Burnt Mills Stats

If you don't know, I am a stats freak and was wondering when was the last time that I caught a crappie that was 1lb or more at Burnt Mills. (roughly, 12.5") The answer is back on May 28 when I got one that was 1lb 6oz. Prior to that I only had two others, one at 1lb 7oz on March 4, and one at 1lb 6oz on February 11. What's crazy is that including those three crappie I have caught 1,117 crappie on 13 trips, so, for every 372 crappie I caught, one would be over 1lb. My last 5 trips there have netted zero at 1lb plus. Oh well, I know there are a few big ones still lurking in there, maybe one day I will get lucky and catch one.

One in 372 is a small percentage (.003%). I still think some of them need to be culled out. We had this discussion last spring. Reminds me of a burrow pit that was stocked with only bream. They never get big, because there are too many of them.

I think that if there are any big ones out there, you will probably find them.

I seem to think there was some very good spawns before the lake was reopened. There was no pressure then it went 0 to 60 and had too much pressure. ALOT of citation Bass, Crappie and Yellow Perch were caught. every other boat was keeping limits of slabs. The pressure probably changed their pattern the ones that were left... And all the dinks that kept getting thrown back are slowly getting bigger.

But I do think there is still 2 and even 3 lb crappie in that lake....Just baffles me How you can catch 110 crappie all are dinks and 1 2lber... This has been the case in a couple trips ive made in the past spring. What happened to the in betweeners?

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Originally Posted by Idunno

One in 372 is a small percentage (.003%). I still think some of them need to be culled out. We had this discussion last spring. Reminds me of a burrow pit that was stocked with only bream. They never get big, because there are too many of them.

I think that if there are any big ones out there, you will probably find them.

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I apologize for the correction, but I seen this and had to say something. One in 372 is closer to .3%.

Fun with math! Two ways to say the same thing--one nice fish out of a total of 372 gives you:
- 0.003 (as a decimal number rounded to the nearest thousandth)
- 0.3% (as a percentage rounded to the nearest tenth of one percent)

on small bodies of water, one yr class of crappie will dominate if left alone(not kept). they will eat most all the crappie they spawn every yr til they die out. then the cycle starts over. the time that this lake was closed let one yr class dominate. if ya thro them all back, they will be there til they die. if ya eat them, they won't. I've seen many "new" lakes like this raped in the same way. then all wonder where they went. they are not infinite. Mississippi has several lakes that have giant crappies consistantly. there is a 10 fish, 12 inch limit there. I fish many days an thro them all back. when I want some to eat, I keep the 10-11 inchers an thro all bigger ones back.

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Originally Posted by Slab

I apologize for the correction, but I seen this and had to say something. One in 372 is closer to .3%.

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Duh! What does Jimmy Buffet say?..."my 2 + 2 would be low".

ID

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Originally Posted by fishdoc

the time that this lake was closed let one yr class dominate. if ya thro them all back, they will be there til they die. if ya eat them, they won't.

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So....the right way to "manage" a lake in this condition is to step up the harvest of the dominant size fish? That would mean taking limits of 9" - 9.5" fish and tossing everything else until there is a better distribution of fish by size.