4/12 Mid Lake And Niangua Arm Crappie

[Goggle-Eyed]

Launched at AA and ran to Linn Creek since my BIL had caught a mess there on 4/11. Fished from 9:30 till about 1pm and only had a couple of fish in the live well. Decided to run back up the Niangua some and picked up a couple more. Was getting tired of fighting the wind and what seemed like millions of boats and headed to the ramp. Saw a main channel bank that had a ton of wind and wakes but no other boats, guess it was so bad there no one else wanted to try and fish it! Decided to hit a couple of the docks and was rewarded with a limit of fish in about 30 minutes and was able to not keep anything under 10.5". The boat was sitting in 5 FOW and the fish were in 1.5' to 3', numerous females. Magic color was Electric Chicken or Black and Char. The first half of the day was a real grind, not sure if it was because of they weren't biting or because of the pressure from all the fisherman.

Oh and for those of you that use AA Larry Gale, please pay attention to how you park. The lot was packed but if everyone would have parked in the lines and made sure their trailers were in line there would have been room for 8-10 more vehicles. I had to help one guy "drag" his trailer over just to get parked in the last spot.

Joe

[stuartsx5]

Good job. I picked up most of mine around the docks at the mouth of Windermere cove. This was new to me cause I have never had much luck around the docks, think I get in too much of a hurry. I agree on the parking at Larry Gale. They went in and expanded that lot and sometimes you can't park many more in there than you could before because of people taking up two spots. Think I am going to hit Shawnee Bend next week.

[*T*]

Keep in mind what is legal & not!

Just FYI - Missouri Rules/Regs: Culling

Any fish you catch is included in your daily limit unless you release it

unharmed immediately. You may not replace smaller fish in your possession

with larger ones caught later. You need to make a keep-or-release decision

as soon as the fish is caught.

There is one exception: If, from September through June, you are a

participant in a bona fide catch-and-release black bass tournament (one

after which all bass are released alive), which requires entrants to have a

boat livewell with adequate capacity and a pump constantly adding fresh

or recirculating water, the black bass you release unharmed from the

livewell need not be included in your daily limit. At no time may the daily

limit be exceeded.

[fishinwrench]

I guess that rule needs to be revised since we also have "bona-fide" Crappie and Catfish tournaments now.

But seriously.....Sometimes you open the livewell and a spunky 10" crappie jumps clear out of the boat. I've seen it happen a bunch of times.

[WHARFRAT]

I would have embellished that story of a 10" crappie to a 18" crappie.

[fishinwrench]

I would have embellished that story of a 10" crappie to a 18" crappie.

If I ever get to the point that I'm culling 18"ers I'm quitting my day job.

[nomolites]

Now would be the time to to have a shot at that 18" fish; they will be on the beds in the next week. Release the buck out the back side and get another cast up in there quick....

[Goggle-Eyed]

Keep in mind what is legal & not!

Just FYI - Missouri Rules/Regs: Culling

Any fish you catch is included in your daily limit unless you release it

unharmed immediately. You may not replace smaller fish in your possession

with larger ones caught later. You need to make a keep-or-release decision

as soon as the fish is caught.

There is one exception: If, from September through June, you are a

participant in a bona fide catch-and-release black bass tournament (one

after which all bass are released alive), which requires entrants to have a

boat livewell with adequate capacity and a pump constantly adding fresh

or recirculating water, the black bass you release unharmed from the

livewell need not be included in your daily limit. At no time may the daily

limit be exceeded.

Thanks for the correction, I meant "I didn't "keep" anything under 10.5" and all smaller fish were released immediately"