One reason I brought this topic up is because I have seen the affects crappie limits can have on a fishery.


When I lived on the Illinois/ Indiana border we used to fish on a private lake a lot.

Back in the 1980's the Crappie on the lake had to be 12 inches or more in order to keep. You were allowed 20 per day.

However, in the late 1990's they changed the rules. Crappie only had to be 10 inches to keep. You were allowed 20 per day.

After about 2.5 years of the new rule, we started noticing a major change in fish numbers and size.

We used to easily catch 50 to 100 crappie per day prior to the rule change.

But within 2.5 years after the rules changed everyone on the lake started catching a lot less fish.

In fact, the last 5 years I lived on the lake we were lucky to catch 15 to 20 crappie per day.

The rule change is what caused this. The lake was healthy. There was no shad problems, and there was plenty of aquatic vegatation. The bass and bluegill populations were balanced.

So me and everyone who lived on the lake, are certain that the liberal crappie limits hurt the lake.