Don't shoot the messenger just sharing and making us think.

[DADAKOTA]

I'd imagine the crappie guides put a major hurt on the population with FFS.  Multiple limits taken daily for hundreds of days/year.  Far different than the angler with FFS taking a few to eat for dinner.

[Quillback]

In the video, the guy mentions an increase in crappie guides on those lakes.  What he was saying is that the crappie harvest has increased due to other factors also, including FFS.  

Those crappie in those lakes get hammered when they are in the bushes spawning, then get hammered again by techniques like spider rigging and trolling crankbaits when they are done spawning.  The guides filled limits before FFS came out.  No doubt FFS can make people more efficient in harvesting fish, but in the case of those crappie lakes, it's too many people harvesting too many fish.    

[Al Agnew]

The future is going to be interesting.  Seems like a whole lot of things are gradually building up that, combined, could result in a lot of changes for the worse in our fisheries.  Everything from more and more technology to more and more anglers using that technology to environmental problems affecting the habitat to climate change affecting water temperatures and flood regimes.  And while we all like catch and release and think it's good for fish populations, it has always seemed to me that, no matter how much anglers profess to catch and release, the more pressure the harder the fishing gets.

I could see how FFS could have a significant effect on crappie.  Kinda reminds me of a couple weeks ago, while fishing for winter bass.  I found a lone downed tree just off the bank in deep water that had a school of crappie in it.  Pretty nice ones, and I love eating crappie.  Using jerkbaits, I was catching one on almost every cast, so I started tossing them into the livewell.  By the tenth one, I was wondering how long I could keep this up, but then I got to thinking that this was probably the only school of crappie in several miles of river, and I was pretty sure, since it was a well known winter fishing hole, that others had found those crappie before me.  Now I have no idea how many there were in that tree, but I decided that ten was enough for a heck of a meal, and it was just being greedy to take any more than that out of that tree.  And I really hope that I didn't take some of the last of the school after others had already decimated it.  I've always been a little mystified why people who are after fish that are supposedly great eating think that they have to fill their limits every time they go.

[fishinwrench]

2 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

  I've always been a little mystified why people who are after fish that are supposedly great eating think that they have to fill their limits every time they go

I quit keeping full limits of White bass and Crappie because I don't like spending that much time filleting fish !     

It only takes 6 of them to feed my family 👍 and I don't have a church group to try to impress every month. 

[Maverickpro201]

6 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I quit keeping full limits of White bass and Crappie because I don't like spending that much time filleting fish !     

It only takes 6 of them to feed my family 👍 and I don't have a church group to try to impress every month. 

I thought you were going to say because you suck at catching.

You should probably go to church also.

[fishinwrench]

3 hours ago, Maverickpro201 said:

You should probably go to church also.

Why, so I could eat fish chunks rolled in stale corn flakes every other Friday ? 

[Flysmallie]

On 1/12/2025 at 10:36 AM, DADAKOTA said:

Far different than the angler with FFS taking a few to eat for dinner.

Maybe not. The problem I see is not the guides, hopefully they have always been able to catch them. However it does seem a little odd to me that they can sell fish but I cannot. Oh well, I don't care.

But here is a scenario that many don't consider. I know a guy that has a dock on an area lake. He's not much of a fisherman. In past years he has spent a lot of time on his dock catching enough crappie to feed him and a few friends once a year. So a couple of years ago he goes with another friend that has FFS and they come home with limits. So rookie fisherman gets FFS on his ski boat. Now his friends have a fish fry about once a month and more friends are fed. He doesn't care about conservation, he only cares about being the guy that always has crappie to eat. 

If you think it's not causing any damage, your IQ is too low. 

[fishinwrench]

The Float & Fly guides on Dale Hollow are absolutely tearing up the big smallmouth using FFS right now.  20-60 per day, all over 4lbs. 😲

Is anybody doing that on TR or Beaver ?

[Ryan Miloshewski]

On 1/12/2025 at 10:36 AM, DADAKOTA said:

I'd imagine the crappie guides put a major hurt on the population with FFS.  Multiple limits taken daily for hundreds of days/year.  Far different than the angler with FFS taking a few to eat for dinner.

They are catching the same amount, in the same areas, as they always have. They used to spider rig, now they scope. 

I always say it is up to the fishermen. FFS is just a tool (a good one). You don't have to go out and keep every fish you catch. I don't. Used it on Truman last April to catch big, pre-spawn females and let all of them go. It can be done, I promise.

More importantly, I've seen a lot of people using FFS that absolutely cannot grasp it. They suck at it, really. They would do better by shutting it off and just fishing blind. It's not as easy as putting it in the water and whoopee 15 crappie! Still have to know how to fish. 

 

[Seth]

On 1/13/2025 at 12:10 PM, Ryan Miloshewski said:

They are catching the same amount, in the same areas, as they always have. They used to spider rig, now they scope. 

I always say it is up to the fishermen. FFS is just a tool (a good one). You don't have to go out and keep every fish you catch. I don't. Used it on Truman last April to catch big, pre-spawn females and let all of them go. It can be done, I promise.

More importantly, I've seen a lot of people using FFS that absolutely cannot grasp it. They suck at it, really. They would do better by shutting it off and just fishing blind. It's not as easy as putting it in the water and whoopee 15 crappie! Still have to know how to fish. 

 

I love listening to guys tell me how they sat on a big school of crappie for hours and only managed to catch a few. They can't grasp the concept of leaving inactive fish to find active fish because they can see them on the graph. If I'm not getting bit every few casts then it's time to roll out. There are way too many other crappie around to deal with inactive fish.