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Here on Lake Nimrod we have an awesome crappie population. But over 75% of the daily catch are throwbacks or dinks. I'm no biologist but I'm thinking that a person ought to set a portion of their limit each day for taking out some of these dinks. What do you folks think?
If you take dinks home, then they won't grow up to be keepers, no more keepers
All the dinks eat also. So; if you leave all the dinks, then dinks is what you get. Remove the dinks and there is more food for the rest. More food, less competition means bigger fish. This process takes time, but it does work.
I agree some dinks need culled. I recently saw on tv a show about the crappie length limits and how it was a social stigma more so than an ecological benefit. Setting the length limit did not siginificantly help the overall size of the crappie in a lake based on a study from chicot lake due to the mortality of the crappie.
We had a 10" limit years back and it did not accomplish whatever their goal was. Now we don't have a length limit. I equate it to deer hunting. Protect the does and only take bucks and soon does make up about 80 to 90% of the population.
A few people I know just don't like to be seen at the cleaning station with dinks but I feel that every catch should have some in it. I'll continue to take them out myself. I always keep 7 or 8 alive for culling though.Thumbs Up
I agree given time they will grow to be big ones. I am just concerned about the sheer numbers in this 3500 acre lake.
I'm not saying that anybody's idea is right or wrong. I just want to here everyones take on the subject.
Dave
To each his own. Some people like to trophy fish and some people just like to catch fish. I personally like the 10 to 12 inchers to eat. I like to catch any fish though.
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Originally Posted by arkansasbowhunter
Nothing wrong keeping a few hand sized Crappie to finish out a limit to cook. But keeping those by the cooler full with some so small it leaves nothing but a tater chip sized piece of meat is crazy. I see folks cleaning fish that are less than 6'' long and paper thin. Our White Crappie our usually thin under 10''. I like to see them keep the black Crappie if they want small fish. The lake grows few good sized Blacks but has a fair portion of them. A 8'' or bigger Black will have a little more meat on it too. I think fishing pressure is so great on Nimrod that the larger fish are caught off too quickly. Not sure what the answer is but we have a high per centage of small fish. Part of the reason is high waters which allow good spawns every spring. I was told the drawdown last summer would help thin out the small fish by concentrating them with the predators. . Folks hauled the dinks out by the coolerfulls. Then a huge spawn this spring has the lake swarming with bait fish. We should have some better Crappie next spring.
Biggest myth in fishing-- Leave the little crappie and they will grow into big crappie. That little crappie might be as old relatively as grandpa. a 5 year old crappie might weigh 2 pounds or 8 ounces depending on food supply and other factors.
Question is-
Do you want a lake with a acre holding about 500 pounds of crappie consisting of 1500 5 ounce crappie or 500 one pounders?
This is WAY to deep for most of us. Sounds like a real biologist is needed here.
I didn't intend for this to turn in to a moral issue about keeping too small a crappie. I was more talking about the long term impact on the lake.
All comments are welcome though. Keep 'em coming.Thumbs Up
How does a slot limit work? Would something like that help, reckon?
You are absolutely correct BigRiver. I've been involved with several (5) such endeavors. Even when the biologists said "remove the dinks"; it didn't change many mindsets. Those that didn't want to, didn't. So, those 5 small lakes are still full of dinks. A crappie will only grow as large as his/her environment will allow. Not enough food to support large crappie means no large crappie. I realize that taking small fish is not cool to some people, but the population won't increase in size. Even the dinks spawn every year. As someone else said, a 5/6 incher may be 4 or 5 years old.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigRiverMarine
JIgflinger,
You're absolutely right. A body of water will self regulate the size of it's crappie accordingly to the numbers of fish, size of the impoundment, and available food sources. Lake Nimrod will never have the great numbers of big slabs that it had back in the 70's until "every" fisherman starts taking a few dinks out with their daily catch. I'm going to do it and "praise" any body else that does it also.
The ones that don't do it are the minority and in my opinion are just adding to the problem. I'm no biologist and don't pretend to know it all about this. I would really like to see a true fisheries biologist chime in and give us their opinion.
I spoke with Sam and Sam the biologists in NEAR a couple years ago. They asked me if I was keeping any bass. I said a few from time to time. They asked me to keep them all because the lake was overpopulated and the bass were staying small because of it. Also, a small pond of just a few acres had some crappie put in it a few years ago. Now at the pond you can catch over a 100 each day and not one will be over 6 inches.
