Lots of crappie pictures

I subscribe to a lot of North Carolina crappie fishing sites and have noticed a lot of pictures and videos of folks keeping a lot of fish and from what I can tell a lot of small ones as well. Just wanted to ask how everyone felt about that? I know for me, one of the reasons I fish Jordan is because of the creel and size limit. I don’t keep more than a mess per trip. And I am not trying to advocate for anything or push my preferences but just wanted to hear other’s opinions.


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I personally like a slot if a limit is to be imposed. I release 100 times as many fish as I keep. I use circle hooks when fishing with minnows so I can release the fish with very little damage. If I were to set the slot it would be from 10" to 14". That would allow people to keep good eating size crappie but keep the big mamas reproducing. If we look at it from the wildlife officers side, they don't have time to enforce the laws that we already have so it is the responsibility of the sportsman to do what is right. I have never been checked on inland waters in NC in all the 65+ years I have been fishing. I look at the law as guide lines and we as sports men and ladies have to protect the venue for our children. I have lots of pictures to show and brag about but I have left many trophy size fish to reproduce.

I always catch and release unless we need some to eat. If freezer has some then I don’t keep any. Gives me a reason to go fishing again if needed and....keeps the fish fresher.....lol :Rofl

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Originally Posted by SEA DANCER

I personally like a slot if a limit is to be imposed. I release 100 times as many fish as I keep. I use circle hooks when fishing with minnows so I can release the fish with very little damage. If I were to set the slot it would be from 10" to 14". That would allow people to keep good eating size crappie but keep the big mamas reproducing. If we look at it from the wildlife officers side, they don't have time to enforce the laws that we already have so it is the responsibility of the sportsman to do what is right. I have never been checked on inland waters in NC in all the 65+ years I have been fishing. I look at the law as guide lines and we as sports men and ladies have to protect the venue for our children. I have lots of pictures to show and brag about but I have left many trophy size fish to reproduce.

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I couldn’t agree more.


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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

I always catch and release unless we need some to eat. If freezer has some then I don’t keep any. Gives me a reason to go fishing again if needed and....keeps the fish fresher.....lol :Rofl

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Me too! I am more about the catching than the keeping.


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some of these lakes like High Rock and tuckertown are loaded with 4-8 inch fish. you have to weed through 10 of those just to get 1 good keeper. I have over the last 3-4 years noticed a difference with the amount of bigger fish being caught on High Rock. Let them keep on keeping the smaller fish!!

Take what you will eat, eat what you take.

Only one time have I ever thrown away frozen fish that had freezer burned and I felt pretty ashamed when I did it. It made me reconsider keeping fish at all. For the longest time I would only keep what I would cook the night after fishing, no freezing.

Now I have a teenager and a growing young son who will both eat anything I cook for them. Fish we catch are in our weekly meal rotation. For crappie, I don’t keep anything under a foot, although I don’t ever measure any of them. A 10” crappie just seems too small. 6-8 good fish is the perfect amount for my family to eat in a meal, so that’s all I keep at a time. For me it’s not about protecting the resource, or trying to ‘farm’ up bigger fish, it’s about the food we are going to eat.

One mans junk is another mans treasure. I know an elderly gentleman that loves crappie on the bone. I can take him a few 7 or 8 inch fish and he couldn't be happier. I personally like the 9 to 12 inch fish to filet and consume. As long as the angler is following the law and keeps a valid state fishing license, it's hard to complain. I occasionally see one local guy posting pics with a stringer of 100 or more fish dragging behind his kayak. From a moral, ethical, sportsman point of view I think that is way too many, but the current laws support his behavior. My personal moral compass leads me to take what I can use at that time. Another consideration is the amount of time someone gets to fish. I personally make about 3 trips per month due to work and family. I know plenty of guys that fish that much every week. If I keep 15 fish per trip and they keep just 4 per trip, the numbers are basically the same.

I’ve been using an 11-14” slot for about 10 years. Anything smaller just isn’t worth filleting, and anything bigger I Hope makes lots of babies. I fish mainly Norman and catching a lot of dinks is no problem.
TW

I think the best thing we can do to help the crappie fishery is to keep every white perch we catch. We should even have perch tournaments with prizes for most perch, biggest perch, smallest perch, least weight for smallest 10 perch...... feel free to add more. I’m not sure we shouldn’t be keeping a lot of the spots we catch as well.

TW

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Originally Posted by Tarheelwx

I think the best thing we can do to help the crappie fishery is to keep every white perch we catch. We should even have perch tournaments with prizes for most perch, biggest perch, smallest perch, least weight for smallest 10 perch...... feel free to add more. I’m not sure we shouldn’t be keeping a lot of the spots we catch as well.

TW

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Yes them perch are a menace. Love your comments.


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Originally Posted by need2befishin

One mans junk is another mans treasure. I know an elderly gentleman that loves crappie on the bone. I can take him a few 7 or 8 inch fish and he couldn't be happier. I personally like the 9 to 12 inch fish to filet and consume. As long as the angler is following the law and keeps a valid state fishing license, it's hard to complain. I occasionally see one local guy posting pics with a stringer of 100 or more fish dragging behind his kayak. From a moral, ethical, sportsman point of view I think that is way too many, but the current laws support his behavior. My personal moral compass leads me to take what I can use at that time. Another consideration is the amount of time someone gets to fish. I personally make about 3 trips per month due to work and family. I know plenty of guys that fish that much every week. If I keep 15 fish per trip and they keep just 4 per trip, the numbers are basically the same.

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That is the way I have always fished. Taking only what you need for a meal.


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Those white perch are great in the grease.

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Originally Posted by SEA DANCER

Those white perch are great in the grease.

