Thread: Reduced limits on KY and Barkley Lakes

I just noticed that I made a mistake, instead of 43 E-mails it was 45........something that I ment to post was something that Paul Rister said that suprised me “Our studies have shown that fishing mortality is around 74 percent annually,” Rister said. “In other words, for every 100 keeper crappie that you’ve got swimming around out there, 74 of them will get caught and harvested this year.”

This came out of an article in the paper in March

I would have to disagree with the 74% statement. In looking at the electronic tracking survey in 03, almost all of those fish were tracked every week for a long period of time. If 74% were caught , how coiuld that be?

Hey Jigboy, If your not pleased with the new crappie limits on kentucky lake, wait till you see the Canadian daily limits, and it makes no differance how long your there one days is all you bring back. Have a great trip, It's important for dads and sons to be together.

If there is a problem, then Government intervention is not the solution.

Jigboy has a good point with the tagging permit system with payout. Use the payouts to support a Crappie broodery on private land and work with the state on stocking crappie. Just gotta get the right people together.

Regarding people keeping undersized fish. Keep the Game Warden's phone number handy and let them know what's going on. If you believe in the limits do what your conscience tells you to do.

We have a limit of 15 on Table Rock with a 10" limit. It works well for our fishery and I rarely get a limit per person in the boat. 15 fish over 10" is plenty of meat for a days work. We used to fish Kentucky in the spring during spring break and it was rare to have more than 15 per person. I'm not sure the limit of 20 will make that much of a difference.

We all have to remember that the lake was created for so called ' Flood Control ' and not for recreation. (Interesting that the Government fix to flood control is to permanently flood the area that would flood.) So it'll depend on the relationship between your Wildlife Managers and the Corps. to work together. Here in Missouri, our DNR works with the Corps on lake levels in the spring to enhance spawn for BASS and other gamefish. They do a good job at holding the lakes steady during the spring. Unfortunately our poor spawns the past couple years were due more to weather fluctuations than the lake level.

Question though. What's made KY so much clearer the past decade? Is all the introduced vegetation filtering the water?


G.

Originally Posted by Kit Papermouth

Question though. What's made KY so much clearer the past decade? Is all the introduced vegetation filtering the water?


G.

All the soil is gone from the shore and changing agricultural practices reduce soil erosion into the water.

Originally Posted by CatFan

All the soil is gone from the shore and changing agricultural practices reduce soil erosion into the water.

The introduction of the Zebra Mussel, drought conditions for a couple of years in a row, along with (and a help in starting ) the re-emergence of water weeds.

.... cp

Zebras make a huge difference. There are areas on Illinois that used to be dingy as all get out and now you can see the bottom in 3 ft of water. I'll have to make sure I clean the livewell and back of the boat after the Tourney in October.

G.