The future

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Originally Posted by 65pontiac

If you know for a fact that this guy is selling then the right thing to do is to turn him over to the lawman.

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We can run a NCIS sting on him. We will get his DNA off the crappie and video him selling them. If we are lucky maybe we can get in a shootout. Crappie Terrorist goes to jail for 3 to 5 years. Book'em Dano. LOL.

:ThumbsUp:popcorn:ThumbsUp

Good posts. I can count probly on one hand the times I have "kept" a limit in my livewell. I dont like keeping the babies.

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Originally Posted by manta1

Good posts. I can count probly on one hand the times I have "kept" a limit in my livewell. I dont like keeping the babies.

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:cheers2 I agree.

my problem is catching a limit of any size .:scratchhead

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Originally Posted by Slabby15

We can run a NCIS sting on him. We will get his DNA off the crappie and video him selling them. If we are lucky maybe we can get in a shootout. Crappie Terrorist goes to jail for 3 to 5 years. Book'em Dano. LOL.

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Their are many coming to Talquin who bring home over their allowed 50 crappie possession limit. I do not even think they realize that they are committing a felony every time they transport illegal game or fish across state lines. A local man I know is in big heat about buying illegal fish, he was on the school board and has lost his seat. He is just praying to stay out of jail! The fines are ridiculous when the Feds intervene. They can take your truck and/or boat it is not a laughing matter. Yes they did a big sting on this group of fishermen selling and found who was purchasing them. They have over 3 years of evidence and pictures. I know for a fact that some are being watched at my home lake. If they are found breaking the law, then I hope they get them.

3 years of evidence.................that's gonna leave a mark........I hope. Let us know when this hits the courts and how it turns out. I am guessing it is going to be in a Florida court. If so, Florida don't play when it comes to game/fish laws, especially when the offenders are from out of State.

Tomorrow starts my 1.5 and less program. I feel like Papasage in a way, as I probably won't even have to count the fish I catch to worry about a limit. Blackshear is the target lake for tomorrow. I bought a new BnM rear reel seat rod at the Sports Center for a REALLY good price. Gonna give it a work out tomorrow. If that don't work out as planned, then the BnM ProStaff rods will hit the HiTeks and minnows will be attached to some TOP SECRET baits and dangled in front of some confused deeper fish. I won't harm the slime coat on any fish by measuring them. Really hoping the whites are up for the game.

I hope to see a lot of those genetically better crappie going back to add to the future trips to Blackshear.

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Originally Posted by crappielimits

Food for thought! 8-10 inchers are the most prevalent crappie spawners! So why do we take those younger, better spawners. Many 12inch plus fish will die during the spawn others will not spawn. Why do we keep the males who protect the beds from predators? Why do we throw back the trash fish as some call gar, pickerel, and many others that prey on crappie eggs. How many released fish survive and does the stress keep them from spawning? God made a beautiful, natural and perfect thing! As humans we are destructive and destroy things then try to fix it. If the protection of spawners is so important, why do we have tournaments at all during the spawn? Wouldn't it be more competitive when fish are not stacked in the creeks?

As for this years spawn, I expect to see many 12 inch plus females floating on Talquin in April. The normal stress kills these fish every year, but this year with the multiple weather problems many will not be able to lay. Some absorb these eggs, but many die. Crappie eggs need light penetration to hatch. That's why beds are in areas with sunlight from 12-15 hours a day. As the water clarity decreases it pushes the crappie shallower to spawn. This eliminates many spawning areas and crowds these areas. This keeps many from spawning. It also allows predators to have easy pickings on beds. In turn this year the spawn will be less than average. Many of the stressed crappie will turn on the newly hatched fry for food after the stressful spawn. This is why crappie and bluegill are crappies #1 natural predator. Fisherman also will catch more fish when they find them stacked in the shallows. Also the longer prespawn allows longliners to find crappie staged and hungry in open water.

Should we just step back and allow nature to do its job? Some of us can go and release what we do not need to eat, but how many do this? I know that over the last 25+ years the lakes I fish have drastically changed. Talquin, in the 90s produced much larger fish and they were more numbers. Then we had a 50 crappie per person limit and they had a scheduled drawdown. There were less crappie fishermen on the water on average, especially outside of the spring. Why is it so different now? Is one of these things the problem or a combination? I do not know the answers, just throwing topics out for discussion. I personally think you are not helping the spawn or population by releasing a 12 inch + female as this is a 5 year old fish (like a 50-60 year old human) versus a 8-10 inch 3 year old (comparable to a 20 something prime child bearing age human). When our wives or daughters are pregnant we pamper them and protect them. So, why do we even fish the spawn at all? What does the stress of being caught and their gills, slime coats and other abuse do to these pregnant females? Do they spawn after being released? Why do we keep the males who are the soldiers protecting and spraying the eggs? Female crappie on average lays 17-21,000 eggs, but they are useless it not sprayed a fertilized by the males! Then they must survive! There are a lot of questions to answer and a lot of different views, but in the end are you truly making a change? If we all respect the resource and keep only what our family can eat, then maybe we are? And please introduce me to that fat little old lady that everyone says they are giving there fish too. Or the church congregations eating all these fish, they need to start eating catfish.

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Glad you replied. I enjoy a constructive discussion, and you make some valid points. That is a lot more that I will be thinking about too.

The FWC has caught a few that I know of, but this does not seem to worry those that make a habit of needing to make money. God gave us the crappie in Talquin to enjoy, eat and look to the future experiences. Those that are meat fishermen are greedy. I might catch a limit once in 30 days and my personal preference is 12+ size. Most all of us that are not meat fishermen use this rule. Many times I have seen these same fishermen meet someone fishing the lake for the first time, or an older couple that did not do very good, you didn't have to suggest to them to give their catch of the day to them:highfivethey as true a sportsman, gave them away. I am proud to call them true fishermen.

We could go on and on with this frustration, but if one quits, there are others that will take their place. All we can do is count on the FWC to do their job. Wouldn't hurt if when a meat fisherman get's greedy and stealing from all of us and the future generations, we mention this fact to greedy fishermen :deadhorse. I know the biologist have told me at Crescent that 10" are the spawners, I don't think they take into account the amount of meat fishermen taking so many.

My :twocents.

If I made some meat fishermen mad, so be it you greedy wantabe excuse of a fisherman. Instead of sharing the resource, they want their share and other fishermen's share. I agree with TNT's and Shine Runner posts, right on point.

Chuck