MARK TWAIN CRAPPIE OUTLOOK 2013 and SIZE LIMIT QUESTION

I may have missed it on here but what is the outlook numbers and size wise for crappie this coming year for MT
How was the spawn last 2 years? Were they successful?
Couldnt get up there last year due to work. but have fished since it was 1st opened.
Retired now and bought camper and year round site so will be there a lot.

My question is why there is not at least 9" limit I know this wont be popular but i could live with 10" limit

I have just seen thru the years many bringing limits of 7-8" crappie to cleaning stations. Just wondering.

Fishing Prospects | Lakes

Thanks BarryG for the link.

Any fishermen or biologists on here have reason or opinion on size limit question on Twain?

Truman has size limit and has better crappie fisherie than MT imo as i have fished it also quite a bit. In fact going there for 3 day trip soon.

Would go there more but its 5 hrs for me and Twain is just 2hrs from where i live.

I don't know if this works but if you look at this post on page 2 and starting on thread 13, there is a discussion on size and limits for Mark Twain. If this does not work you can find the thread down the page on "Ask the Biologist" thread "size and Limits:
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/ask-b...ze-limits.html

Here's my response from the Size Limit thread.....

Most crappie fisheries are harvest oriented. Most anglers, but obviously not all, want to catch crappie to eat. So we try to set minimum length limits to obtain a good balance between fish quality (size) and yield (pounds available for harvest). Based on research in MO and across the country, we know that this balance is typically achieved by setting the length limit close to the average size the crappie attain after three years. So in our southern lakes where fish grow faster, a 10-inch length limit is best. In lakes where crappie grow well, but not as fast, like Truman, a 9-inch length limit is best. But in lakes where fish typically grow slow, like Mark Twain, it is best not to have a length limit at all. Mark Twain crappie, on average across many years, only reach 8 inches after three years. Crappie don't live too long, so protecting slow growing crappie with a length limit could drastically reduce yield while producing only small improvements in size. Mark Twain crappie do grow well in some years and crappie fishing is almost always very good the year after these good growth years. Also, Mark Twain often produces a lot of young crappie, so harvesting small fish is not necessarily bad. In fact, in some years I encourage it.

Thanks for the reply Ross, always good to hear from a biologist.

Thanks Ross. Mark Twain IMO gets the most crappie fishing pressure of any lake in Mo. for its size. So i dont think it would ever be under harvested.