Thread: Rod count in boats

Originally Posted by noodledancer77

The reality is that fishing with more poles is a more efficient way of catching fish. The limit is still 20, but with one pole it may take me 10 hours to catch my fish while the guy with 8 poles could be done in much less time.

And then he is off the water making more room for everyone else. If I could control/afford 20 poles out I would do it. I prefer casting a crappie slider though. Just want to stink a skillet.

I'd agree with most, the creel limits in place should be what is emphasized, not the number of rod's a person uses. Personally, when I spider rig by myself, I used six poles. If someone is up front with me, we each fish four poles. Pulling jigs or cranks I fish four out of the front with someone pulling four out of the back. Really not any different than a bank fisherman who uses four rods to fish with.

I catch some fish, but vary rarely approach a two person limit. Don't want to clean that many anyway. I still fish the TN side of Kentucky lake mostly, if I boat one person's limit on a days trip, I'm more than satisfied. I've also gone to keeping fish 11" or better once the bite gets good. Just my personal imposed regulations.

To each his own, that's what makes our Country so great.

The crappie population is probably best managed with a creel limit, rather than a method restriction. The creel limit is the same for all, regardless how many poles you use. However, in 2003 as part of a crappie study at KY Lake, we evaluate anglers fishing for crappie, their method and harvest. Of the crappie anglers on KY Lake that were interviewed, 23% fished with 3 or more poles (spider rigging), 15% casted the shoreline, and 62% used only 1 or 2 poles. Of the anglers that used 3 or more poles, they caught 40% of the crappie that were harvested that year. Anglers that casted the shoreline, caught 17% of the harvested crappie. While anglers fishing with 1 or 2 poles harvested the remaining 44% of the crappie. First these numbers would imply that there were almost three times the anglers fishing 1 or 2 poles. And, the harvest by these anglers was more than the anglers fishing with 3 or more poles. But the true questions is "efficiency" of the different methods. The anglers fishing 3 or more poles caught 3.48 harvestable size crappie per angler, while the anglers using only 1 or 2 poles caught 1.44 harvestable size crappie per anglers. So the efficiency is almost 2.5 times greater for spider rigged anglers.

We probably all knew that spider rigging is more effective. But, there is an art to spider rigging to make it effective.

The bottom line, if you catch your limit in 1 hour with 18 poles, or 9 hours with 2 poles, the limit is still the same for all. The fact is though most anglers will give up before they fish a full nine hours, making the odds of the first angler getting his limit.

The issue at hand at KY and Barkley lakes is a few poor year classes. We reduce the limit to 20 to help out the population. The "20" was a compromise to both manage the fishery and keep anglers fishing. In 2003, 48% of the crappie anglers agreed with a 20 fish limit, 37% agreed with a 15 crappie limit, it was down to 4% for a 10 fish limit. If we had truely set a creel limit to positively affect overharest during this depression, then the limit would have been closer to 5 fish. But, how many anglers would have complained? How much tourism would have been loss? So it was a compromise, one with which you all will have to make for the next few years, until we have seen a few good spawns. The compromise on your part is to help out, and not keep as many crappie as you can catch. Self impose a lower creel limit and/or a high size limit for your boat. It is just fishing, relax and injoy it. Use photos to brag on your catch, not livewells full or crappie or freezers full of fish. Put a few back to spawn.

You could raise the price of NR fishing licenses on KY and Barkley lakes by $5-$10 and largely pay for your restocking efforts.


(flame suit on. kidding, nr's.. sort of :D)

I prefer to have my own size and creel limit. This does my part in helping the population of crappie. I also catfish, so it is not my full time fucus. I just love what god has given us to enjoy.

As to the pole limit, Lake Weiss has a limit of 3 per person in the water at one time. May help, but I have not seen any data on the effect this has had on the population. I like the lake, but when making my schedule, if I had to chose between a lake that has size and creel limits or a lake that has size, creel and rod quantity, 90% of the time I will chose the first lake.

I can' t see where this is a problem at KY lake, so the only the only adise that I have been given over my 71 years is, "if it isn't broken, don't fix it."

Sometimes I have found that many people have the talent of starting a subject to "stir up the pot."

Guess you can say I had to put my two cents in also, so you got it. I want to fish what ever amount of poles that I want to. There are enough government regulations. Look at salt water fishing. It would seem that non fishermen of the sport are making the rules. Just like PETA.

Let's go fish and teach others to enjoy. This site has helped me in enjoy and improve my catches.

Chuck

Personaly I think I should be allowed to have as many rods in my boat as I please. I like to FISH! Every time I am on the lake I have 3 rods set up for crappie and gills, 1 for catfish and 6 for bass. Now obviously I dont have all these in the water at the same time, but I like to be able to get in the rod box and grab what is working the best.

The GREAT STATE OF KENTUCKY has decided that a creel/size limit is best for KY/Barkley and I agree. I rarely bring home a limit of crappie or redear (I never keep bass). I just bring home enough each time(when I can catch them) to feed me, my wife and our son.

If you only want to have four rods in your boat more power to you. If you want 100 rods in your boat more power to you. I feel that if you want to ease some of the pressure on our local fisheries raise the NR fees. I know this is a big money and tourism issue but if our lakes and rivers are so much better than the theirs THEY WILL PAY MORE TO FISH HERE!!!!

Just my opinion.

Originally Posted by chuckauten

I prefer to have my own size and creel limit. This does my part in helping the population of crappie. I also catfish, so it is not my full time fucus. I just love what god has given us to enjoy.

As to the pole limit, Lake Weiss has a limit of 3 per person in the water at one time. May help, but I have not seen any data on the effect this has had on the population. I like the lake, but when making my schedule, if I had to chose between a lake that has size and creel limits or a lake that has size, creel and rod quantity, 90% of the time I will chose the first lake.

Chuck

The vibe from the Alabama folks that I got was that the rod limit was a way to reduce crowding on the lake and not so much a biological based restriction to improve the fishery.

Originally Posted by Quackrstackr

You could raise the price of NR fishing licenses on KY and Barkley lakes by $5-$10 and largely pay for your restocking efforts.


(flame suit on. kidding, nr's.. sort of :D)

Don't say that out loud! It's already $50. I spent $200 on licenses for the family last year for two trips to KY Lake.