Thread: short fish

I call BS on the AC having to have current to spawn &/or eggs to hatch.
How did they spawn in an Arkansas Catfish pond in the beginning? Eventually to infest every Lake & Stream in Mid America in less that 20 years.
Most government biologists never get out of the office or lab. They only have GLIMPSES of the REAL World. They are scholars, they read & go to meetings. I have participated in that "world". Most are "esoteric" & "electric"; ensconced in Ivory Towers. The only PRACTICAL biologist we have had in our Midsouth area was Dr. Hal Schramm. He is a fisherman. I defer to him.

I think the fairness lies with the fish. Low lake levels is not fair with limited areas for the fish to stage up and get ready. Using 1 pole vs 4 poles this time of year slows the catch ratio. I agree the Corp is doing great with these lakes. But I think we need a trolling season and a single pole season based on lake levels. Just my opinion not trying to upset anyone's style I just think it would ease some pressure off the keeper fish that are caught. That would help out the short fish ratio that's going on.

I'm not upset by any means. Look at this from another standpoint, would you rather a huge number of keeper fish go out the spillway each winter or a small number? They are going out every winter, just a fact. I honestly have no problem catching a bunch of shorts, thats our future.

I agree with what Rees Guide said about our length limit. Name me another State that has a 12" MLL! I think our fisheries people are doing a pretty dang good job, or we would'nt have fishermen coming down here from all over the country. Yes, we will have the locals catching multiple limit, and keeper fish going out the spillway during the Winter drawdown. This is gonna continue to happen. We've got it pretty dang good down here! Ifn it ain't broke, leave it alone and let the fisheries people keep doing what they're doing!

This topic seems to come up every so often. You will never satisfy everyone. All of these lakes (like lakes every where) go through cycles. It wasn’t long ago, you couldn’t find a keeper Crappie on Enid. This spring, it was the go to lake. Sure they all get unprecedented fishing pressure. They all keep producing massive numbers of quality fish. Good fishermen will catch fish even when a lake is in a down cycle. I’m not committed to one style of fishing. I LOVE it all!!! I always said if they restrict fishing methods to just rock throwing, I’ll be on the front deck with a bucket of rocks. I do believe the biologists who manage the lakes are the best there is. If they decide the lakes are being harmed, I’m sure there will be rule changes. There has been in the past and it didn’t hurt. When I first started fishing the big 4, the length limit was 10” and daily limit was 50 each. When the limits changed there was a lot of belly aching but now everyone has adapted and want to keep it the way it is now. I guess I’m saying fish the way you want, trust the biologists to continue managing the fisheries to the best of there ability, and give back to the lakes that have been so good to everyone through the years.



Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Originally Posted by rebranger

I call BS on the AC having to have current to spawn &/or eggs to hatch.
How did they spawn in an Arkansas Catfish pond in the beginning? Eventually to infest every Lake & Stream in Mid America in less that 20 years.
Most government biologists never get out of the office or lab. They only have GLIMPSES of the REAL World. They are scholars, they read & go to meetings. I have participated in that "world". Most are "esoteric" & "electric"; ensconced in Ivory Towers. The only PRACTICAL biologist we have had in our Midsouth area was Dr. Hal Schramm. He is a fisherman. I defer to him.

They were brought over seas and put in catfish ponds.You can think our fine goverment for that.Bad floods is how they got everywhere else.In my opinion the biologists have a lot more experience on fish behavior and reproduction than i do.

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

Yalls fish have a longer growingcycle than ours,thats why yall need the 12in size.A 2yr old crappie on kylake is 10in on average,a 2yr old in miss is 12in on average.Ronnie capps said they use to commerical fish for crappie on reelfoot and there were still crappie to be caught.The best thing is to et biologist not people set the rules.I believe im with you on one thing reese.If they want to have seasons shut it down during the spawn,a blind man can catch them then no matter what the water level.

Originally Posted by Rees Guide

I haven't had trouble catching keeper fish all year, even on tuff days.
Fact is that the spillways on these four lakes catch more fish than the fisherman do. Been hearing how hard Grenada has been lately, on the trailer at 11 this morning with a limit of good fish. Limits mean nothing to me, its just a stopping point on a good day. If I can catch 5 or 6 keepers I've had a good day. These lakes have changed over the last 35 years, Grenada dramatically and that's nothing compared to the way Butla has. Cutting out how one person fishes but allowing another to fish during that time isn't fair, why not just close down crappie fishing during the spawn, say mid March till the end of April?? Seems fair to me.
I think they have it tweeked about as good as it can be right now, I mean, where else in the country has a 12 inch minimum size limit?

Sent from my SM-S907VL using Tapatalk

They don’t need current to spawn. I can take to a lake an hour north of Memphis that gets flooded by the Mississippi River. You can just sit in the boat and watch the clouds swim under the boat. It’s millions of them about 2” long.

Once it happens, it’s over.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk