Thread: Sardis report

Originally Posted by cray

Went to a lake today and my truck was the only one in the lot from Ms. Every other truck was from Il.

You been up here fishing

My boat won't run north of the Mason-Dixon Line

Originally Posted by tcounty

Hater lol

It's the prespawn trolling that's doing it. Water being high will help with the ones that actually make it to the shallows. You want to troll after spawn I say go for it , but not before.

I don't normally get into these kinds of conversations but going to make a exception to my rule. I'm not quite following you on this one. So you are saying I shouldn't go fishing until the Spawn then when the Spawn starts I can go catch all the Spawners I want up to my limit as long as I single pole but a limit trolling is out of the question. Really don't follow that logic but I am getting up in age.

A tad over simplified. Are you familiar with Sardis?

Reason I ask is 10 years ago there were zero people trolling prespawn at Sardis. The crappie there will usually stack up just ahead of where the river gets out of its banks in about 6-10 foot of water. All out in the open and not related to structure. You could might go out and catch a few jigging but not likely. Now it's boat after boat , I mean several hundred boats out there catching those fish before they move into the shallows to spawn. Very few people fished from say November to mid February. Now people troll year around and the lake can't sustain that forever. In a little over 20 years the limit has dropped from 40 to 15, and I'm fine with that. 10 might be better. I think there should be a troll free season from Jan 1 to May 1. This lake has steadily declined over the last 10 years and the only thing different is more pressure from trolling. When the parking lot at the dam and Holiday are full in February it's not good for the fish.

I still catch all I want spring,summer,and fall. I'm not saying this because I want the fish to myself, I just want the fish to be there when I retire. Problem will fix itself in a couple more years if MDWF doesn't do something. There will be so few fish people will go elsewhere. Grenada is getting bombarded now and watch what happens to it in less than 10 years.

I hate government control of anything or tell someone how they can or can't fish, but I'm witnessing the decline of the lake I learned how to fish on. To me trolling has become more of gathering fish than fishing fish. Why not allow people to run nets too.

I know trollers won't agree and that's fine, but you'll understand shortly. If you've fished Sardis more than 20 years constant and don't see this happening I don't know what else to say.

No hard feelings either way.

Originally Posted by clfarms1

Nope not this time.

Caught 2 today. 1 yesterday. 6 Saturday. 5 Thursday. The other times had 3 or less.

I've been trolling Sardis for about 40 years, back when the limit was 50 and no size limit, or number of hooks per pole or number of poles. The fishery sustained itself all those years. We've had good years, bad years, and average years. The one thing that has changed is the pressure. More pressure now for sure, but the other restrictions have balanced out the pressure to a big extent. Sardis has always had lots of pressure in the pre spawn tho, and I mean for Decades. I've fished with 5 hooks per pole with 3 guys in a boat and caught a 150 fish limit in 2-3 hours, and most were pre spawn, and saw 100 boats doing the same thing back in the day with 10"ers. being the bulk of the fish.

A few years back, you might catch 100 fish a day pulling cranks, with only 5-10 keepers. The past few years have been boom years, but the bad spawns a few years back have done its damage and we're seeing that now. The problem is the lack of short fish. It's going to be slim pickings for a few years but it isn't because of pre spawn trolling or pressure. It's a natural cycle.

Less fish, less pressure. High water in the timber, better spawn. Better spawn, more fish in a few years. More fish in a few years, more pressure. NOT JUST FROM TROLLERS, but from Everybody, catching them in Every way.