Will all these just short fish make it to keeping size by fall or will we have to wait for Spring?
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Will all these just short fish make it to keeping size by fall or will we have to wait for Spring?
We ask this about Enid every year........for the last 20 or so years, lol. The 11-11.5 inch fish at Enid are endless, and it has been like this every summer as far back as I can remember. I don't know exactly why, but I don't think that is gonna change! We keep saying they will get to legal size by fall, spring, summer, winter, and it's always it's always the same. All I can figure is when they get to be 12 1/8 inches, they all of a sudden get smarter and don't hit a lure or jig, lol.
On our last trip up there we ran into 2 biologists from ms state. They are aware of problem. They are gonna have to reduce size limit at some point for a period of time. Not their suggestion just my thoughts
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Last week, my boat with two people caught 109 legal fish...the fish are as healthy as I have seen...nothing wrong with the fish...you just have to figure out what they want..reducing the size limit will not fix the problem...we tried that at Sardis
Not saying that they are not healthy, (although they are not as thick thru the shoulders as other lakes i fish), but when the average to better than average crappie fisherman can't get close to a limit without catching 50 to 100 fish, and it has been going on for years and the biologist acknowledge a problem, solutions need to be discussed. Most other lakes in ms are 30/ angler limits and they are acheivable routinely. Just my observation.
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If nothing else they could do like Washington and allow a 3-5 fish between 10 and 12 per day for a year and see how that works. Washington has that slot
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That won't happen again, when it was in place it was abused. Tried it when they first imposed the 10 inch minimum years ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by crappiejim
70 to 90% of keeper fish are taken out of the lake each year. There caught, go through spillway, die of natural causes, etc. this happens every single year. This past June there were a half dozen weights 12 plus and a 13 lb plus weight in the tournaments held on Enid. For post spawn weights, that's as good as it gets. In my opinion the lake is as good as it's been in 25 years right now. In my opinion the 12 inch ML is the best thing for all 4 lakes if they are wanting to be categorized as trophy lakes. The fish have to get age to get to 15 and 16 inches. If your taking say 80% of the keepers out every year that only leaves 20% to age. If you lowered the ML to 11 inches you would eventually start seeing a lot of 10 to 11 inch fish and ask the same question, "when are these 10.75 inch gonna be keepers". The limits and ML were set to keep these lakes trophy class. I think there doing the best thing for them and I want to go keep a bunch of 10 inch fish I will go fish a pond. I like catching Big crappie though, and I really like trying to figure them out. That's what's fun to me.
Well said
Maybe too many small sized shad. Lol. It's the most I see in any lake. Huge shad balls everywhere. Not a food problem unless it's the size of them.
But the bigger the fish the more outsiders will be coming in. Not a problem for me since its not my home area, but I have heard some locals with concern. Great for the economy of the local area. Guess I don't really have a dog in that hunt.
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Just go fish, and enjoy the day
That's what I do anyway. I don't keep any fish. After early in February or so I have all I need. I've caught a couple hundred at Enid the last 3 weeks and only kept a few for a crankfest partner who wanted some fresh.Quote:
Originally Posted by KnightShadow10
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I agree Knight and jim, I'm guilty of the same mindset as a fisherman. One day I'm upset at catching tons of shorts to keeper ratio the next day I'm even more upset of not catching any fish at all. Just enjoy fishing the Big 4, you wanna keep everything thing you catch then go fish a farm pond... or just stay at home. We have a healthy fishery is all that matters. If we ain't willing to take the good with the bad then maybe we outta try something new... like bird watching or hunting Bigfeets.. Lol..
I caught one 12.25 last week that had THREE shad in his mouth...then hit a crank...If they are all feeding like that...they will be growing!!!!
I am not a biologist but I am a avid crappie fisherman that enjoys fishing different lakes.
We in KY battle this because of the gem of lakes that are right here 35 miles from my house, KY Lake and Lake Barkley. These lakes are both in the top 10 crappie fisheries in the states.
As we all know, the big 4 take most of the top 5 of that list.
We can all get a little spoiled from time to time, battle a less than average spawn from a few years ago, or just the fact that the big fish don't get big by hitting our bait presentations.
We all have something special and should help support the efforts to keep them all great fisheries for decades to come.
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Going to tell it like it is. If you don't like catching short fish change lakes. Come back when there legal. Worst thing that could happen is go to 11". If you want to catch keeper fish then GO FISHING and find them.
Well I guess we have our answer. The point I was attempting to make is that you have 4 corps lakes all managed the same and yet one lake has ,at least according to folks who have fished it for years, continually produced thousands of undersized fish year after year. I don't recall Grenada or Arkabutla having this issue. I have not fished Sardis but I heard they have had a poor spawn a couple of years and producing a lot of shorts but this is an anomaly. My comments are just food for thought. Since a couple of biologist made a comment to my friend and I before we said anything about what we caught was interesting to me. I will continue to fish and enjoy all lakes in ms.
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I only fish Sardis 90 percent of the time. Sardis hasn't had bad spawns it's been great these last 2 years. Decent spawns years prior. Few years back was catching 150 a day going home with 8-10. Folks complained they went to 11". Within 2 years after that thousands came and left with coolers full. Went back to 12" now no fish to be caught worth bragging about now boat ramps are empty. Last 2 spawns were high water levels. They were spread out. There are some beast in Sardis right now. Enid is on the verge of tipping over with keeper fish. Folks just be patient
I know I am an outsider but I have fished ENID twice. Once in June and Once in July. I pulled cranks on both trips which I had never done before so we were rookies to say the least. We fished for a total of eight hours on the June trip and caught around 100 with 26 keepers. We fished a total of ten hours on the July trip and caught 143 with 28 keepers. We had bigger fish on the July trip. Yall have a great fishery and I think the 12 inch limit is the reason why. We do not have a length limit in Georgia but I wish we did have at least a ten inch size limit
I keep hearing about the number of shorts, and I see some folks actually count them, but anyone that fishes Enid knows the big ones are there. Lots of guide trips in the fall prove that. Enid usually puts out its best fish in the fall and winter. Lots of short fish means plenty of fish in the future to catch. Relatively small lake, tons of pressure year round, tons of shorts. Sounds like a winning combination to me!!!! Without the shorts, the future would look bleak.
Just count your keepers and go home!!! [emoji4]
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I would skip fishing Enid! Mostly all shorts with no big fish to be found!
Plus it gives us more room to park at the boat ramp and easier to rent a cabin at Cossar!:biggrin