Thread: First trip to Mississippi and heading to Washington

Yep. Two weeks later tim Blakely caught a 3.22lb monster, and him and Jackie won the one day qualifier with 17.95lbs.
The lake also was at a 10" minimum length rule. All I'm saying is that the pressure is on this lake. I might try the other lakes one day next March just to see.
And we are under the new regulations now, 11" minimum length rule. I think they should take away the 5 allowed shorts, and have some officers down there writing tickets.

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I see where your home lake is Kentucky Lake...I saw a real 4lber caught out of there by a guy I know about 3 years ago. You might want to try there...would save you allot of time and travel...I bet there are some more up there.

We went out with Jackie last year on are reelfoot trip thinking we can only improve on catch ratio.... had 5 crappie in 7 hours! If the "legend of the lake" is struggling it might be time to make a move. Hints the reason for traveling a little further south. Hearing alot of stories of 2 1/2# -- 2 3/4 # witch would great for me.... my largest here in Missouri is a 15"

That's the problem. Too many 2.5-2.75 fish leaving for the wall where a 12" fish is a good one. Not many 3's left on a Small Lake.

Originally Posted by bandchaser

Yep. Two weeks later tim Blakely caught a 3.22lb monster, and him and Jackie won the one day qualifier with 17.95lbs.
The lake also was at a 10" minimum length rule. All I'm saying is that the pressure is on this lake. I might try the other lakes one day next March just to see.
And we are under the new regulations now, 11" minimum length rule. I think they should take away the 5 allowed shorts, and have some officers down there writing tickets.

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I personally don't think the problem is on the short fish, a 14 to 16 slot would do more for ALL our great lakes that are ranked so high. This lake never misses a spawn, no reason for it to and there are literally tons of fish in it.
Put a,slot in place and see what happens, it would be awesome. By the way, a 16 inch sow in the spring will weigh over 3 full of eggs on Washington.

All I know is keep the cameras, magazine articles, and popularity up there in the north and west of the state, cause Barnett has been putting out some impressive stringers. Sometimes it's a good thing that I-55 has such a strong buffer zone for crappie fishing. Hahahaha!


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Originally Posted by bandchaser

The MCC was there a week before we arrived. Biggest was a 2.69lb. We fished the Big Mama that next weekend, the biggest that won was 2.81lb I beleive. We won the husband and wife division. The crappie masters was there the next weekend, and the biggest was a 2.93lb. Our group fished for 4 days and we did not catch any 3lb fish.
The moral of the story is it possible, probably, but your chances are slim in my opinion.
We have 11 groups coming down this next year. A small group of us has been fishing it every year for awhile. The lakes popularity and the locals are having affect on the lake.
Just like Sardis when they dropped the size limit, and folks put a hurting on them then. It will be a couple of years before Sardis is back and producing consistently again.
So, when you have locals taking out short fish left and right because they can't catch the legal fish, the population is going to suffer. The quality is going to suffer.

Hope your trip is a success. You should catch some excellent quality fish in March. Good luck...

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: What makes you think that locals are to blame for the decline in the fishery? There are more OOSers fishing Washington than I have ever seen. Same goes for the big 4. Nothing against OOSers but they have put just as much pressure on these lakes if not more. Fishing Washington earlier this year and ran across a group from OOS that stated they had around 30+ fish. We got to talking about how tough it was for us to catch a keeper and that's when they realized that there was a slot on the lake.

Originally Posted by PaperMouth

: What makes you think that locals are to blame for the decline in the fishery? There are more OOSers fishing Washington than I have ever seen. Same goes for the big 4. Nothing against OOSers but they have put just as much pressure on these lakes if not more. Fishing Washington earlier this year and ran across a group from OOS that stated they had around 30+ fish. We got to talking about how tough it was for us to catch a keeper and that's when they realized that there was a slot on the lake.

Further down from where you copied my comments was the answer to you question. I am sure that other fisherman, local and out of state, are keeping too many short fish. I wish that rule of 5 shorts did not exist. As far as out of state fishing pressure, I fully understand as we get just as much pressure if not more on KY Lake and Lake Barkley. Now, as far as all of us follow the same rules regardless of state and water, then so what does it matter which state I am from or yourself. We are both spending money to do something that we love and that is crappie fishing. We do it by the book wherever we go. We enjoy fishing Sardis, Enid, Grenada and Lake Washington. And we enjoy meeting new people along the way.

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