Searching new to me waters

Today Doty and I took his boat to a lake we were told was over populated with small Black Crappie . Beautiful clear water and surrounding trees were in full fall colors . We found lots of fish on trees and most were small . Tried to scope them but it was a little windy . We used 1/8 oz purple/chartreuse Umbrella tubes and tried some small handties but caught all but one dink on tubes . Doty caught one 16'' White Crappie but thin . We caught 4 keeper Blacks and 3 Whites . But caught 4 more shorts and a small Bass . Still a great day even without loading the boat . I have been releasing fish last two trips and we were on a clean lake that biologist suggested to harvest so 7 was just right for a meal this week .

Sounds like a lot of shorts to work through. I will certainly take a day of catching shorts over a day of few fish.

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

Sounds like a lot of shorts to work through. I will certainly take a day of catching shorts over a day of few fish.

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We saw lots of small fish but catching a keeper was tough there

I spent all summer pulling shorts out from under docks. I understand completely

If shorts are of abundance and there is not a length restriction, a person wanting to eat fish could go old school, scale them, decapitate them, fry whole. This method would not be much different than eating whole fried bluegill bream. This could help the over population issue. Just food for thought.

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Originally Posted by Lkconwayguru

If shorts are of abundance and there is not a length restriction, a person wanting to eat fish could go old school, scale them, decapitate them, fry whole. This method would not be much different than eating whole fried bluegill bream. This could help the over population issue. Just food for thought.

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10" minimum on my lakes. Most fish I caught this summer just under 10. This next spring those should be legal fish

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lkconwayguru

If shorts are of abundance and there is not a length restriction, a person wanting to eat fish could go old school, scale them, decapitate them, fry whole. This method would not be much different than eating whole fried bluegill bream. This could help the over population issue. Just food for thought.

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I will not clean tiny fish . I sent the biologist a report and asked for information . He said last Febuary the cold snap killed the Threadfin Shad but plans to request them restocked next spring .

That should help boost the size and health of the fish

They all make for a good day spent on the water!

A healthy population of shorts will be a healthy population of eaters in a year or two