Quote Originally Posted by TimY View Post
I know a lot of people practice catch and release including us. Just want to make everyone aware of the 2015 spawn. With the lake flooded most of 2015, we had a tremendous crappie spawn. The fry was able to get back into the flooded brush, which increased the survival rate. Have several relatives and friends that have been fishing Kaw for 35 years for crappie and catfish and say they have never saw so many 2 to 3 inch crappie while throwing their shad nets all over the lake. Point is, don't be afraid to keep some fish. We have to keep the crappie population in check to avoid overpopulation
Ditto on the 2-3 inch shad. One of my friends has been getting only a few shad, but lots of small crappie, when netting for bait. He has not even been tempted to use them for bait; However, I have some 1/90th oz. jigs that I got from the old B&B Tackle store years ago. Rigged with a tiny piece of Berkley worm, I have gotten a few of those tiny crappie, and the cats have eaten them like candy. The stomachs of the cats have been loaded with crappie. Cut crappie, cut bluegill, and heads have been effective also, when it's hard to get shad.