Thread: MDWFP crappie projection

Yankee from western KY is headed down in a few days to steal some slabs!

I will say this about a crappie fishing season, absolutely baloney. Everyone knows crappie are much more prolific than bass and if there was ever a more regulated fish in southern waters it would be the largemouth bass. So if plans were being made for a season on anything I do not believe crappie would be tops on any list.

Originally Posted by feeshrman

I will say this about a crappie fishing season, absolutely baloney. Everyone knows crappie are much more prolific than bass and if there was ever a more regulated fish in southern waters it would be the largemouth bass. So if plans were being made for a season on anything I do not believe crappie would be tops on any list.

AMEN!!!! If you think crappie fishing was tuff on Nader last year then you should try your hand at Green Carp fishing here now, sad state of affairs to say the least!!!!!!!

So nobody knows really why the number of fish are down? some say it's because of the water being let out of the lakes so often,,,, Some say it's because of over fishing, while some say it's because of legal size being smaller,,,, I am sooooo confused,,,maybe it's just them Illegal aliens coming from another Galaxy stealing all our fish and fresh water supplies,,,eh???

Well...for starters "they" are doing the same thing with the water levels as they have always done. Nothing new here, except rainfall amounts and times vary, hence a different schenerio every year. Yes, their is more pressure, but it is relatively short lived, concentrated mostly during March and April. All of these COE lakes run on cycles, if you really want to know what to expect each year then pay attention to what happened 3,4 and even 5 seasons ago.

Maybe it's the area they are checking and the fish are in another area----hmmm

Maybe they should close the lakes at least 1 year for about 2 weeks during the peak spawning season and let the crappie spawn out instead of catching all those females full of eggs and catching the males on the beds. We all like to catch those spawning fish shallow and that puts a hurt on the amount of eggs that will hatch out. Just thinking out loud.

More to do with where the fry go once they are hatched, if the water is low then they have no where to hide.
1 pound crappie lays a BUNCH of eggs, the low side of the number the fish expert say lets use 500 eggs. In this senario lets use 100 1 pound crappie, 100 lays 500 eggs, thats 50,000 eggs laid and much like any other female these eggs have no trouble getting fertilized in a good situation. Let's say only 1% of those 500,000, thats 500 crappie to grow to spawn. So in this example 100 one pound fish will spawn out 500 crappie to catch down the road.
From what I have read these numbers are a pretty fair example in a good setting. Here in lies the key, water levels, temps, spillways. On the Big Four crappie fisherman have been fighting the water level and spillway thing for 35 years that I know of. all the planning in the world cant account for no rain, maybe debri blocking a spillway gate and letting too much water out, its called Mother Nature.
It is what it is, when the fishing is good go fishing, when its not cut grass!!