Thread: check this out, LOZ

I don't think a 10" limit would hurt anything! I don't keep anything under 9" when I fish Twain! Sometimes don't get many to keep at Twain!!!!

Wouldn't mind the 10" limit usually try not to keep anything below that, but I will keep some 9"s to finish out a limit. The way Smithville was last year for me, limit wasn't in the vocab.

Not quite sure about the article. Granted I don't know much about the subject, but I've made a few observations that make me scratch my head. With larger lakes there is more area to fish per person and more fish per fisherman, more habitat, more food, etc. If you take smaller lakes like Watkin's Mill, Pony Express, Belcher Lake, Guy B Park Conservation Area, and others (which could be looked at as a smaller sample of a large lake) the crappie population seems to be pretty stunted with the catch limit. I am not sure what kind of fishing pressure these smaller lakes get, habitat, food, and other factors that contribute to the fish growth, but something doesn't seem to be working quite right. I know that some of these lakes have waved the size limit of crappie to help them grow larger. Like I said, not an expert, but got a lot some questions.

I would say the smaller lakes need to be looked at individually. Our local conservation lake has crappie but hard to catch. They have an 18" length on bass. Fished that lake for a long time and only one fish over 18" caught by us. Use to catch lots of small ones but last couple of years haven't been catching them either. Lake is out in the sticks so not many people watching it. Pole and line only fishing. Rules plainly posted. A couple of years ago we were over there fishing and noticed jugs floating in lake. Then watched a boat for a couple of hours running jug lines, rebaiting and running again. Definitely against the posted rules. Plus at times they had a bunch of people in boat. Doubt they had life jackets for everyone. Then when they left the kids all piled into back of pickup. Another rule broken. Also have seen trotlines in lake. I think this lake gets a lot of illegal fish taken out of it. Whether by size or method.

Originally Posted by APKape

Not quite sure about the article. Granted I don't know much about the subject, but I've made a few observations that make me scratch my head. With larger lakes there is more area to fish per person and more fish per fisherman, more habitat, more food, etc. If you take smaller lakes like Watkin's Mill, Pony Express, Belcher Lake, Guy B Park Conservation Area, and others (which could be looked at as a smaller sample of a large lake) the crappie population seems to be pretty stunted with the catch limit. I am not sure what kind of fishing pressure these smaller lakes get, habitat, food, and other factors that contribute to the fish growth, but something doesn't seem to be working quite right. I know that some of these lakes have waved the size limit of crappie to help them grow larger. Like I said, not an expert, but got a lot some questions.

Crappie being prolific spawners will over run a lake very quickly if they aren't kept in check. I have several lakes near me where they are so over populated that thier growth is stunted and never get much bigger than about 6" or so. So I totally agree that not every lake should have a size limit. With lakes like Truman and loz I think there is enough fishing pressure to keep the population in check while creating bigger overall size by upping the length limit. I only say this because I can fish the lower grand on Truman and 90% of the fish you catch are right around 9".

We are lucky to have really good fishery biologists working for MDC. They take yearly/bi-annual lake surveys (electro-fishing), and only after several years of these numbers would they make changes. In addition to the surveys, they also have to consider the fishing population for each lake. They have to balance harvest with fish population health. They consider so many variables....lake fertility as measured by how quickly fish grow(and not just "game" fish, but baitfish as well), how many fishermen/women are using the lake (Smithville Lake has a population center of 1 million within 50 miles). I would love the 10" limit at Smithville....each 9" fish would get two spawning seasons, resulting in more fish. But how many angry letters would come from anglers no longer able to keep the 9" fish? We don't know what is being considered for each lake, but I'm convinced they try to be fair for everyone...even if I don't like it.

I'm all for a 10" limit. I usually don't keep 9" crappie at LOZ because they are usually really skinny and all you get is a fish stick piece of meat out of them. Or maybe I'm just bad at filleting them.

I think all lakes in Missouri should be a 10 inch length limit.