LAKE TALQUIN- take care of it!!!

all of us that crappie fish lake talquin absolutely love it. i am lucky enough to live on lake talquin. and fished it years before moving here. and, this looks to be one of the best years. i've had my first 3 pounder and more than 12 over 2 lbs. already. i threw nearly all back. but, i just want to ask everyone not to overdo the love. keeping so many fish that i see many do will hurt the future of the lake. and, there are thousands more cormorants here than ever before eating shad and other fish. i saw a lake i lived near and fished often in colorado get absolutely destroyed by overfishing (trout) - stagecoach reservoir near steamboat springs. fisherman from a town nearby would catch a limit in the morning, go home, and come back in the afternoon and catch and take home another limit. there is NOT an unlimited supply of crappie in the lake. i remind myself to throw fish back every trip. and, i understand it is much easier to do that since i live on the lake and not in georgia or another nearby state. i would also like to see our lake get even better. i would love to see the crappie approach the size of the great crappie lakes in mississippi where a 3 pounder is caught much more often than here. i think a size limit of 11 inches, and eventually 12 inches would accomplish that as it has in grenada and the other mississippi lakes. and, perhaps a creel limit of 20 instead of 25. there is a meeting in the tallahassee are noted below with the florida game and fish commission to discuss black crappie management. i plan to go and suggest these rules changes for talquin. please attend and make our beloved lake better!!

Location	Date	Time
Northwest Region Lake Jackson Community Center, 3840 N. Monroe Street, Suite 301, Tallahassee, FL 32303	March 26, 2019	6:30pm - 8pm

Grenada lake
A drought in Mississippi four years ago has become beneficial for this southernmost link on the I-55 chain of premier crappie reservoirs. When sections of the lake dried up, the exposed bottom was regenerated with weed growth and willows, which were inundated by recent wet springs.
"This is the third year of high water," says Kent Driscoll, who guides on all three of the I-55 reservoirs of Grenada, Sardis, and Arkabutla. "On these Corps of Engineers lakes, when we get high water we typically get highly successful spawns. The number of age-classes that make up the 12-inch and longer fish is going to be phenomenal."
The forage base of shad also has benefited from the recent years of high water, so there is plenty of food to boost crappie growth. A 12-inch minimum-length limit imposed during the same year as the drought also has helped Grenada's big fish boom. "Combine all of these factors and you are talking about unbelievably strong age-classes of fish," Driscoll says. "We will continue to see 15- to 16-inch crappies for at least the next two or three years."----http://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/giant-southern-crappies/156772

I agree with the overfishing. Unfortunately it's usually not the legal fishermen that hurt the lake. Enforcement is the biggest issue. We used to get 3 pound fish much more common when there was a 50 crappie per person creel. Back there were less fisherman and less than a handful of us that knew what an autopilot was. Water management was better. Every 8 years there was a drawdown of the lake. Now greedy business owners along the lake stopped drawdowns. The pads where spawning happened for years have been destroyed and it looks like someone is still spraying them.

As far as the 12 inch length for Black Crappie, I just haven't saw where it's effective. In Mississippi you primarily have White Crappie which are longer in length and grow faster. When regulations are developed all stakeholders are taken into consideration. You and I want trophy size fish. Or should I say I want numbers of quality fish. Others want plenty to bring home. I have been blessed to fish for crappie all over the southeast and I feel Talquin has the creel and length limits to sustain a awesome crappie population for a long time. The need is for more officers year round. These officers are over worked, under staffed and under paid. There should be someone on a lake like Talquin all the time but try to get checked during duck season or at night. In March they come out to check fishermen.

They were on the lake today. Checked our license. Checked the boat for life jackets, throw cushion, fire extinguisher, registration, and checked the livewell to make sure all fish were legal. Super nice guy. Very professional and thorough. Guys like that will help maintain a quality fishery for yrs to come.


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Well this coming week will be my second time there in 2 years. If we catch a limit we will keep a limit. The time we put into rigging tackle, buying tackle, gas, groceries, the cost of somewhere to stay. That all adds up and we will be legal but we will be after 25 fish per person that are 10 inches are over. You have to understand that people come to a fishery like Talquin to do so. We don’t trash the lake up or keep small fish, but we are there to have a good time and to catch crappie. Tight lines.


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The drawdown of talquin was the best thing that ever happened to it. I was very lucky to be able to fish the following years. The numbers was great but the average size fish was alot better. I saw this drawdown on a county pond in alabama a few years back. The numbers and size of shell crackers was amazing. Just my opinion, i think its one of the best management tools out there.

Id love to come fish that lake one these days when they get on the banks !and I would donate all my catch back to their dewellings just because I catch plenty off my home lake to eat ! Nothing more fun to me to catch em on float n fly ! I would like to come catch some those monster gills too! Nothing wrong with keeping a limit as long as you stop keeping when limit reached the poachers double /triple dipping and keeping everything caught is our problem !

Been fishing Talquin for 20 years. I know the lake well and keep no fish smaller than 12 inches (self imposed limit). Also, when my clicker hits 20 fish, my mind starts saying "I got to clean these little suckers" so I call it a day or throw others back that I catch. When I'm down for a week, 20 fish daily is more than enough for me. I'm blessed to have such a great lake close to me!

thanks for a great comment.

I hope to be up in the next week or so. I will keep five to eat and hopefully they are not females. I got a feeling the females will be dropping eggs soon if they aren't already. It is a 300+ mile trip from Cooca, Florida for two or three days. I just like pulling jigs and winding in a big one every now and then.

