolutely waxed by a verifiable newby day in and day out who you would otherwise outfish 9 times out of 10.

That said, I'm getting ready to drop some coin on ffs. Fishing is too expensive and time too precious to not maximize returns on time invested. If it's legal and it's effective, I will partake.

**Bigyeti** · 03-20-2024, 02:32 PM

Thanks for all the comments and thoughts. It seems like a new day for crappie fishing to me. I still love it as much as I ever have but the playing field has been leveled with electronics. I will say there is a learning curve with the forward sonar. It's a ton of fun but takes some time to figure out. One tip I would give is start out on visible structure if possible. Good luck and good fishing

**Wannabe...** · 03-29-2024, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by mperry

Iâ€™m not a fish biologist but I would think a 12â€ size limit would be a bad idea. Wouldnâ€™t that allow taking the big fish out of the lake? ��

We’ve had a 12 inch minimum for decades already and still pumping out 3s and a few 4s per year. I’m not a biologist either, but that’s what we’ve got.

One modifier to my original thinking. There are over a dozen guys including guides that are tagging and releasing big fish and a handful of guides are releasing anything over 2 lbs. I’ve been doing the same for close to 2 years.

I’ve always wished that MDWFP would put a 1 fish over 15 rule to try and preserve what makes MS, especially Grenada, special. Bilologist argue that big fish are at the end of their life and the survival rate in release is low, but to my thinking, if the survival rate is only 5% for a month, that’s an opportunity for someone else to catch a trophy.

I’ve personally only had 5 of my 70 tagged fish reported as having been caught again and 4 of those were kept, but the one that was released was caught by a lady from IL on a trip with her husband it was her biggest fish ever. And was released again hopefully to make a PB for someone else. Thats pretty special to me and well worth whatever I paid for the tag setup.

Wannabe…

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