MDC is really working hard.

[fishinwrench]

 

🙄

[jdmidwest]

I wonder how old the 20" ones are that my friend catches at Granada and Sartis?

[tjm]

Quote

According to some information recently compiled by officials with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, a six-inch black crappie that weighs 0.1 pounds will be, on average, 2.1 years old. A white crappie (distinguishable because it has five or six dorsal spines, compared to the black's seven or eight) of the same length and weight will be 1.9 years old.

A nine-inch black crappie that weighs 0.4 pounds will be 4.2 years old. A white crappie of that length will probably weigh 0.3 pounds and be 3.8 years old.

At fourteen inches, the typical black crappie weighs 1.7 pounds and will be 14.3 years old. A 14-inch white crappie will be 1.4 pounds and 9.1 years old.

And a 19-inch black crappie, like the one that stands as the state record fish� It will have been swimming around for about 19 years.

triblive.com

 

To me the video isn't really about MDC so much as a way to sell boats and guide service, they just used that lady to draw an audience.

[fishinwrench]

55 minutes ago, tjm said:

triblive.com

 

To me the video isn't really about MDC so much as a way to sell boats and guide service, they just used that lady to draw an audience.

I listened to the whole thing, hoping to hear ANYTHING that someone who is NOT a "fisheries biologist" might know.   

Did YOU pick up on anything?   Cuz I sure didn't.   

The fishery at MT started a downhill slide in the mid-1980's and still hasn't rebounded.  They've had a lot of time to figure out why......Still don't seem to have a clue, and don't even want to acknowledge it.    

[tjm]

I did not know they had guides on Mark Twain Lake and I had not heard of that 154  Marine boat company. I'm not a biologist, so there's two things, like  I said, they just used her to get people to watch, once the commercial for boats and guides is over the other content doesn't matter.

The crappie studies have been ongoing for 30 years as she stated and most of that info has become public knowledge over that  time, so yeah you were probably aware of it. What you might not have been aware of, I wasn't, is that in Mark Twain the 2019 year class of crappie is flourishing.

I did get a little upset with talk about filling the freezer, which we really are not allowed to .

[fishinwrench]

I was born & raised up there.   It took 5-6 years to fill up and for the water to stabilize.  After that the fishing was great and bullfrogs were everywhere for about 10 years, then it just went downhill.  

You'd think the lake would be a destination fishery for big bluegill, crappie, bass, walleye, and catfish.    But for some reason it seems to lack forage.    Even the bullfrogs are gone, which tells me that the insects aren't even doing well.  

[tjm]

Isn't that a  farming area ? Nothing survives modern agriculture. Any chemical applied to the fields or to the seeds ends up in the closest body of water killing insects, amphibians, mammals and fish as it migrates. MDC should be doing chemical analysis on those fish to determine how Roundup affects their growth. 

[fishinwrench]

2 hours ago, tjm said:

Isn't that a  farming area ? Nothing survives modern agriculture. Any chemical applied to the fields or to the seeds ends up in the closest body of water killing insects, amphibians, mammals and fish as it migrates. MDC should be doing chemical analysis on those fish to determine how Roundup affects their growth. 

Statewide "intensive" water quality tests were done on all Missouri impoundments for several years beginning in 2012.  They closed swimming beaches here on Lake O for a few years until the economic effects of doing so began to sting-a-little.....Then they just quit doing the testing, blamed in on "GEESE", and determined the issue was "solved".  😅

[tjm]

I would guess that LOZ is more likely human waste, Grand lake would share that because in both instances it looks like  septic systems were built on rock ledges within yards of the pool.

[fishinwrench]

3 hours ago, tjm said:

I would guess that LOZ is more likely human waste, Grand lake would share that because in both instances it looks like  septic systems were built on rock ledges within yards of the pool.

Lake O's fish health is surprisingly excellent.   But I personally have been noticing the decreasing number of damsel & dragonflies. They have been on the decline since the late 80's.   And the number of frogs is worrisome, because they are downright rare now.  

It isn't hard to recognize a truly HEALTHY body of water.   And sometimes you need to be around a healthy lake....and then come home....to realize what's missing.   You can spend a week on Lake O during the Spring -Summer without getting a single mosquito bite.   While that's lovely.... that's just not right.  It's not proper nature, the way I was brought up to recognize it.