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Originally Posted by johndeere5045

The drawdown of talquin was the best thing that ever happened to it. I was very lucky to be able to fish the following years. The numbers was great but the average size fish was alot better. I saw this drawdown on a county pond in alabama a few years back. The numbers and size of shell crackers was amazing. Just my opinion, i think its one of the best management tools out there.

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I tend to disagree with the drawdown. I caught my very first fish on Talquin about 50 years ago. I can remember as a teenager catching bedding shellcrackers that were 2 lbs. Then they had the first drawdown in 1983. The shellcrackers have not came back to the 2 lb size consistently since that initial drawdown. The drawdown they did when they shut the lake down until April was the only drawdown that I saw benefit from. Just my opinion.

Shellcrackers thrive off of mussels,clams and well any other creature with a shell. These creatures require hard sandy bottom. When a lake is newer it doesn't have as much sludge, mud and muck. So the bottoms is clean and clear. Shelled creature populations take off. So do Shellcrackers. In many places during drought and drawdowns lake bottoms get cleaned. This starts the cycle. Most of the Shellcracker records get broken within three years immediately after a drought/drawdown with clean up. Talquin shell cracker and white bass populations are down tremendously for many reasons. Habitat, forage, fishing pressure and invasive species to name a few. The crappie is a little different it is primarily fishing pressure. Though the loss of lily pads is beginning to play a huge role.

Nearby Lake Jackson has an amazing Shellcracker population. It has experienced many years off and on of drought. Clams at times large as baseballs cover the docks there. Two pound Shellcrackers are common and 1-1.5 are easily caught. Several factors go into management and each species requires something the other doesn't but a good management plan and vision are need for each body of water. Talquin seems to be mainly being focused on largemouth over the last ten years. Losing several commercial cat fishermen has also hurt pan fishing there. Jackson being in Tallahassee is getting a lot of talk towards management along with funding soon.

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Originally Posted by crappielimits

Shellcrackers thrive off of mussels,clams and well any other creature with a shell. These creatures require hard sandy bottom. When a lake is newer it doesn't have as much sludge, mud and muck. So the bottoms is clean and clear. Shelled creature populations take off. So do Shellcrackers. In many places during drought and drawdowns lake bottoms get cleaned. This starts the cycle. Most of the Shellcracker records get broken within three years immediately after a drought/drawdown with clean up. Talquin shell cracker and white bass populations are down tremendously for many reasons. Habitat, forage, fishing pressure and invasive species to name a few. The crappie is a little different it is primarily fishing pressure. Though the loss of lily pads is beginning to play a huge role.

Nearby Lake Jackson has an amazing Shellcracker population. It has experienced many years off and on of drought. Clams at times large as baseballs cover the docks there. Two pound Shellcrackers are common and 1-1.5 are easily caught. Several factors go into management and each species requires something the other doesn't but a good management plan and vision are need for each body of water. Talquin seems to be mainly being focused on largemouth over the last ten years. Losing several commercial cat fishermen has also hurt pan fishing there. Jackson being in Tallahassee is getting a lot of talk towards management along with funding soon.

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What kind of invasive species are in Talquin


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Originally Posted by Glad2Bhere

What kind of invasive species are in Talquin


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The most critical is flathead catfish. Unfortunately fisherman imported them from other fisheries illegally. The river red bellies have been hurt the worst but all panfish have been affected.

Do any of you guys know what they are spraying on Talquin, I have been seeing a couple airboats spraying some weeds near my house up on the East end of the lake?

They seem to be targeting a specific type of plant, but when I went out for a ride last night it just looked like normal grass that they had sprayed.

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Originally Posted by Lowhydrogen

Do any of you guys know what they are spraying on Talquin, I have been seeing a couple airboats spraying some weeds near my house up on the East end of the lake?

They seem to be targeting a specific type of plant, but when I went out for a ride last night it just looked like normal grass that they had sprayed.

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Did you ever get any info about the spraying?


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I only fish locally but would be in support of smaller creel limits and bigger fish minimums. With the advance in electronics more people can find and catch fish more easily. And more people are fishing now than ever. I like to catch and keep my limit but it is the responsibility of our generation to preserve a fishery for those young fishermen to enjoy. Just my thoughts.

How has the crappie fishing been the last few days with the warmer weather? I will be down this weekend. Must be doing good, the web is quiet! ;)

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Originally Posted by Glad2Bhere

Did you ever get any info about the spraying?


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Yes, sorry for the late reply. I saw them down at the ramp one morning a couple weeks back. They're contracted by FWC. They're from Central FL and are targeting an invasive grass.

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Originally Posted by KHNC

How has the crappie fishing been the last few days with the warmer weather? I will be down this weekend. Must be doing good, the web is quiet! ;)

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Check Facebook lake Talquin Lodge they put up pictures


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One of my New Years resolutions was to only keep Crappie 12 inches and up no matter where I fish which here in Ohio will mean many trips coming home empty. I will still have the thrill of the thump and helping my wife 🎣.

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Originally Posted by Lowhydrogen

Yes, sorry for the late reply. I saw them down at the ramp one morning a couple weeks back. They're contracted by FWC. They're from Central FL and are targeting an invasive grass.

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If its the same guys spraying down here, they may be targeting one type of grass but have really bad aim. They nuke everything including tree limbs 20' above the water.