Thread: Sardis report

Originally Posted by BigRiverMarine

I've been trolling Sardis for about 40 years, back when the limit was 50 and no size limit, or number of hooks per pole or number of poles. The fishery sustained itself all those years. We've had good years, bad years, and average years. The one thing that has changed is the pressure. More pressure now for sure, but the other restrictions have balanced out the pressure to a big extent. Sardis has always had lots of pressure in the pre spawn tho, and I mean for Decades. I've fished with 5 hooks per pole with 3 guys in a boat and caught a 150 fish limit in 2-3 hours, and most were pre spawn, and saw 100 boats doing the same thing back in the day with 10"ers. being the bulk of the fish.

A few years back, you might catch 100 fish a day pulling cranks, with only 5-10 keepers. The past few years have been boom years, but the bad spawns a few years back have done its damage and we're seeing that now. The problem is the lack of short fish. It's going to be slim pickings for a few years but it isn't because of pre spawn trolling or pressure. It's a natural cycle.

Less fish, less pressure. High water in the timber, better spawn. Better spawn, more fish in a few years. More fish in a few years, more pressure. NOT JUST FROM TROLLERS, but from Everybody, catching them in Every way.

I can remember back in those days when the lake was full of timber and I mostly bass fished. You could not fish in the timber for the Yo-Yo's. Every piece of standing timber had 2 or 3 boards nailed to it with 2 Yo-Yo's on ever board. Hundreds of them. People taking fish out of there by the tub full plus all the people who pole fished and trolled. And like you said all the poles and hooks you could deal with. Yes we are putting a lot of pressure on the lakes but I truly believe our resource managers know what they are doing and I don't believe with the limits and enforcement we have today, that we are doing much more damage than was done 20/30 years ago. We are truly a blessed bunch of fishermen to have the resources we have and that they are managed as well as they are.

The arguments are the same, they never change. The only thing that has changed is Sardis is the Dead Sea right now and will be next year. Grenada and Enid are not much better and they are getting hammered because of the lack of fish at Sardis. I have been fishing Sardis exclusively for over 40 years. I am heading somewhere else to learn to Crappie fish on the waterway or Pickwick or somewhere. The big 4 is toast for a while, but be my guest all of you confident trollers or crankbait pullers, knock yourself out.

With technology getting better every day. Everything is in danger of change. It is not only the tech. like sonar, better fishing equipment,google earth, and social media on fish. Deer and other game are under the same pressure with tech. like camera's, better camouflage and just better equipment. Even the new technology has endangered peoples jobs with robots. But even back in the old days when people thought that some new thing or gadget would be the end of the world. Some how "Mother Nature" knew how and managed to change things to keep on keepin on. Please don't put anyone down for the way they fish or hunt because that is one of PETA's strong points, is to divide and conquer. Back when I was a young boy I went squirrel hunting with my grandpa. He only took 5 shells at a time with him and I never seen him kill but 3 squirrels at a time when we went. So I asked him why he would never take more shells and kill more and this is what he said" If I kill more than I can eat your Grandma would not let me go back till I eat what I have killed, so I just get what we will eat at one time so you and I can go back hunting tomorrow" and the woods where we went back then still has squirrels. The way to help our fish and game is to start with myself and only take what I need(not how many I won't) and release what I don't "Mother Nature" will take care of the rest.

Agreed scrat! Internet scouting and posting pictures of a good day to social media will lead to our own detriment. The word about where the fish are biting spreads much faster these days and one post to Facebook reaches far more people than word of mouth ever could. I see the same problems when duck hunting public ground. Twenty trucks at a public WMA changes to 150 trucks overnight when success gets reported.

There is nothing wrong with saying there is a little action going on at a certain lake. Most folks don't want specifics. I want everybody to catch some and enjoy this fine sport

The only dead sea we've had was Butla and was from one season of extremely low water. The issue isn't the amount of fish in enid and sardis--it's where and how you fish for them at any given time that makes the difference on these lakes.

Originally Posted by KDAVID1

The only dead sea we've had was Butla and was from one season of extremely low water. The issue isn't the amount of fish in enid and sardis--it's where and how you fish for them at any given time that makes the difference on these lakes.

I agree. Anybody that thinks Sardis, Enid and Grenada are the dead sea needs to hire a guide. There are currently some big healthy fish currently being caught at all three.

Now if I could just figure out the where and how I'd be alright