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.