Here is response to your Black Crappie question
Hey Harold, currently there are no regulation changes proposed for black crappie around the state. The last time we looked at a potential crappie rule change was back in 2012 on Lake Istokpoga, but our stock assessment showed that regulations (e.g., 10 inch minimum) would not improve the population or angler catch rates. The primary reason was that anglers were self-regulating themselves and not keeping any crappie under 10 inches. However, a few of us have been discussing putting together a black crappie management plan for the state. We did this back in 2010 for largemouth bass which provided guidance to managers and researchers for the next 30 years and we currently are addressing the action items that came out of the plan for bass. One of those is changing our statewide black bass regulations throughout the state which will be presented to our commissioners next week for approval. There is definitely merit to doing this for crappie as well since it is primarily a harvest oriented species compared to bass which is mostly catch and release. We will probably revisit this concept for crappie in the upcoming year. However, budgetary restraints have sort of handcuffed us a bit so we’ll have to see how that turns out in the next few years as well.


Bill Pouder
FWC SW Region
Freshwater Fisheries Administrator
3900 Drane Field Rd.
Lakeland, FL 33811