Does Nimrod have a size limit on their crappie? If the state regulations say a 10" minimum for example, what ya gonna do, risk getting a ticket/fine. Tellico Lake is my home lake, there is a 10" limit here in TN. I catch lots and lots of dinks, is it because of a shortage of food or I'm in the wrong place, don't know, doesn't really matter alot to me. I do prefer to catch the keepers but I don't catch many. Even when I do catch keepers, I usually throw 'em back hoping I can catch 'em again and again. I go fishing to go fishing, have something to do, get out of the house, etc. I don't fish to fill my freezer with filets like alot of guys do. Not knocking the guys who keep 'em, personal choice. Even if I caught 15 keepers in a day, pretty sure I would not keep 'em.
They tried a 10' limit several years ago and it just didn't seem to work so they abandoned it. They sent some trap net samples to the lab and had them aged and they reported that the crappie in Nimrod grow fast. It's only a 3550 acre lake and on most years has terrific spawns.
We had a very small farm pond when I was a kid and the crappie were plentiful but probably over populated. Always caught small ones. The bass gorged themselves on them though. Caught bass up to 8 lbs!
AGFC needs a call and they need to remove some of these dinks and restock lakes that need it. When i go to a lake and see allot of dinks and the fish are skinny. The anwser is simple they are starving and over populating due to great breeding habitat. Not to mention other species like Bass Catfish, and gar eating the baitfish. The quickest way to correct this is shock or netting taking some of the game fish and allot of dinks out of the lake, along with fisherman taking some smaller fish to eat. In short the anwser is simple too many game fish in a great breeding habitat and not enough bait fish to support them.
The Crappie suppose to grow fast and there is lots of food in the lake. I think the major problem is overfishing here.
I agree with Nimrod on that lake the small black would be the ones to keep, but I do think that it would help to remove some of them to allow for more forage.
No doubt the black crappie are thicker and have more meat for their size. Also notice that we're catch more black crappie in the last few years. Especially up the river from the lake. So far, the biggest black I've personally caught was around a pound but I bet NIMROD ans some others have caught bigger. They sure fight harder.
I guess that I would rather catch dinks all day as I get an occasional good one than to only catch a few all day. I just hope all the dinks don't have a negative impact on the lake later down the road.
Wasn't there A LOT of people upset at the AGFC for doing this on Conway near Dano's place a couple years ago?Quote:
Originally Posted by CrappiePro
Without trying to be a smart aleck; from what I've been reading here, the dinks are already having a negative impact on the lake.Quote:
Originally Posted by slabbandit
How is the fishing in Conway now? I don't fish it myself. I'm just curious if the AGFC effort worked or was a flop.Quote:
Originally Posted by LMBarnett
I haven't worked with the Fisheries Biologist. I have worked with the deer biologist for several years and have found that when approached with a problem in the proper way, they have always been very helpful. When I say PROPER way, I don't mean getting all riled up and demanding. Remember, they are the trained professionals. When presented with a problem in a logical way, they respond. When approached with the attitude that: I know what needs to be done, so do it, now, will only result in your words being wasted. No professional responds well to people that know it all. Just saying, be reasonable, leave all the anger at home and ask for their help. Approached properly, I'll bet you will get some action.
Reguarding length slots. I see it on the Bass at Millwood, Ouachita and Dierks. People keep the ones over 15 inches, you catch alot of fish right there just under the length, soon as they are big enough they are caught and kept, a few big ones slip by but not many. Go to Dierks Lake, you can catch Bass under 12 inches all day long but not many over. I think Nimrod has it about the fishing pressure. Look at the daily catches of the guides on Greeson and Hamilton lots of smaller fish only a few larger fish. Fishing pressure is hard everywhere, fish can only grow so fast. Catch em as fast as they produce and they never have the time to grow out. I have a pond stocked with catfish, don't catch the little ones till they are about 3 lbs. As they get larger you have to remove some or the pond will not support the weight.
The Missouri Conservation lakes all have 30 limits with NO size restrictions. They are loaded with Crappie with the population being more towards the dinks. There is even two lakes close to me that has a notice. "Keep all the small crappie you want."
Like someone said earlier in this thread... keeping dinks every trip will only help. Yea, it creates work at the cleaning station, but those small fillets are so darn good when fried up nice and brown it's worth it.
Yes there were allot of people who were upset, I was one of them, but the tables were turned, The agfc was not taking dinks, they were taking the big fish. they said for testing and brood stock for other lakes. I am sure the test fish were for fried samples to make sure they tasted good stll.Quote:
Originally Posted by LMBarnett