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Yes they are


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Thanks to everyone that provided a response to my question and I appreciate all the points of view.


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A couple of years ago the local game warden came to one of the Jordan tournament weigh-in's. Several of us talked to him and his biggest problem was with bank fishermen. He said they will keep everything caught. There are bad boaters as well, like those at Harris in the spring that park under the Holleman bridge and keep cooler's full of crappie. My father saw the same thing in Robeson creek on Jordan.

I'm not sure about Harris, but the Wildlife biologists have the rest of our main lakes as healthy for crappie. Most people are responsible, but there are always those few who disregard the law.

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Originally Posted by JordanLimit

A couple of years ago the local game warden came to one of the Jordan tournament weigh-in's. Several of us talked to him and his biggest problem was with bank fishermen. He said they will keep everything caught. There are bad boaters as well, like those at Harris in the spring that park under the Holleman bridge and keep cooler's full of crappie. My father saw the same thing in Robeson creek on Jordan.

I'm not sure about Harris, but the Wildlife biologists have the rest of our main lakes as healthy for crappie. Most people are responsible, but there are always those few who disregard the law.

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Yes, to be honest I have been seeing a lot of post on other North Carolina fishing sites. Several posts showing folks keeping 50 or more crappie and everything from 4 inches up. Post after post from some of the same people. Thanks for posting on this.


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Are there other N.C. crappie specific forums? I know of a few other fishing report boards, but unsure of crappie specific pages. Can you private message me the names/links?

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Originally Posted by Nater

Are there other N.C. crappie specific forums? I know of a few other fishing report boards, but unsure of crappie specific pages. Can you private message me the names/links?

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Sent on PM


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NC Crappie can u send my a link to?

Good post!
Depending what I have in freezer. If I have 2 bags left that are dated. I'll keep 10 fish (10-12") . I put 5 filets in each bag with water an date them. It's just me and wifey. Only eat the crappie about once every 2 weeks, if she doesn't want, I'll pull 1 bag for me.
now if I catch white perch, their going to freezer, good eating fish.

most folks I know are ethical and abide by the limits and many of us toss the bigger crappie back close to 14 and above. Had a guy have a cow when my wife caught one over 16 and I took her pic and then tossed it back. especially since it was pre spawn, let those reproduce. Most of us don't go enough to be significant. At one of Robbie's Mark Twain extravaganza's had the local fish biologist there and course got the usual question on fishing pressure said it wasn't as important as everyone thinks and that spawning conditions for crappie and shad are more important and other factors. Same on other lakes I fish that don't get much pressure and yet when the ketchn isn't as good as it normally is like this year they are all convinced it's too many fish taken out when one lake gets very little fishing pressure at all.

Thanks to everyone for your posts. The one common theme that I gathered from you all is responsibility and preservation. Glad to know I belong to a group that puts these values first.


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I too impose a slot limit on myself and others that fish in my boat. 10-13” are keepers less or more is thrown back. Just what I think is best but don’t look down my nose at those who keep 8” inch fish.


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Trust me when I say that i have a variety of fish in my freezer to chose from and dont put crappie on top of my list of favorites.

Every year around February-March I will go on a hunt and keep a pile of crappie. I have a commercial vac sealer at my house and nothing ever goes to waste. I really end up giving most of what i keep away anyways. I personally do not like keeping crappie in the summer and fall. They are skinny and personally i think they taste a bit off.
I like the 9-12 inch variety personally.

https://www.crappie.com/crappie/imag...quote_icon.png Originally Posted by need2befishin https://www.crappie.com/crappie/imag...post-right.png
One mans junk is another mans treasure. I know an elderly gentleman that loves crappie on the bone. I can take him a few 7 or 8 inch fish and he couldn't be happier. I personally like the 9 to 12 inch fish to filet and consume. As long as the angler is following the law and keeps a valid state fishing license, it's hard to complain. I occasionally see one local guy posting pics with a stringer of 100 or more fish dragging behind his kayak. From a moral, ethical, sportsman point of view I think that is way too many, but the current laws support his behavior. My personal moral compass leads me to take what I can use at that time. Another consideration is the amount of time someone gets to fish. I personally make about 3 trips per month due to work and family. I know plenty of guys that fish that much every week. If I keep 15 fish per trip and they keep just 4 per trip, the numbers are basically the same.


Totally agree! I can relate to the elderly gentleman who likes his fish "bone-in." My 85 yr old mother-in-law lives with us and wants her fish with bones. I normally prefer 10-12" but because my mother-in-law prefers bone in and eats smaller portions, I sometimes keep some 9" fish for her if there is no size limit. In fact, she's convinced me that bone-in, skin-on taste better so I've even started frying some of my own fish bone-in. Now my wife, who would not eat a fish with bones, asks me to fix hers that way.
I only get to fish a few times a year because of the care my mother-in-law requires, so I try to stock up when I go. My first trip since October 2019 was two weeks ago. I'm jealous of the folks on here that can go every week or multiple times a month.

To each his own, I supply fish for a couple of Veteran post fish fries every year.I don't have to keep over the limit on any lake,I am retired and get to go quite often.I also keep my 90yr. old daddy in fish,and several neigbhors in fish who don't get to go.Heck I eat them too.As far as throwing back big fish for the gene pool,Thats like a trophy buck,They have already spawned several times and contributed to the gene pool,They are great blackened.

jcwaterboy. I agree with you and understand not being able to fish very much. I too take care of my mother (99years old)and she takes almost all my time. I have found that I can pay someone to stay with her at home once in a while so I can get away. It is expensive but it does wonders for my head. My hat is off to you for looking after your mother-in-law. You will not regret it and will be well respected for the time and effort.