Lake Conway Crappie Survey

Here is a survey that I created on SurveyMonkey. The name says it all. It is pretty basic but it asks the same questions (with reguards to crappie crappie management) that we will be asking in person in our on-site angler interviews on Lake Conway. These questions are specifically meant for people who fish Lake Conway. I will keep track of the results of this survey. However, as I state in another post, these results will not carry the same weight as a randomized, on-site survey will. This survey will basically be giving me the collective perspective of the avid crappie angler who fishes Lake Conway. Feel free to share this link with any anglers you know who fishes for crappie on Lake Conway. Click on the link below to take the survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XVFD8BP

Done, thanks. I hope I am able to take the real one.

I am having problems with this website. I will let you know when i get it to work.

Worked fine for me.

I guess that it is working. Click the link on my first post.

Done... No problem with the website

Done. Worked fine, thanks D10

That was easy! It would be interesting to see the results.

I will let the survey run about a month or until the responses peter off and then I will post the results.

Done, and no problem. Very interested in the results, particularly regarding the minimum length limit. Thanks, D10

Done

Done. Didn't hurt at all.
DP

Done.

Done Thanks. We got work to do D10... we can't be having that Lake West of here that begins with D kicking our butt's and right now it's making us eat a Jig and LIKE IT.!!!! LOL

Done

done.

Done.

Done

Done too

Only 41 respondents so far. I know there are more people who look at this forum and fish Lake Conway than 41. Be sure to tell others that you know who fish Lake Conway to participate in this survey. Even if they are not on this forum, you can copy and past the surveymonkey link into an email and send it to them. The more responses this survey gets the better and more valid the results will be. Thanks.

Done

done also

I don't fish Conway so I didn't fill out the survey but I did check out the questions. As for would you like a 9 inch minimum I would suggest you all fish blue mountain sometime before you answer that question. I am not the only one but a whole lot of dinks are caught there. I think a slot where you can't keep 10 to 12 inch fish would be better. :twocents

Survey complete!! I don't think a size limit will have any affect on this lake, I don't keep any under 10" anyway and catching lots of small fish is never a problem , Conway just isn't loaded with fish like some lakes and i personally don't see any need for change, I haven't caught a crappie since winter under 10", so how would a 9" length limit help?

Slot limits are only good if you have consistant spawns (deffinelty not most lakes) and anglers are willing to harvest fish on the lower side of the slot. If anglers are not willing to harvest the smaller fish, you effectively have a high minimum length limit. This is why is often does not work for bass. To satisfy my own curriosity, I will re-run the data through the model and see what the predicted out come would be with a slot limit on Lake Conway.

Did anyone put they kept a 6" inch fish and wish the could have added "but I hooked him deep". Lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Crappie Greg

Survey complete!! I don't think a size limit will have any affect on this lake, I don't keep any under 10" anyway and catching lots of small fish is never a problem , Conway just isn't loaded with fish like some lakes and i personally don't see any need for change, I haven't caught a crappie since winter under 10", so how would a 9" length limit help?

---

There are thousands of 7", 8" and 9" fish kept from 89 bridge and Gold and Caney creeks through the fall and winter. I'm not smart enough to know whether it would be good or bad to stop it, but surely it would effect the population somehow.

I personally have seen some anglers keep crappie around 6" from the pier at Pierce Creek.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by D10

I personally have seen some anglers keep crappie around 6" from the pier at Pierce Creek.

---

Musta been setting an illegal trot line because I can't imagine a 6" crappie would be worth cleaning.

Survey complete and i tend to agree with CrappieGreg, if it aint broke don't fix it :) I think the fact that you guys raise and release a few hundred thousand crappie in the lake every other years is a great thing.

Done. I would love to see what the slot limit prediction would be D10, I would guess it could go either way on how it affects the crappie pop. And as for the 6" crappie, when I was younger I would fish with my uncle and I would always ask (since we were in the tiny crappie waters of Louisiana) "Is this one big enough to keep?" he would always respond with "Can he hold a crumb of cornmeal?".

Matt, after reading your report, I think that a 9" length limit would be bad for Conway. I am not in favor of decreasing my catch by 15% just so I can catch more 10-12" fish. I am not looking to catch 100 eating size Crappie. I am after a few big ones, particularly one worthy of hanging on my wall. From reading your report, I gather that a 9" limit would decrease my chances by 15%? Conway does not have a size problem, as I think the ratio is very good. If the limit would decrease the number of large fish caught, then I say leave it be.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cmj

Matt, after reading your report, I think that a 9" length limit would be bad for Conway. I am not in favor of decreasing my catch by 15% just so I can catch more 10-12" fish. I am not looking to catch 100 eating size Crappie. I am after a few big ones, particularly one worthy of hanging on my wall. From reading your report, I gather that a 9" limit would decrease my chances by 15%? Conway does not have a size problem, as I think the ratio is very good. If the limit would decrease the number of large fish caught, then I say leave it be.

---

The model only perdicts that the will be an overall 15% reduction in the total number of crappie harvested. This would be all sizes but particularly the smaller ones. The model assumes that for the no length limit scenario all crappie caught greater than 6 inches are harvested. We all no that is not true on Lake Conway. IT is just a limitation of the model. You have to draw the line some where for the smallest size crappie someone would harvest. Anyway, the 9 in MLL model predicts that 15% fewer crappie would be harvested, mainly because the crappie from 6-9 inches are no longer being harvested. Thus a reduction in 15% in numbers harvested. Length limits can be great in cituations where growth is fast and natural mortatlity is low. Lake Conway is perfect example of this. On average it only takes 1.5 years for Lake Conway white crappie to grow 9" and 2.5 years for a black crappie. Very fast growth. We estimated natural mortatlity to be around 12%. This means that almost all of the crappie dieing are from anglers harvesting them. This is also a good thing. I know that a lot of people dont want to mess with a good thing, but some think that it could be better. This would be risk that we would have to take to see if we could improve the lake.

I understand. If the 15% decrease meant ONLY 15% fewer small Crappie, then I say go for it. But if it is going to decrease overall catch by15%, meaning that fewer large fish would be caught also, then I say no. Not that my opinion means much, but there you have it!!! :Rofl

I value everyone's opinion on issues such as this. Not only is this my lake, it is yours as well. The problem is that it is impossible to make everyone happy. I hope that if a length limit is proposed in the future, the majority of anglers would be comfortable with it. It is my job to collect and analyze the data and present it in a manner that is understandable. I could go either way with or without a minimum length limit regulation. I just want everyone to understand that it is not a garantee that it will improve the fishery. All we have to go by it what the model tells us. I feel comfortable with the data and the model and the predicted benigfits of a MLL (minimum length limit). On the other hand, I would also be comfortable with the status quoe.

Done, no problem

Only 57 responses on the survey. I would think that more than 57 people on this forum fish for crappie on Lake Conway.

59 responses. If you know anyone who would like to participate, now is the time.

IMHO the number one thing you can do to help the population on Conway is stop the YoYo fishing and you will see size and population BOOM'S like never before. No size limit needed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by crappiepro

imho the number one thing you can do to help the population on conway is stop the yoyo fishing and you will see size and population boom's like never before. No size limit needed.

---

x2