Thread: Closing bays for spring spawn

Why not make habitat thats unreachable or fishable? Conditions and habitat are whats needed to boost crappie populations.

the problem is water levels at critical times. they could close the whole lake and it would not
make any difference when the corp pulls the plug!

Quackrstackr you are correct in your thinking. Protecting crappie in one embayment will do nothing or very little for another embayment. The big problem is not really that the fish need more protection while spawning, although in theory it make sense; but might only work in a small inland lake and not a 160,000 reservoir. In the article that I posted, I had hoped to make it clear to anglers what is driving the population. The bottom line is we could close a few embayments, we could change the size limit, we could change the creel limit, we could stock, we could add more habitat, we could limit the number of poles anglers fish with... the population is driven more by things we have no control over. Yes, a change in limits to a drastic number might help at times, but to smooth out the highs and lows of this fishes cyclic life, then no.

I agree with many on here, the lack of law enforcement on the water is an issue. But think of the highways, how many people break the speed limit and get caught, as compared to those that don't get caught. Maybe not a good analogy, but there is a lack of man power for both branches of law enforcement. Our officers, which is normally one per county, have a lot of ground to cover, plus work the lakes. I have a staff of three, and we cover the western 14 counties, from the Mississippi River to the Tradewater. I worked with an officer last spring and just in a few hours one day on Blood River; several anglers were cited for having short fish. So I know it happens. However, anglers need to know, the fine is $50 per short fish plus court cost ($153). So do the math, is it worth it? If you know a repeat offender, let me know, name, boat number, what ever you can, and we will follow the lead; maybe not the moment you call, but someone will check into it. If you see undersize fish at the cleaning station; I would shame the guilty angler and stand in front of them while I called 1-800-25-ALERT.

I agree with the comment about throwing back deep hooked short fish. I hate to throw a wounded fish back that I know will probably die, but if we allowed it, then a lot of anglers would start ripping the gills out of short fish, just to be able to keep them.

A few referred to increasing the size limit. This would potentially have a negative impact because of growth rates. Yes, this might work in more southern states, but they have longer growing season. The farthest extreme is Lake Monroe in Florida where they have a 12 inch size limit, but the crappie are 15 inches by age 3. At KY Lake at age 3 they are only 10 inches. So you can't compare tobacco to oranges.

Thanks Mr. Briggs, all these comments and opinions just make my job interesting. The fish part is easy. As one old timer biologist told me, "fisheries management is 10% managing the fish and 90% managing the anglers".

Keep up the good discussion, if we talk long enough, the white crappie fishery will bround in 2012, and then we can talk about bass since bass and crappie in KY and Barkley lakes seem to operate in an inverse relationship.

Thanks Paul,
I believe you have a very interesting job to say the least. I do really appreciate all you do to help us out with all the information and help protecting a very valuable resource that I care about deeply.I know that a lot of ideas get discussed and some are good and some do not make sense and wading through all these has to be difficult for all of you at Ky. Fish & Wildlife.I feel like most of you the key to succesful spawning is water level and quality management. I have seen TVA and the Corp. drop the water level many times during the spawn.It has to be very frustrating to do every thing possible to help the the fish population only to watch them yank the water levels around. Paul,I enjoy talking with you and as someone else mentioned I think you are a straight shooter and I respect what you are doing for us all.I think your office is spread out too thin and it makes it hard to enforce what laws we already have. I have seen at least 30 boats behind the lines at Duncan and Smith Bays in the last 3 weeks. I watched a commercial fisherman run his nets behind the line in Duncan Bay 4 weeks ago.The buoys are all over the place in these bays by the way.I do not think extending the closing time on these bays is a viable solution.The last 5 years I have been releasing most of my larger fish especially during the spawn.I know big fish make big baby's and it is just a small part I can do.If there is anything I can do to help you out please feel free to contact me.Paul,I thank you Sir for your dedication and time and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

