Fall crappie sampling -Fall, 2008

[Mud-Dabber]

Fall crappie sampling -Fall, 2008

Abilene District

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fall 2008 crappie sampling by the Abilene Parks and Wildlife Dept. for Lakes, Brownwood, Clyde, Coleman, Kirby, Leon, and Stamford. Great group to work with -Spencer Dumont and Robert Cole.

At lakes Brownwood and Coleman the number of legal-sized crappie collected in 2008 was similiar to catches in 2004 and 2005. In 2008, at Lake Brownwood, about one in 10 adult crappie was legal size and, in Lake Coleman, two out of 10 adult crappie were legal size.

Crappie numbers at Lake Clyde are still rebounding from drought years, but there are legal fish to be caught by anglers. 11 percent of adult crappie were legal size, and there were good numbers of small fish from the 2008 spring spawn.

Lake Kirby, SE portion of Abilene, is still producing some impressive crappie, although not in the same numbers as it was in 2005/2006, primarily because very few fish collected would have come from this spring's spawn. The good news is that crappie growth at Lake Kirby is among the fastest in the Big Country; crappie reach 10 inches in one year (normal is two years).

Crappie numbers at Lake Leon have been very high and consistent the last few years. Approx. 10 percent of the adult crappie were legal size, and a substantial number of crappie should become legal size sometime next year.

The crappie population at Lake Stamford appeared to be excellent; there are lots of crappie and lots of legal-sized crappie. More than 50 percent of adult crappie were legal size compared to 10-20 percent at lakes Brownwood,Clyde, Coleman and Leon.

These were the only lakes surveyed for crappie in the Fall, 2008.

Hope this provides some important info.

Good Fishing,
Mud-Dabber, Ron i

[flatfish46]

Man that is great News looks like there will be some fishin their!

[radtexan]

Good info Mud !! Thanks