Used to throw back every crappie we caught during the spawn. The past three years now we've harvested some. Granted there are people harvesting more than their legal amounts. Seeing the unnoticeable impact of these anglers season after season, led us to begin harvesting some spawn-time crappie. BTW, DNR CO actually caught one angler this spring with one too many crappie on his stringer (CO's are out there & we've been checked too). IMHO, IN DNR does have things pretty well figured out. The fishing is pretty consistent.

Like others posting I'd like to see the average crappie size increase in IN, but... a couple of the things I remind myself are our growing season is shorter & the fish have to be more resilient & hardy than their southern cousins. The age of fish to reach >15" is longer than to the south & the mortality rates of each year are seldom discussed. Typically each year of a fish class their population decreases, so generally there are fewer six year class fish than five year and so on. Maybe what we're seeing is close to what would be natural for IN. It'd be nice to hear more about this from a wildlife biologist.

Crappie are known to be excellent reproducers, so anglers keeping more than their limit during the spawn may have little impact on most impoundments ( maybe small impoundments could be impacted???) This meaning that there will be quality crappie remaining that aren't harvested during the spawn for future angling.

Sure sounds simple enough- just impose a size limit and everyone catches bigger crappie. In theory this may hold some water; before being sold, need to see some real world results- not a study. Are there other neighboring states or some further north that impose crappie size limits? If so, what worked and what didn't, what are the results, and are all contributing factors the same too (like fishing pressure, lake size, seasonal, habitat, etc)?

Being a "keep it simple" advocate, understandably it's hard to keep all things simple and consistent. In this forum we're a leading edge of crappie fishing. Where the majority of recreational fishers aren't as dedicated to the sport as we. What could size limits do to the future of our sport? What about the effects on others? What might happen if a parent takes their children crappie fishing and has to continuously throw all their catch back b/c size limits- could they find satisfaction or enjoyment in this??? Possibly- who knows. My kids understand the importance of conserving the resource (practicing "catch-n-release") and occasionally want to bring some back home to show their mother their catch. Most recreational anglers find enjoyment & pride in opening their livewell or hoisting a nice stringer/fish basket to show their expertise & skill. In short... if IN waters were full of stunted <8" fish, my drum would be beating for change.

My two cents- no change required! (pun intended)

Have a super Wednesday!