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The lake that I fish at, I usually only catch fish around 7 inches. I did finally catch a couple around 10 inches. I fish from the bank. Are these crappies overpopulated to the point where they don’t get very big or is there not a good enough source of bait or is it a combination of both. Thank you for your input.
There is one small pond nearby that produces similar results. I have taken bigger crappie from shore, but only rarely. Plenty of forage in the water too. Maybe it's due to overpopulation?
PAWildOutdoors
Welcome to the challenges of fishing
You've touched on a topic that can give you an array of different reasons here
I would first contact the DNR or google on any information on the lakes potential (if studied)
From there it's a matter of the right combination for Bank fishing (bait, line, scents, etc.)
The O'l saying where there's small ones there's got to be big ones
Good Luck on your success
billygee :rolleyes:
PAWildOutdoors,
More than likely the fish are stunted due to over population and poor forage like many small reservoirs in Pa. What part of the state are you from?
Reminds me of cattle watering ponds that were stocked with bream in Alabama. Thousands of bream... all about 2 inches long.
Tom
North central PA, I fish potter and tioga counties mainlyQuote:
Originally Posted by paicenut
Read about crappie ...average size is 9 inches....you might have to many or it might be something else ...hard to say ...are they big headed ?
If you catch them 7" fish in the Spring spawning period & they have eggs ... they're likely stunted from overpopulation. It generally takes about 3yrs for a Crappie to be mature enough to spawn, and they would likely be around the 9" range at that age.
You 'may' also be catching the "bank runners" ... and the larger fish are out in more open/deeper water.
If your DNR or Wildlife Dept. puts out a "fishing forecast" for lakes in your state ... check it to see whether or not those lakes are rated at least "Good" & the general length size available. Anything less than a "good" rating or a length rating below 9" average, and I'd be looking for a different lake to fish. :twocents
Could be stunted, or there could have just been a fantastic spawn 2 years ago, and those fish are what you're catching.
We have a small 60 acre lake close to me that about 10 years ago was overpopulated with those small 7 inchish fish,you could catch hundreds and they were all the same small size.They actually started to encourage people to take some out when they caught them and even had a Crappie tournament where you caught a 50 fish limit and lowest weight would win.It seems to have helped because the average size has gone up to close to 9 inches and you can sometimes pull a few 10 and 11 inch fish out,still not great but it seems to be on the right path.
Curious as to this also. Local lake is similar .