Crappie Size ?

[crappiedude]

Seems the percentage of crappie caught in the lat few months are above the legal size limit is anyone concerned about the lack of smaller fish in the supply chain for future years ??

[straw hat]

I would agree with you crappiedude. While I sure catch a lot that aren't legal size, I am catching very veryt few below 9 inches. Not a good sign.

[waterpossum]

I haven't fished for a couple of months,but I didn't catch many short fish the few times I went. The loss of two year classes happened 5 or 6 years ago on Grand Lake, which up until that time was a great crappie lake. I know for fact people that crappie fished Grand switched to Stockton, because of the poor success rate on Grand.( which is still the case) Stockton has seen a substantial increase in pressure. That probably wouldn't account for the lack of undersized fish, but if I were doing a survey for small fish I'd probably start at the various bridge piers or lay downs and brush piles in colored water close to the bank. A friend that fished there recently reported seeing alot of very small fry and I guess it's anybodys guess the species.

[rntmvp6]

I dont know if this is the case but a month or so ago I was catching 90% shorts. This however was by fishing 3-6 foot of water. Once pulling out to deeper structure is when I would catch the keeper sized fish. It may be that the smaller fish are sitting on different structure points compared to the bigger sized fish. If this is not the case then 3-5 years from now we will most likely see the crappie fishing get slow. Stockton is a big lake and those suckers can sure hide anywhere. Guess we will just see how it all plays out.

[panfisher]

I would like the size go to 11" & 10 fish

[Dutch]

I would like the size go to 11" & 10 fish

How about 10" on your pond. Would that be a good idea?

[Walcrabass]

The 11" length limit on Stockton would be great. I don't believe we need to lower the daily catch as catching 15 of the 11" fish would be a good sign of a healthy lake. I have always said that there is an enourmous amount of shad that die every winter and are never utilized as food. Maybe this resource would be consumed by more and bigger Crappie instead of becoming nutrients on the bottom of the lake. If any of you can remember the length limit was 8" on the Crappie many years ago. The fact is this simple. On lakes where there is ample food if you increase the length limit of any species of fish then you increase the size of the top end of those fish in that lake. Period. The time to increase this length is when you already have a surplus of legal fish in the lake. Like right now!!!! The truth of the matter is that by bumping the length up we could actually have a 12" limit on them like some of the Southern Lakes.

I hate to bring up a sore subject but remember the 4 point rule that "Just wouldn't work in Missouri" for Deer Hunting? Well guess what.....it's working.

While we are at it don't forget my desire for a slot length for the Bass either. Let's go to a "Anything between 12" and 18" must be returned to the water. Then follow with Kentuckies being in their own category and can be kept over 10". Smallmouth? They need a category too. Like nothing under 16".

Just imagine a day on the water with these types of restrictions being in use for only two years. Your Jaws would drop!!!!!

[cabinman]

I fish stockton weekly year around and we catch a limit of crappie most every day we go. It has been my experience that smaller crappie hang out it different water. Sometimes shallower and sometimes deeper. We tried some new water last week and caught small crappie almost every cast for two hours till we finally went back to where we have been fishing lately for keepers. I think the fish are there. I moved here in 1985 and have never had a year when we did not catch plenty of crappie on Stockton Lake.

[crankdragger]

If any fish length gets changed it needs to be the walleye to 18".

[Bassmaster21]

I went night fishing with 2 other guys about a week ago and we all caught our legal limits (45 total crappie) in 3 hours. And i bet for every keeper, we caught 1.5 shorts and half of the shorts were 6 inches or less. We went through 8 dozen minnows and then some bugs we found in the water to get the last few keepers. I think the crappie population is just fine for now and the future it just depends where you are fishing.