Guntersville pays off..."BIG TIME"

Just got back on Sat. from our annual fishing trip at Guntersville spending 7 days on S Sauty. Got to say it was one of the best trips yet........:highfive........Friday night when the last fish was cleaned we had a count somewhere close to 750 fish with 90 % of them hit the 10 in. mark. The rest was between 10 and 14 in. Have to say we had to work for them. 8 of us in 3 boats pretty much covered the middle of S. Sauty all seven days. Spider rigging with minnows and picking them up between 6-14 FOW over and around brushpiles. It was a morning bite and a late afternoon bite. We hit the water around 6-7 am till around 10:30 then come in an head back out around 4:30 till dark. Slow trolling and covering alot of ground paid off good for us. Got a few pics to post as soon as I find my computer cord for my camera....and got something else to post that happened that was really weird. But I`ll post it with the pics.

nice report

Why keep that many fish? That is what has messed up Weiss.

Meat fisherman!

ahhh jealousy rears its ugly head, that count figures out to each man keepin about 13 a day. aint nuttin wrong with that, congrats on your catch !!

Alabama regulations prohibit the transportation of more than one days creel limit across its borders. For eight people that would only be 240. 500 over is pretty excessive and posting it for every one to see?

You can tell that they have no respect for the laws in the State of Alabama. Then 90% were close to 10 inches no wonder there are no large crappie. This is exactly what has happen to Weiss Lake, and it will happen to Gunterville next.

A few years ago we had two families fishing at Weiss fishing for 7 days and we were happy with having 100 fish we kept. Also there was five of us fishing. We had more fun catching and releasing than having to clean everything that we caught. We live 345 miles from Weiss Lake if we get up to fish one time a year we are doing good.

Everyone needs to have respect for the game and wildlife no matter what state we go to or who we are.

With a fine of $65 per fish that would be a pretty sporty fine -> 750 - 240 = 510 --> 510 X $65.00 = $33,150. = OUCH.
Split among 8 fisherman that's $4,144 each.

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Originally Posted by jusanothajoe

ahhh jealousy rears its ugly head, that count figures out to each man keepin about 13 a day. aint nuttin wrong with that, congrats on your catch !!

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Hey Aubie that's 13.4 fish a day RoflRoflRoflRofl
I like it if I catch 13 good ones!

Congrats on your catch well done.I do wish Alabama would move the size up to 10 inch minimum,I have seen personally 100's of small crappie harvested this past winter in the spring that would barley measure .I know we all love eating crappie but it's the same people day after day,it's like their mission in life is to harvest is many crappie is possible.Myself I average maybe 10 to 15 crappie a trip most times it's under these numbers.I may fish 60 days out of the year I can only imagine the ones that do it 3 to five time a week and catch limits..
Guntersville has been targeted by the guides for sure and the out of state pressure will continue to increase is their resources dwindle because of over harvesting, such is Weiss lake..

I live in Tennessee about 3 miles from the Alabama line and the best thing that has happened to the crappie here is the 10 inch and 15 limit in my opinion . I do fish Guntersville some and dont keep many fish from there...I mainly go down there for the Gills and dont keep many of those, just enough to eat...Yall are blessed to have one of the best fisheries in the country for multi species fishing.....I do wanna come down there and get on some catfish sometime.......

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Originally Posted by fultondalecrappie

Why keep that many fish? That is what has messed up Weiss.

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We only have one Game Warden on Weiss Lake, ENFORCEMENT of game laws is lacking. I have heard some say we should lower the daily limit, others say increase minimum size to 12 inches like Grenada Lake did; but nothing will work until WE Anglers obey the laws now in effect. New laws are worthless without enforcement.

With today's boats and electronics and quality fishing tackle, the crappie don't have a chance. If we want to catch a lot of crappie, then we must help the fish. The best thing we can do is practice catch and release for females full of eggs during the spawn. If we would release all crappie full of eggs for 2 weeks each year, in time we would have plenty of fish. We can keep the males during this time, release the egg swollen females to lay her 30,000 or more eggs, and catch her again after the spawn. The other 50 weeks of the year would be great fishing. It has worked well for bass anglers and would for crappie as well. :fish

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Originally Posted by wanafish

You can tell that they have no respect for the laws in the State of Alabama. Then 90% were close to 10 inches no wonder there are no large crappie. This is exactly what has happen to Weiss Lake, and it will happen to Gunterville next.

A few years ago we had two families fishing at Weiss fishing for 7 days and we were happy with having 100 fish we kept. Also there was five of us fishing. We had more fun catching and releasing than having to clean everything that we caught. We live 345 miles from Weiss Lake if we get up to fish one time a year we are doing good.

Everyone needs to have respect for the game and wildlife no matter what state we go to or who we are.

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I agree. I'm not against keeping a few extra if you limit out the first few days and catch and keep a select few really nice fish later on but harvesting that much extra is overboard.

