Kentucky & Barkley Future

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Originally Posted by caseydrew

The black crappie and white crappie tend to hang out in different areas. If you are catching mainly whites then you probably aren't fishing the areas the blacks are concentrated in. They have been doing these studies for years and I trust Paul Rister's judgement and analysis of the data. He seems to take his job very seriously and is extremely informative when speaking. The crappie fishing is currently on a down swing on KY, but there are still plenty to catch.......the highest populations are in Big Sandy though and I hate driving all the way down there when my cabin is on Blood. I can catch 3 times the fish in Big Sandy as Blood and I know Blood MUCH better.

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Was catching mostly blacks until about 2 years ago, outnumbered whites 3 to 1. Since then it has reversed, fishing same spots. Sometimes I will catch a limit and not one black.

Weird deal man???? Wish I had an answer, but I'd say if you are catching limits I wouldn't worry about the crappie report and keep whacking em! White or black they all taste great and are a blast to catch.

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Originally Posted by sls

There is another thing to do to help the population. Not only continue to add cover, but do not go with the 10 inch limit, make a personal 11 inch limit. That will leave more fish to spawn. Also when you catch those big, belly about to bust open females in the spring, take a picture and throw them back and let them spawn. If everyone would do this the crappie population would increase 25% in 1 year.

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I agree with catch and release the large females. I dont always do it with crappie like I should, but I never keep female Redear with eggs and seldom keep the ones without.