Quote Originally Posted by duramax View Post
Some of our lakes have a closed portion to protect the waterfowl during hunting season. Why don't we have closed areas where the crappie spawn in the spring??? This practice seems to be working at Kirwin where the west half is closed to boats all year. I think it would be very easy to close off a couple of the prime spawning coves during the month of May. Why not??
duramax,

This idea of closing areas at certain times has been around for a long time. It has been suggested for a couple of different species, mainly crappie and walleye and usually during the spawn. The idea of certain areas being off limits during prime fishing seasons is not well received by all anglers, especially the shore anglers. The walleye and crappie spawns are some of the better times for the shore bound angler to be able to catch some fish as the fish come shallow close to shore to spawn. Limiting fishing opportunities during prime seasons would not be good for the angler, especially without any biological justification. By restricting access to one portion of the lake, pressure in other areas will increase. Higher pressure usually equates to higher harvest so even with fish being 'protected' in the closed area, overall fish harvest for that particular lake would likely remain the same resulting in a net gain of zero.

Some anglers fishing shortly before the spawn will release a fish that is heavy with eggs so that it can spawn. But, these same anglers don't have a problem filling the livewell a month or two before or after the spawn. It doesn't matter WHEN the fish is removed from the population, the end result is the same--it is still GONE from the population and obviously won't be contributing to the upcoming spawn!

Many other factors, besides number of spawning individuals, impact the success of the crappie spawn. Floods, flood releases, cold fronts, wind storms, and droughts are just a few things that affect the spawn and few of these can be controlled. Some years even the best populations cannot get a good spawn by Mother Nature. Is it worth restricting access to "prime spawning coves" during the peak angling times to have little impact on the overall success of the spawn? I would have to answer no.