Thread: twra meeting in paris

Cane pole, can't believe you missed the official statement from the Mercury guy. He said all the Mercury was from burning coal in China and carried on the winds to settle only in your backyard by the pumphouse. He said that what the EPA was saying. I usually get served a glass of tea when choking down a mouthful that big.

Originally Posted by crp4570

Cane pole, can't believe you missed the official statement from the Mercury guy. He said all the Mercury was from burning coal in China and carried on the winds to settle only in your backyard by the pumphouse. He said that what the EPA was saying. I usually get served a glass of tea when choking down a mouthful that big.

Fooled me. I thought Mercury was a Ford incognito.

The rest of the story. Todays PI. I wasn't present , so I did the "assume" thing. Worked like a charm too.

Paris PI print

Kentucky Lake crappie fishermen gathered in big numbers Tuesday night at the Henry County Fairground’s Enoch Building to hear presentations by fisheries biologists from Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Topping the agenda was the status of the crappie fishery and what, if anything, can be done to improve the situation at hand.

For the last few years, anglers have seen a steady decline in catch rates, which triggered concern among the ranks to the point many want changes in regulations.

Just what specific changes would help the fishery is still somewhat up in the air.

After a presentation by Tim Broadbent, regional fisheries biologist over Kentucky Lake, anglers got an idea of where the crappie population has been, where it is now and, to some degree, what lies ahead.

Although the cure for Kentucky Lake’s itch has no clear or quick solution, the lion’s share of anglers were pretty clear in their concerns.

Most report below-average fishing the last several years, with this past spring being one of the toughest ever. That has spawned confusion and concern.

“We’re here to present some data to you from our various testing, such as fall trap netting, creel clerk reports and electro shocking, and inform you of what we collected and what we see going on out there,” Broadbent said while showing graphs and photos on a screen as part of his presentation.

“We’re not making any recommendation to the wildlife commission, but just want to better inform you of the data collected and what we feel the ramifications would be if changes were made to length limits, daily creel limits, reduction in the number of poles or the stocking of crappie.

“I know you’ve had a tough year and, quite honestly, I thought you would do better; but stop to consider other factors, such as a very cold spring where March and April had a roller coaster of weather that really played havoc with surface temperatures.

“Added to the nasty spring weather is perhaps the real story of three years of inferior spawns and recruitment — the success or failure of young of the year fish to survive from hatch to a slightly larger fish in their first year — that goes back to 2011, 2012 and 2013.”

Biological data shows Kentucky Lake crappie had inferior spawns three years back to back. It takes about three years for a crappie to achieve the 10-inch length.

“We documented three poor spawns with our fall trap netting, which is how we catch those tiny fish with mesh nets in October at various sites across the reservoir.

“That helps tell the success, or lack thereof, of the previous spring spawn.”

Broadbent says that’s why anglers have had tough times, and agrees the number of fish just haven’t been there for anglers to catch.

“It also explains why anglers are catching a few big fish, but not many in the 10- to 12-inch range.

“However, the good news is that a lot of younger fish are coming on, as 2014 showed a good spawn and 2015 was pretty good, too.

“Crappie don’t prosper in drought years and, looking back, we had that during those inferior spawning seasons.

“The reservoir didn’t reach summer pool during the spring one of those years and that likely had a negative impact on young of the year survival rates,” continued Broadbent.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife biologist Paul Rister was also on hand and commented their end of the lake also had experienced declines.

“We’re facing the same thing as you are, and our anglers asked us to do something, so we tried stocking crappie — 800,000 fingerlings in the Blood River sector — and we lowered our daily creel limit to twenty fish. Not sure it has helped.”

Meanwhile, TWRA biologists said reducing the number of poles or lowering the daily creel slightly wouldn’t have any effect on the fishery, a statement with which many anglers in the crowd did not agree.

Biologists said changing the length limit would have an impact, but that natural mortality of crappie is high, so just releasing the fish back into the lake after being caught doesn’t necessarily mean it will be there another year or two for someone to catch.

Creel surveys show a small percentage of anglers actually achieve the thirty-fish limit now in place. A few anglers in the crowd said they had never been checked by a creel clerk or wildlife officer, despite being on the lake for years.

The wildlife commission will address fishing regulations at its October meeting. If any changes were to be made, they would not be effective until March 1, 2017.

Meanwhile, anglers were invited to voice their comments via email, letter or phone calls to their commissioners. All contact information is available at www.tnwildlife.org.

This all sounds like the reports we got when we had those bad drought years when Georgia tried to steal water from the Tn river. My recall ain't too good on the years.