Red Fins

Have been a little run down the last three or four weeks with a cold and my allergies are acting up. It was 55 deg. today and there was no way I was going to just sit around. I went two a local small stream a few miles from my home to look for some bait. There was still some ice on the sides of the stream banks but low clear water made it easy to see the whole bottom the the small stream. As I walked along with my dip net and minnow bucket in hand it reminded me of being a youngster catching bait for dad and myself. This always meant fishing was soon to be had. Usually some of the deeper holes hold some minnows but not today. After trying two or three deeper holes nothing was in my net and I did not see any minnows swimming around me as I walked through the holes. I started to look at some smaller runs about a foot deep. Yes there are a few. One pass and I had two red fins! About a half dozen try's up stream and I had over a dozen minnows. Not a lot but at least enough to give it a try. I walked back to the truck and realized the place I wanted to fish was a fairly long up-hill walk and perhaps I should not over do it. So I have some minnows and look forward to using them. Perhaps tomorrow! I have to say I enjoyed that as much as catching fish!

Keep us posted, and enjoyed reading, good post.

I got to fish for about a hour at Pinchot lake park. Not a whole lot going on. I saw a few small perch and crappie in one guys basket. I guess he was going to make some potato chips out of them. Six or seven inch crappie are not keepers in my book!

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Originally Posted by addictedangler

I got to fish for about a hour at Pinchot lake park. Not a whole lot going on. I saw a few small perch and crappie in one guys basket. I guess he was going to make some potato chips out of them. Six or seven inch crappie are not keepers in my book!

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Guess he reads a diffrent book than you. some people like those little ones fried whole with crunchy tails. I dont care what size he or anybody else keeps as long as its legal. People have diffrent preferences.

You are correct on it being legal to keep that size crappie Chaunc. However most crappie do not spawn until there third or fourth year. I am sure we all want to protect the future of our fisheries. Many of these crappie fisheries get pounded during spawning season. This is only one reason to not keep crappie of that size!

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Originally Posted by addictedangler

You are correct on it being legal to keep that size crappie Chaunc. However most crappie do not spawn until there third or fourth year. I am sure we all want to protect the future of our fisheries. Many of these crappie fisheries get pounded during spawning season. This is only one reason to not keep crappie of that size!

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Believe as you will but I catch six inch crappies with eggs in their bellies. Wanted to see if it was shad they were eating but it was eggs. Those were black crappies with thick sides on them. Crappies are prolific spawners and most years they have great spawns. Take some small ones to eat and let the bigger ones go if you want to help future fishing. If all you take is the biggest fish, after time, only the smaller ones will be there. But that depends on the size of the lake you're fishing. My home lake produces numbers of both.

Six inch crappie with eggs means your lake has some problems. Perhaps a forage ( food ) problem. Many lakes do have stunted growth in pan fish, However this lake does not have that problem. Also some years both lakes and streams can have complete loss of year classes. Professionals ( biologists0 used to believe that we fishermen could not hurt fish populations.That has been found to be not true. Even the oceans can be hurt by over fishing. As I stated in my first post that is not the only reason to let them grow . In a well eco. balanced lake these crappie will be over 9 inches and get shoulders on them in a few years. You can find charts that show crappie weight per size. If I remember correctly a 6 inch crappie is about 2 ounces. By letting that fish grow a couple years and that same fish can weight 1/2 pound. Just a good idea to protect the fishery and have a meal instead of a snack!

Guys pound that area in the winter and keep all those small fish. Not sure why you don't think Pinchot has stunted panfish problems, horrible size fish in that lake. I wish I could drop some structures in there

According to Larry Jackson retired regional Biologist for Pa fish comis. he never thought the crappie in Pinchot were stunted. He believed many fish were taken before maturity. However I am sure if there is good spawning years for most pan fish this could happen from time to time. He did the last net sampling that I can remember, about 12 years ago. If there is new evidence on stunted growth I have not seen it. However all species can only grow to a size there environment will allow. I have seen many fish grow to a foot or even larger. Even a few 15 inchers have been taken from the lake in recent10 plus years. When guys take 5 gallon buckets of 6 inch crappie it is over fished and does not let many fish reach maturity. I can remember 8 or 10 years ago catching 3 and 4 inch fish then next year 6 to 7 inch fish then only a few the next year of that year class. Yes guys filling there 5 gallon buckets were the problem IMO.The last few years has seen declines in the numbers of crappie in this lake. Go to the breast of the dam on any spring day that crappie are there and it is hard to find a place to fish!