Quote Originally Posted by NIMROD View Post
But the yoyos baited with minnows take alot of the biggest. I remember old timers trotlinng for Crappie back in the 70's in the backwaters. They actually sold slabs (illegal but went on )and man it was unreal how many they hauled out! There would be lots fewer yoyo fishermen if they had to follow the regulations!
To some degree, that was me. I ran a ton of yo-yo's in the Plumerville Cutoff.....back when it was lined with big trees. We tied ropes between the trees and hung the yo yo's off of the ropes. After a couple of years of that, we found out it was illegal! We also shot frogs in a pond offshore there, and found out THAT was illegal. We stopped when we found out. We were maybe 25-30 years old (Lincoln was running for President, and the Dead Sea had just started to get sick) and we'd bass fish till dark, then run yo-yo's till dawn.

We did NOT haul out "tons" of crappie. We caught mostly catfish. But we caught a few crappie.

I can't even imagine leaving those yo-yo's out there when I left. They were too expensive to do that! Plus it'd be stupid. I never did that, not once. They are still in the shop, with hooks stuck in the styrofoam bucket.

And I'd go again in a heartbeat.........and do it legal.........IF I could stay awake that long, which I can't!