Thread: D-10 Big fish with eggs Question!!

Jackie, I think this comes down to personal preference and what lake you are talking about. If it is a lake with excellent reproduction, recruitment, and growth (such as Conway). I don't think it makes much of a difference. I look at it this way. If throw back a big fish one day, it will probably get harvested the next day by someone else. This probably sounds kind of selfish to some folks, but I am just being honest. You have to remember that crappie are prolific spawns in most lakes. Here is food for thought. I have aged 4 crappie over 2.5 pounds that I have caught over the last month. They were all only 3.5 years old! That is outstanding growth! So in the right conditions, it doesn't take very long to grow some slabs. Another thing to remember is that crappie will start to develop eggs and sperm in inly their second year of life. Trust me, their are a lot of individuals spawning in the spring. Year class strength (success of the spawn) is more dependent on environmental conditions than the number of slab females in the population. What we don't want to do is turn our crappie fisheries into what the bass fisheries have turned into. In my opinion the catch and release attitude of bass anglers has made the management of this species very difficult. Believe it or not, harvesting some bass out of a population is a very good thing. That is the beauty of managing crappie. People actually harvest crappie in large numbers! This makes attempts to improve their populations possible with various management stratifies (minimum length limits). With no harvest, it doesn't matter what kind of regulations you impose. It wouldn't make a difference. Sorry for the long drawn out answer. Yes, I harvest big females. Maybe one day when I have caught my fair share, I will start throwing them back like my buddy Chris. I haven't caught nearly enough yet!

We to have been catching females Not 3 lb er's and talking about should we keep the big females are turn them loose and keep the smaller ones!! I said I knew someone Who knew the answer!! Thank you Sir!! (Greers Ferry)!!!

Just out of curriosity, what are y'all's opinion/feelings about this question. What do you think. After all, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

I would turn it loose

D-10 Nice Trophy Crappie!! Did,not mean any harm!! Just a question for me and my friends fishing Greers Ferry seems
like the crappie fishing the last couple of years as been great!! Back like the old days of crappie fishing on Greers Ferry!! Wanted to know if keeping the females with eggs was harming the crappie population!!! Thanks Would love to catch a 3 lber would go on the wall!! If my Boss said it was OK!!!!!LOL!!! Have 10 lb Bass and a 4-10 oc Smallmouth out of Greers Ferry!! Caught a 5 lb 2 oz she still swims!!! Thanks D-10!!!

somedays i catch and release others i load the boat , i like to eat em and i keep em all, however the larger fish really dont fry up as good as the 10-12 inchers imo! but to each his own as long as its legal by all means do what makes you happy! dont really think it matters when it comes to the outcome of the spawn

Originally Posted by Crappie Greg

somedays i catch and release others i load the boat , i like to eat em and i keep em all, however the larger fish really dont fry up as good as the 10-12 inchers imo! but to each his own as long as its legal by all means do what makes you happy! dont really think it matters when it comes to the outcome of the spawn

That is why I bake the big ones! It is kind of like baking walleye. My wife loves it!

How can you determine a crappie's age and sex?