Thread: Here's A Picture For You!

We always cook too much fish. If we have company for a fish dinner they are usually carry'n left overs when they leave. I thought we ate lots of fish ,twice a week is plenty for us. They always are best fresh caught though. Between Commercial fishing and sport fishing there is fish in our house all the time. At times I've wondered about our mercury levels . This lake has an advisory on LM Bass over 15''. They don't mention Crappie .

Originally Posted by NIMROD

We always cook too much fish. If we have company for a fish dinner they are usually carry'n left overs when they leave. I thought we ate lots of fish ,twice a week is plenty for us. They always are best fresh caught though. Between Commercial fishing and sport fishing there is fish in our house all the time. At times I've wondered about our mercury levels . This lake has an advisory on LM Bass over 15''. They don't mention Crappie .

I have wondered the same thing about the bass vs crappie issues regarding mercury. A 15 inch crappie has to be 2x as old as a 15inch bass so why would they not be included in the advisory? I think I heard or read somewhere that as crappie are a pan fish they eat more bugs and things that dont have the mercury in them than the bass do.

All I know is I drive way to fast to waste my time worrying about mercury levels in fish.

Originally Posted by gooch

All I know is I drive way to fast to waste my time worrying about mercury levels in fish.

In one of my older books, I think I remember seeing your pic next to Darwin's theory of natural selection. I really can't believe that you've made it this long (after hearing some of the stories). Maybe one day down the road you will win the Darwin's Award.:D

As gooch said, I think that crappie are excluded from the list based on thier food preferences. It may be that the mercury levels of concern are found in the larger baitfish (e.g. gizzard shad), which more bass and catfish eat. Will crappie eat something the size of a gizzard shad?

Ceb Crappie eat shad of both kinds, Gizzard before they grow too large and threadfins. It appears they are one of Crappies perferred foods on Nimrod Lake . It is normal to see Shad 3 '' to 4 '' in Crappie here. In the spring before hatches of young shad and Crappie are aggressive to catch them on large spinnerbaits Bass fishing. By large spinnerbaits I mean Double #5 willow leaf blades on a 3/8 head ! When they hit them they mean bussiness , they clobber it . I fish Umbrella tubes and 1/8oz leadheads 99 % of the time here for Crappie. Won't use the wimpy little jigs most do. They will inhale that big jig with no problem. I can remember dad using 3'' stingray grubs or Bass minnows years ago. He did not want them dinky Crappie minnows .:D

Jerry congrats to you and your customers on that great catch. Seeing that makes me want to go soon. P.S. Can I come and eat with you? hahaha grizzly

Originally Posted by grizzly

Jerry congrats to you and your customers on that great catch. Seeing that makes me want to go soon. P.S. Can I come and eat with you? hahaha grizzly

Thanks Grizzly

Come on anytime but beware, it's every man for himself when the crappie come out of the grease!

Grizzly, Jerry can cook crappie. If he was a woman, I'd marry him just for his cooking. :rolleyes: You won't regret setting at his table.

Here's my take on the whole mercury/crappie thing. I used to hunt Felsenthal Wildlife Refuge in south Arkansas years ago. To the best of my knowledge it was here that the whole Mercury thing got started in Arkansas.

I mean they plastered signs at every oxbow and launch area on the surrounding waterways. And geuss what fish they had a picture of on the signs? Yea a crappie!!

Well a few years later after they all learned more about which fish were more affected by the Mercury they lifted the restriction completely off the Crappie!

Every since then I don't worry about the crappie! I may be a little spoiled living on one of the best crappie lakes in Arkansas but I don't eat Bass AKA(Trash-fish) anyway!! I apologize to those of you who do enjoy bass fishing also.

Also my wife and I both have to go to various doctors and specialists for different and unrelated illnesses and thru all the various tests thru the years the question of Mercury poisioning has never came up.

By the way, like Nimrod said, when we are really catching 'em we'll usually eat 2 to 3 crappie dinners a week.