If you want to catch some big enough to keep, might better go someplace else.:D Couldn't find any with any size, they may be there but we couldn't find them.
If you want to catch some big enough to keep, might better go someplace else.:D Couldn't find any with any size, they may be there but we couldn't find them.
They not only on the bank they all over that lake in that size.
When I drive by I just look out across the lake and think what it used to be like and keep going to another wet hole.
How long ago was "used to be like"?
in the early 70's. i started fishing it when the timber was still green but i fished only for bass. it was something else back then. back then i lived in the bootheel and it was an hour and a half drive each way. if i knew i could get in 2 hours fishing i would make that 3 hour drive it was that good. but poinsett lake was hot when it was new too but i never fished it back then. lake charles kept pulling at my heart strings. now i'm like turtle. i pass it on my way to somewhere else.
now i live within a few miles of it and never fish it now.
Maybe they need to put some hybrids in there like they did horseshoe, it sure seemed to make a difference in the quality at the shoe.
i think they put some hybrids in once. the fishing had slowed by then that i had started fishing another lake. and you are right about needing some now it looks like.
The 10" min. didn't work.
I've always wondered if drawing the lake down to flood the woods in Raney Brake had anything to do with the size of the fish.
I can't believe there was a 10" limit there untill a few years ago. That's a good example of needing to thin out the herd.Quote:
Originally Posted by creekslick
I bought 2 lots on the back side of charles back years ago thinking I would build a house,at the time you couldn't ask for a better lake to fish.Now you'd haveta talk pretty hard to get me to unload there,catching zillions 4in. crappie all day is tireing with nothing in the cooler.
I don't think the draw down hurts it any,catfish get fatter,if we're lucky the draw down doesn't last long with a wet winter.
The creek channel has felled in,the old barn is gone,bridges have floated off,you can still see the old hwy with the draw down.I think 2 weekends ago when I went by you couldn't find a parking spot it was full of empty boat trailers.
I blame game and fish,we're more interested in hunters in my area than they are fisherman.The problem is been let go to long,it would take years to bring it back now.
Even though I Duck hunt and deer hunt just as much if not more than I crappie fish, I have to agree with you on this. It has always seemed that Arkansas G&F have always emphasized more on hunting than with our fishing waters.. But I guess that is Arkansas' bread and butter.. I think most of it is due to lack of funding too.. Most of our out of state liscense are for duck hunting, which brings in the most money in state for the AGFC, which makes sence for them to emphasize most of their funds and time and effort towards improving the natural states public hunting areas.. BC lets face it Arkansas is one of the last places where public hunting is open to when and where you want to hunt on a WMA.. In other states you have to draw for an area or hole to hunt in, and if you don't get drawn you get screwed.. I would love to see them go on a rampage to help improve some of these lakes that have been let go.. But I think that it all goes back to their budget.. They can only do so much with what they get in funding..Quote:
Originally Posted by Turtlebait
Speaking of catching a gazzillion small crappie... That is how my home lake is.. Everytime I go out I can always catch a ton of small ones and I just keep them good ones that I catch.. There are a lot of people that keep everything that they catch, which so do I when it is still early and I don't have any stockpiled up in my freezer.. What would yall say is the best way to start making the quality of the fish in my lake better?? Everyone keep every fish they catch??
Kill everything in the lake and start over
501, i think just the opposite. the woodypeckerwood people are like me. they can't handle money. they waste too much. their budget? i would venture to guess that the one eight sales tax brings them in near 40 million dollars and that's not counting the millions they are getting from the gas leases. no, the woodypeckerwood people could do much better with the money we, the tax payers are giving them. muich like the people in washington running our country.
i need help with my budget too.
Now that you mention it, YOU ARE SO RIGHT!! LMAO
Quote:
Originally Posted by Turtlebait
LOL yea that is not happening!!! They say that it got to where all you used to catch was small crappie and then it turned over and that made the fishing really good for a while but now it is getting over ran with small ones again..
We probably have one of the better funded GF's in the country. When they started getting most of their funding from sales tax, there was less need for them to be responsive to the average hunter or fisherman. They sure got good wheels, though.
[QUOTE=501mooney87;1511069]Even though I Duck hunt and deer hunt just as much if not more than I crappie fish, I have to agree with you on this. It has always seemed that Arkansas G&F have always emphasized more on hunting than with our fishing waters..
I agree with you. Hunting seems to be there main thing. I love to hunt, but I love to fish. And in north Arkansas it seems they are more concerned and fund more on those &%$# trout, than the native species. Have you ever talked to anyone who says they like to eat trout? That's yankee fishing.
To fix the small size problem, you either need to kill all and start all over or up the limit and take out all you catch. Like someone has mentioned already the 10 inch minimum didn't work out for Charles.
Don't be mean-mouthin' the duck hunters for the draw down. That's why it's there.
"Lake Charles was originally planned as a watershed/flood protection project near the Black River in Lawrence County. In 1956, the Lawrence County Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors sponsored an application under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Program. When the application was submitted, the sponsors were thinking only of watershed protection on the uplands and flood prevention on the bottomlands. However, before an intensive study could be completed, the Small Watershed Act was amended to include fish and wildlife development. The new opportunity caused the sponsors to broaden their thinking. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) owned about 10,000 acres of land immediately below the watershed. Known as Rainey Brake, this tract of land was developed as a public fishing and hunting area, with one portion developed as a rest area for migratory waterfowl. However, given the problem of supplying water during seasons of dry weather, a fresh water supply was needed. A multipurpose lake at the Lake Charles site, with provisions to store water for flooding the game preserve, was shown to be feasible."
[QUOTE=KRAPPIE KG;1511585I agree with you. Hunting seems to be there main thing. I love to hunt, but I love to fish. And in north Arkansas it seems they are more concerned and fund more on those &%$# trout, than the native species. Have you ever talked to anyone who says they like to eat trout? That's yankee fishing.[/QUOTE]
LOL I sure don't like em...
Too bad, guys...that a lake can decline like that. But without the proper management, they all will. Stay on the G&F! aj
wasn't too long ago that some folks were wanting to implement a statewide length limit. One look at what happened at lake charles after the length limit was imposed and you see why a statewide limit won't work. Different lakes need different management procedures. I still think it is impossible to "fish out" a crappie lake of this size. Much more likely to overpopulate and become stunted. Perhaps better to open it up to no limit fishing.