I do not normally enter into these type of debates because no matter what you do some one is not happy, although i love to crappie fish and i cannot understand why some of the people on here cannot understand what has happened to our crappie population.If you want to see a big part of the problem get on the water this spring and count the boats that has 8 to 16 rods hanging off of the side of them. Last spring i seen 2 boats in one bay that had 4 men in them and 16 rods in the water, although i realize that they were not breaking any laws and had as much right to be there as i did, i am just saying that is a law that needs to be changed. As for the fluctuations in the water levels, i am no biologist but i am convinced that a lot of crappie spawn 8 to 10 feet deep, as i have caught them several times in the spring in a brush pile 10 feet deep and there bellies be covered with eggs. Also i would like to know about the black crappie numbers since i dont ever really hear that mentioned then I take it that the blacks are doing o.k. One other thing i realize that i am going to make a lot of people mad but for my part if you want to raise the price of fishing license 20 dollars a year to help re-stock or hire more law enforcement then i am all for it as long as that is where the money is going.

Originally Posted by Slab Slayer

I do not normally enter into these type of debates because no matter what you do some one is not happy, although i love to crappie fish and i cannot understand why some of the people on here cannot understand what has happened to our crappie population.If you want to see a big part of the problem get on the water this spring and count the boats that has 8 to 16 rods hanging off of the side of them. Last spring i seen 2 boats in one bay that had 4 men in them and 16 rods in the water, although i realize that they were not breaking any laws and had as much right to be there as i did, i am just saying that is a law that needs to be changed. As for the fluctuations in the water levels, i am no biologist but i am convinced that a lot of crappie spawn 8 to 10 feet deep, as i have caught them several times in the spring in a brush pile 10 feet deep and there bellies be covered with eggs. Also i would like to know about the black crappie numbers since i dont ever really hear that mentioned then I take it that the blacks are doing o.k. One other thing i realize that i am going to make a lot of people mad but for my part if you want to raise the price of fishing license 20 dollars a year to help re-stock or hire more law enforcement then i am all for it as long as that is where the money is going.

I agree on the rod limit! I say a maximun of 3 rods per person is enough. Not sure raising fishing license would help. The money would not be used for Fish and Wildlife purposes only.

Originally Posted by prister

I agree with the comment about throwing back deep hooked short fish. I hate to throw a wounded fish back that I know will probably die, but if we allowed it, then a lot of anglers would start ripping the gills out of short fish, just to be able to keep them.

Good point, Paul. I guess I don't think like a violator, so it didn't occur to me.

... the number of poles that you are allowed to fish with, really doesn't matter --- you're still only allowed to "legally" harvest a limit per day, per person. Cutting the number of poles allowed per person, still doesn't stop the person from catching/keeping short fish or too many fish.

Remember .... one person, fishing with one pole, that fishes 10x's as often as one person with 10 poles, is going to catch more fish in a year's time .... even if they both limit out every time they go. The daily limit isn't connected to the number of poles you use ... just the number of anglers using them.

Case in point :

Fishing on KY Lake, back many years ago, myself & 3 other buddies were fishing in a little cove. Myself & the buddy in the boat with me, were casting Roadrunners ... my two other buddies were fishing tightline with minnows (using 2-3 poles apiece). Another boat, with 3 anglers, was also fishing in this cove ... and they had 3-4 poles out, each. They, too, were fishing with minnows ... and were anchored in the middle of the cove, right over the little ditch that the Crappie were using as a highway to the flooded grass in the back of this cove. My boat partner & I were circling their boat, and casting randomly in the area ... my two other buddies were anchored 50ft away, in deeper water, just off the side of the ditch drop. While it seemed that the "other" boat was catching them in waves (pulling out 3/4/5 fish at a time, between them) ... and my partner & I were catching them "now & then" ... when the day was done, WE ALL had caught our daily limit. No more, no less ... regardless of how many poles were used by any one angler

... cp