Weiss Lake - What needs to be done to make it better ?

I agree with all of the above posts but we are all overlooking the major cause the Crappie population is declining. This is a common problem in all lakes and streams. Overharvesting Female Crappie before they are able to Spawn and flutuating water levels prior to and after spawn. Ive fished the Coosa for years upstream from Weiss and the water level flutations are critical factor in a sucessful Spawning Run upstream. Crappie in my opinion is the most sought after fish in Weiss and upper Coosa. The Striper and Catfish are also decreasing in numbers. Ga. has no size limit on Crappie and i have seen many people keeping 8-9 in. fish. The stocking program helped 2-3 yrs after it began but the word got out that Weiss is back and then the pressure began. We are now seeing the same thing beginning to happen at Guntersville. I dont know the solutation but if all fisherman were aware of all these combined conditions they might think Twice before they toss them in the livewell! Just saying. Bottonbumper

i think size limits as well as creel limits should be set and then they need to be renforced.look at it like this,folks who deer hunt and want to harvest that big buck,have a better chance, if where they hunt is managed(let the small ones walk)in this case little ones swim.

I have personally fished with 3 different guides the past 4 years and between the guide and myself we used 7 to 8
rods at any one time between the two of us on all 3 trips with different guides.


Maybe enforcing the locals to follow the same rules us out of towners have to follow would be a good start to some iomprovements.

I agree with lowering the creel limit. I think it would have a similar effect as lowering the fishing pressure (reducing the total number of fish being harvested). I also think releasing the bigger females would help. Those bigger females (say 13" and larger) are the best stocking program you could have. I rarely keep anything over 12" for that reason. I think the 10 and 11 inchers are much better eating than the larger fish anyway. I used to fish primarily for bass, and always found pleasure in catching a nice Largemouth, and then releasing that big girl to live and fight another day, and produce offspring for the future.... Just my two cents....

I too have seen some local boats with way too many poles out for the number of people in the boat. I've seen some throw fish in the cooler that were no where near the size limit either. I realize the guides need to make a living too but when you think about it, people hire the guides to get their limits and then take what the guide showed them to continue their success for the remainder of the trip. If you lower the limit to 15 per day, your number of visitors will drop significantly. People will not travel from any great distance for 15 fish, they can do that anywhere. Kentucky Lake has dropped theirs and they are seeing the effect on business. Stocking programs are good for everyone as long as the stripers dont get them first. I think the fish are still there but the species has changed and the old way of catching them has also changed. The guides dont seem to have any problems catching them.

Selective harvest but most people are greedy and want to brag about how many they catch and carry home

Just some food for thought (My opinion)

1) You can have the best genetic's, food plot's etc. for deer. But they'll never reach their full potential without the most important part of becoming a trophy buck. AGE!
2) Yearling or 1st year of breeding status for doe's, usually have only one fawn. Older doe's generally have twins and even triplett's. There again, age plays an important part.
3)Searches on the internet vary, but seemed to be consistent that older female crappie layed significantly more eggs. Some examples that I found were that a 10"crappie would lay 10000, where a 14" would layed up to 200000. This was probably the most extreme that I found. Still I think you'll find generally the same results showing that the older larger layed the most.
4)If you left all the female crappie in the lake for 1 to 2 years till they reached 12", just think how many more tens of thousands of eggs would be laid rather than filleted. Again age is part of the formula.
5)Females are only present for a short period of time at the nest. It's the males that has the responsibility to see the yearling's reach the age to where they can survive on their on. Catching the males off the spawning grounds plays a big part in the spawns success or failure to a point.
6) Nothing you come up with will work without enforcement. The lake has got to be patrolled and everyone kept in check.
7) Wild one here! Make it illegal to catch and release striper's on Weiss. Donate all the meat to the food banks at the very least!!!:biggrin

Weiss has had down years, even 20 years ago fishing got tough certain years, she will come back. and this may be the year. The economy is the biggest problem with folks traveling, maybe a bounty on stripers and a week open season on those birds. I still think weiss will be good this year,:fish

Slot limit may work?keep fish 10to 13 inch range anything over 13 throw back this will produce bigger brude fish.I know this works with other species..

I totally agree,increase out of state liscense fees..(double or triple)....lower creel limit to 15-20,and increase minimum size to 11 -12".Honestly,if a few of the out of staters would fish in their own state,many of us would be happy,not many would admit that on here,but that is the feeling of many of us (that aren't guides,merchants,or elected officials).One more thing,ENFORCE WHATEVER REGULATIONS THAT ARE IN PLACE...MAKE AN EXAMPLE OUT OF THE ONES THAT DO NOT ADHERE TO THE LAW..stick a few of the with about 500 bux per short fish...if that wouldn't make a man think twice...I don't know what would