Kim City - Dec 28 - Deep main lake

[waterpossum]

The loons are plentiful up here at Stockton lake. Yesterday there was a hoard of crappie fishermen chasing the crappie. I have a bad feeling about future crappie populations considering the literally hundreds of fish being taken

 

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

1 hour ago, waterpossum said:

The loons are plentiful up here at Stockton lake. Yesterday there was a hoard of crappie fishermen chasing the crappie. I have a bad feeling about future crappie populations considering the literally hundreds of fish being taken

 

i follow the different lake crappie pages on facebook and it is absolutely amazing how many limits are taken out and posted daily....not hundreds but thousands.  You will see the same guy go days in a row taking pics of their limits. Lots are guides but there are plenty that are not. They must eat fish everyday of their life or have a huge deep freeze chalked full of them

[Champ188]

22 hours ago, aarchdale@coresleep.com said:

i follow the different lake crappie pages on facebook and it is absolutely amazing how many limits are taken out and posted daily....not hundreds but thousands.  You will see the same guy go days in a row taking pics of their limits. Lots are guides but there are plenty that are not. They must eat fish everyday of their life or have a huge deep freeze chalked full of them

Yep, some of em have no regard for possession limits. They probably don't know that a game warden doesn't need a search warrant to enter your home. Would like to see a few of em get popped for packing those freezers. Not throwing darts at those who have it, but livescope units may well be more detrimental to crappie than any other species given their tendency to occupy open-water areas during all parts of the year except the spawn. 

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

1 hour ago, Champ188 said:

Yep, some of em have no regard for possession limits. They probably don't know that a game warden doesn't need a search warrant to enter your home. Would like to see a few of em get popped for packing those freezers. Not throwing darts at those who have it, but livescope units may well be more detrimental to crappie than any other species given their tendency to occupy open-water areas during all parts of the year except the spawn. 

I have livescope and couldnt agree more, Once you find the school of crappie its game on.  The bass are much harder to catch with the scope, they seem to be moving targets

[Quillback]

A lot depends on how well the crappie do in a particular lake.  Crappie factories like Sardis and Grenada get hammered, I have read what the harvest number is for Grenada, forget exactly what it is, but it is something like 200,000 to 300,000 per year.  I have fished Sardis a couple of times with my uncle, we would troll Bandit 300's in the middle of July and in a morning's fishing catch 20-25 keepers, with a 12" minimum at the time.  It's amazing how well crappie will do in the right conditions even when getting pounded like they do over there.  

Whether or not Stockton can handle it I don't know, but I guess we will find out.

[Smithvillesteve]

Most, not all mind you, but most of the people that fish Stockton are after meat!! They take crappie and walleye out of there by the thousands. And i watched two good ol boys fillet up 4-5 nice 3-4 lb LM bass one day at Mutton Creek marina. Nobody is doing anything illegal. But it is upsetting to me. Stockton lowered the minimum length to 15 inches on the walleye so those 15-16 inchers are getting hammered. At least mdc stocks the lake with them. I agree with Quillback. Guess we'll find out.

[waterpossum]

I built a home on 26 acres by Stockton lake about 6 years ago. I have always enjoyed the winter fishing because of the solitude. That is no longer the case, especially with the advent of video fishing. It's not uncommon on a relative mild winters day to have the parking lots in overflow. Driving across the H or Y bridges looking out across the lake most all boats will be offshore screen staring. Some of the lakes Quillback described are lakes that can triple in size over a season making portions nearly inaccessible. I still have a few small places (not Stockton) that I fish that are loaded with crappie) Over the course of a year I may keep a total of 50. They are also places that hold real slabs, which I release. Talking 15" plus fish. They are rare, but I have been able to catch two or three a year. I have fished Stockton since 1980 and never caught a two lber and never will. Probably sometime or another I may have caught a 1-12. 

[Quillback]

I have seen videos of guys fishing those MS lakes in the spring when they are flooded, they'll get back in that flooded stuff and wade fish for crappie.  

For sure a lot more pressure everywhere in the winter.  A lot of guys on Table Rock the last couple of days.  

[waterpossum]

[waterpossum]

1 minute ago, waterpossum said:

This was only 16" but weighed 1-12