Pop Rivers is correct on the game laws. If there is no enforcement; the laws are of no value. I have fished Alabama waters for 31 years and I have been checked, on the water, by a game warden one time. The only thing he was interested in was undersized crappie. He did not ask to see licences, boat registration, etc. He looked at all our fish and commented on the pesky white and yellow bass. Our Life Jackets were readily visible, as was our throwable and paddle.

I've been fishing in Alabama for 44 years and had my licences checked twice and both times I was on Smith Lake. About 2 years ago we were stopped and the officer checked all of the safety equipment and my boating licences. I ask if he wanted to see our fishing licences and he told us that since we were running and not fishing he could not check our licence. At the time we did not have any fish in the boat but there was 6 rods insight. I live on the gulf coast and the Coast Guards have checked the boat several times for safety equipment. But my fishing licenses are never checked. I guess it is a shortage of man power.

HAVE A GREAT DAY AND GOD BLESS!!

It is a shortage of manpower. The State will not hire any. I wonder where the 10% tax money on everything that is associated with fishing and hunting is going. ( that's hooks, lures, line, rods, reels, guns, ammo, etc. ). This is not the sales tax you pay; this 10% tax is already in the price of the product. So you pay +/- 18% in taxes on all hunting and fishing equipment you purchase. The revenue from the 10% tax is supposed to be allocated to the state where purchased. Hunting and fishing licence revenues are to be used in this area as well if I am not mistaken.

I would asume most people don't know the law about transporting more than a days creel limit. Should get together and start posting this in bait houses gas stations etc. May help raise awarness to the tourist. The honest ones will not take a chance on getting caught. But also this may detour people from coming also??? Go on a trip for a whole week and can only bring back 30 fish. Just looking at both sides. Those 8 guys brought alot of money to your community for seven days. Probably close to $50 a day per man plus license fees. Thats $2800 at least that came to town on this one little group. Take that by the 10-20 groups ther for the week really starts adding up. So it is a bad deal either way. Have the economy hit hard and have thousands upon thousands of fish compeating for food that will eventually stunt them. Or have the economy making money but thousands of fish leaving the lake every week, and than stunting the lake also. It is a no win situation for you local guys.

Hello all and nice to meet everyone. In response to warden issue. I live in Mississippi and have bought a Alabama licence every year since i was 19. I am 44 now. I fish the Tenn Tomm from Pickensville all the way down to Gainsville. I obey the law on size and creel restrictions. I catch alot of fish there so i personally do not keep small fish. See no need. I have a personal rule {me and my best fishing partner} that if its not 11 or 12 release it. We have been ckecked numerous times on the Tenn Tomm in the last 4 yrs or so. I would guess 9 or 10 times. Looks like to me they are concentrating most efforts on checking out of towners. I have no problem with that for I am always legal to the best of of my ablilty. Maybe just maybe some of the ones on this side of the state should be over where you guys are at. Dont see alot of boats and rigs from up north on the Tenn Tomm. Suits me just fine cause alot of people dont know what a great fishery it is. Just making an observation and not trying to ruffle any feathers. We have a 12 in minimum on the crappie with a 20 fish limit on the Big 4 over here. Grenada, Enid, Sardis, Arakabutla. Some are happy some hate it. Lots of folks saying the resrictions have put too many small crappie in the B ig 4. Small being under 12. I cant say because I am not a bioligist. Be careful what u wish for. Glad I do not have the job of making restrictions and trying to please everyone.

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Originally Posted by Old & Slow

Pop Rivers is correct on the game laws. If there is no enforcement; the laws are of no value. I have fished Alabama waters for 31 years and I have been checked, on the water, by a game warden one time. The only thing he was interested in was undersized crappie. He did not ask to see licences, boat registration, etc. He looked at all our fish and commented on the pesky white and yellow bass. Our Life Jackets were readily visible, as was our throwable and paddle.

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My wife and I went to Sardis Ms crappie fishing a couple years ago, and we lunched our boat at the Dam, there were 4 gam wardens that checked us as we turned into the boat ramp road, and checked us as we left, that’s one place you had better measure twice and keep only the daily creel limit.


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This will be an unpopular opinion, but I wouldn't mind a limit on the number of rods used. No offense to you spider riggers, but it's almost like there are ten boats with trawling nets cruising around every time I go out. I guess a limit is a limit, no matter how they're caught. I just suspect there are a lot more limits caught with 8 poles in the water per fisherman. I do think making the size limit 10 inches statewide would be a good idea too.

Sorry. This is my opinion. If i travel that far to fish the same rules should apply to.me as everyone fishing that area


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Laws do not matter if there is no enforcement. As for pole limits I don't see why it is an issue as long as there is a creel limit. I spider rig 99 percent of the time and never keep my limit of fish. I do keep fish to eat but only keep enough to use for a couple of meals. I wish there was an easy solution but again, without enforcement all laws are useless.

Look at the date!!!! This was from 2012. Calm down.


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It may be from 2012 but it was and is pure greed.


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Originally Posted by CrappieFlopper

It may be from 2012 but it was and is pure greed.


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Yep and I doubt it's gotten any better since. I sure don't mind the out of state fishermen, because I've fished and hunted in other states, but I do expect them to obey our game laws the same way I do when I'm in their state.