Thread: Grand Lake today

Luvpt,

Congrats on those fish!! It looks like the large year class of crappie is finally dominating the population at Grand. We expected it to happen this year and there is some proof. I believe I have interviewed you at Lake Monticello for the creel study going on there.

SEARKfisherman,

I don’t want to sound harsh but please refrain from comments like that until you really know the person. Diana works hard and is a great person. Grand Lake is owned by the State of Ark and is managed by the AGFC. This means that the AGFC doesn't have the rights to say who can and can’t pump from the lake. The NRCS has control over that. You should contact them about that problem. As for getting shallow, I could write a book about reservoir limnology on here but to save time, I will keep it short. Reservoirs are sediment traps and over time they are going to fill-in. All reservoirs will go through this process and eventually become swamps and then dry land (Not in our life time). With the amount of agricultural occurring around the lake, Grand Lake receives a lot of sediments causing it to be come shallow. The beaver dams, we are working on. We dynamited the corn field chute and now looking at how to take care of the Myers chute one. As for trapnetting crappie and moving other places, YES, we did trap-net 1000 crappie from Grand Lake in Dec 2006. Did we want to do that, NO. But sometimes you have to do what you are told to. These fish were broad stock fish for the hatchery and did not go to Lake Chicot. The broadstock fish for the Lake Chicot Nursery Pond are collected out of Connerly Bayou. We did stock crappie back into Grand the following year. There is no length limit on the lake because of the unusually high density of crappie in the lake. If we did put a 10 in. length limit on the lake, there could be a chance for stunting and you would actually have smaller fish due to the high productivity of the lake (Another area that I could go on and on about).

As for the water level, we finally got it back to normal and hope it stay there but realize there is some seepage of water to the Mississippi River. We also have a water level meter on the bridge that collects daily reading so we can monitor the water level.

Finally, feel free to come to the Public meeting on Thursday Feb 26 at 7pm at the Lake Village Fire department and we can talk about Grand Lake after we talk about Lake Chicot. Also feel free to contact me at the Monticello Regional Office.

All,

Please feel free to contact your local biologists. A lot of us are very avid fishermen and are willing to answers people questions.

Sorry for a long post. Please don’t take this post the wrong way, I like coming on crappie.com to see fishing report for SEArk and around the state and see the opinions of the anglers in the state. We need more outreach on why we do some of the things we do and this is one way, we can do it by reaching out to you the angler.

Thanks

Jeremy

Thanks for taking the time to post Jeremy. I would like for you to post more often. I am sure you could add a lot of valuable input to all of us.

Could you please give me the name and a contact number for the biologist for the central part of the state?

Thanks,
Jeff

Hey Mojorig, Do you have any current information on the condition of the crappie fishery in Lake Nimrod? Who would be the best biologist to contact and talk to about this?

Thanks,

Dave

Jeremy,

Yes, that was me you interviewed a while back on Lake Monticello. Thanks very very much for the clarification on what's happening at Grand Lake. So many fishermen have the wrong idea about the management of the lake and I have heard all the false rumors myself. Hopefully you have set the record straight. I have actually heard people say that the crappie population in Grand was very minimal at best and not worth fishing. They just either haven't been there on a good day or weren't using the correct technique. As I said before, it is truly one of the best crappie lakes in the world and has been for a long time. I worked in Eudora this afternoon and just had to swing by the lake for a little scouting report.....saw a lot of large-size crappie coming out of there......needless to say I will be there at daylight in the morning. If the water is rough I plan to power-troll crankbaits.....otherwise I will spider-rig with jigs.

crappietyme,

For the central area of the state contact Tom Bly or Matt Schroeder in the Mayflower office 1-877-470-3309

slabbandit,

For Nimrod contact Bob Limbird or Frank Leone in the Russellville office 1-877-967-7577

Thanks all, I will check in from time to time, so feel free to ask questions that you might have related to crappie or AGFC and if I can't answer them I will get you the answer from someone who knows.

L.A. stumpjumper,

I ran into you one day at Morgan Point but didn't get to say hello because the guy I was with was ready to go fishing.

As for fishing pics, I am one of those anglers that some of you guys might not like. I am a bass tournament fisherman but I enjoy hearing from all type of anglers in the area so that is why I came on here. Also, I would like to talk to you sometime about Cane Creek Lake. It is very difficult for us to sample that lake so we have to rely on angler input for that lake.

Jeremy

Man we would love to have a wildlife agent willing to work with local fisherman and share info.with us.Keep up the good work.....Tknight

Steve,

Your killing Me with those pics.. I swear every time I get in my truck it seems to pull towards the Southeast and when my dogs bark, It sure sounds like "Ark.. Ark... Ark.:D
You guys are lucky to have biologists that care down there.
Cane Creek is a special place, Of the six 3# / 3# + crappie that I have caught to date, The two from CaneCreek are by far my Favorites.

Daniel

Originally Posted by Mojorig

Thanks all, I will check in from time to time, so feel free to ask questions that you might have related to crappie or AGFC and if I can't answer them I will get you the answer from someone who knows.

L.A. stumpjumper,

I ran into you one day at Morgan Point but didn't get to say hello because the guy I was with was ready to go fishing.

As for fishing pics, I am one of those anglers that some of you guys might not like. I am a bass tournament fisherman but I enjoy hearing from all type of anglers in the area so that is why I came on here. Also, I would like to talk to you sometime about Cane Creek Lake. It is very difficult for us to sample that lake so we have to rely on angler input for that lake.

Jeremy

Hey Jeremy, I used to be one of those bass tournament fisherman. But with age the crappie have come more appealing to me, much more relaxing fishing, and some mighty fine eating too. Anytime you see me out just holler at me, I'll tell you what I can about Cane Creek. It is my favorite fall fishing hole, to me it is a special lake with some special crappie in it. Look forward to meeting you on the water.