Small crappie removal

Saturday I was fishing Grayson lake when I was approached by a person from the department of fish and wildlife who was doing a survey on what we were catching, how we felt the lake was doing, if we would support some changes, that sort of stuff.
I told him I was disappointed with the crappie in the lake as the overwhelming majority seem to be 8 inches or less. He said we have an over abundance of small fish, and people are only taking the big ones. When in reality, we should be taking a bunch of the small ones. He said a size limit would not help, but would most likely hurt the crappie in this particular lake.

That doesn’t quite make sense to me... yes Grayson has a lot of crappie in it, but does it really have so many that they are stunting each other by competing for food? It’s rare for me to catch them over 10 inches there, but I will say the majority of fish I have caught this year are fatter than the ones I’ve seen in the past 5 years on average.

So, if the biologist is correct, what would a person do with a bunch of small crappie if they were to keep them every time they go? The biologist jokingly said fertilize the garden, but I’m not going to kill fish if I can’t use them. What say you on this?


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If it’s necessary to help the lake, keep those eight in fish. They are easy to fillet and are delicious as no pcb’s have had time to build up in them. You’ll notice that a lot of them have eggs. This is why they are overcrowding the lake. Only takes two years for them to get to spawning size. Therefore putting more small fish into the system than big fish being taken out. Combined with the big fish spawning, the smaller fish will outnumber the ten inch fish greatly. If you don’t mind cleaning thirty fish to make a couple to three meals, keep those eights. They really are delicious.

something I learned when I had a 750 gal garden pond--- I was told that if I wanted my fish to grow I needed to change the water at least 2 or 3 times a year, as fish emit some kind of enzyme that stunts their growth.
that said I realize that a lake will have water changes all the time, but it's also possible that those enzymes that effect them in a pond can also effect them in a lake as most of the time fish swim in schools and share the same water.
I was at Patoka when a Ranger did a check on me, ask how the fishing was. I told him it'd be good IF the fish were bigger. He asked what me what I did with them when caught. I told me I threw them back to grow up. He said not to do that because there were too many of them and if I didn't want to keep them to throw them OUT as there were too many and needed thinning. Enzymes in the water?? could be, but I'm not a Biologist, but it makes sense to me.

One of the river chains out here with lakes has been no limit or size. Same thing, too many smalls. Some people that don’t mind keeping the smalls fill up 5 gallon buckets when they get on them. Recently I’ve heard of some 3-4 lb crappie coming out of the same lake and seen some good size ones as well.

In my home lake there are a ton of bugeyes we call em, 4 to 7 inchers everywhere but you can also get out and ketch some bigger ones too. I have started keeping many 8 or 9 inch fish and throwing back the 13+ and they are quite easy to filet and eat. limit is 30 to try and get more fish out of water but not many fish for them here, mostly bass guys and they don't keep them either. I also have a couple of friends who have lakes they want crappie for so will fill a cooler up with a two or 3 person limit to transplant. need to take fish out of the lake and know some that toss them up on bank or use in their gardens but not significant.

Toss the small ones in a ditch or use them to fertilize your garden - they aren't going to waste in this manner, they are being consumed by something that will benefit from them.

I know of a lake that had the same problem when I was in high school. My friends and I would catch 50+ crappie each in an hour or two and had to toss them all back or the lake owner would get mad....they were all skinny and about 6 to 8 inches each. When you did catch a good sized one at about 10", it was so skinny that there wasn't much of a fillet on it.

Crappie are prolific spawners and will ruin a small lake or pond if not managed properly.

A fisheries biologist once told me that you have to think of the available food source like a defined amount of money distributed to everything in the pond or lake each year - it's a limited thing, and with too many pulling from the pot there's less to go around.

Catch and release can actually be a bad thing, with too many fish gobbling up a limited resource, you end up with a smaller average size and very few big ones. A pond or lake's capacity and average size of fish is heavily dictated by the amount of food available.

Thank you for all the replies. So if the answer to making a better fishery is the removal of small fish, why is the KYDFW not promoting this or spreading the word that they want people to remove smaller fish? Shouldn’t we always be striving to make our fisherys better? I’ll gladly do my part if it will lead to bigger fish in the future, just curious why they aren’t telling people to do it? Most of the people I know who fish Grayson do the same as me and don’t keep any under 10 inches cause they are too skinny to mess with.


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Jman5626 and all, REALLY good discussion. I think our State does a good job trying to do the 'Balance' of size and creel limits to help us all on the crappie limits. The problem I see is with 'stunted' crappie populations in some lakes. Somehow, they need to encourage fisherman to take out the smaller crappie from some of these lakes that you and I know are overpopulated and in most cases 'stunted'. Example, no size limit and maybe a 30 fish limit on the lakes they know that 60-75% of the crappie are 'stunted'. Most crappie fisherman want to take something home to eat. My take is that most will keep an 8-10" crappie. It would be better than a 6" bluegill as far as 'meat' even if the Crappie is skinny. I know they have eliminated the 'Yellow Bass' limit on KY/Barkley lakes due to the overwhelming population of smaller fish. But man, these are good eating and you can still get a decent fillet off a 6" fish if you want some filets.

Grayson Lake has no size limit on crappie - to me that's KDFWR encouraging you to take what you catch home.

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Originally Posted by artcarney_agr

Grayson Lake has no size limit on crappie - to me that's KDFWR encouraging you to take what you catch home.

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I see what you are saying, who wants to keep a 6 inch fish that’s so skinny you can almost see through it tho? If they are wanting people the take those small fish out to help the population, I’d think they should advertise it. Put up a sign at the ramp or something. Most people put the small ones back thinking they will grow up, but if that’s not the case they should let us know. I gave the biologist i talked to my honest opinion but highly doubt it mattered. He seemed more interested in what we thought about the bass fishing.


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Originally Posted by Jman5626

I see what you are saying, who wants to keep a 6 inch fish that’s so skinny you can almost see through it tho? If they are wanting people the take those small fish out to help the population, I’d think they should advertise it. Put up a sign at the ramp or something. Most people put the small ones back thinking they will grow up, but if that’s not the case they should let us know.

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I agree, it would be helpful if they advertised it that more fish should be taken out, but it could be that there's potential backlash from doing so in this world we live in with PETA and similar groups. KDFWR advocating increased destruction of fish might fall under the "negative publicity" category so they probably have to tread lightly about it, even if it is the right thing to do. It kind of reminds of what the Forest Service is doing in LBL with the logging and prescribed burns, those things are necessary to increase the wildlife carrying capacity of the property, but people have been trained to think that both logging and forest fires are bad so they get groups together to try and fight it........I could easily see the same happening over trying to reduce crappie populations in Grayson Lake.

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Originally Posted by Jman5626

I see what you are saying, who wants to keep a 6 inch fish that’s so skinny you can almost see through it tho? If they are wanting people the take those small fish out to help the population, I’d think they should advertise it. Put up a sign at the ramp or something. Most people put the small ones back thinking they will grow up, but if that’s not the case they should let us know. I gave the biologist i talked to my honest opinion but highly doubt it mattered. He seemed more interested in what we thought about the bass fishing.


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KDFWR Forecast chart says .... Crappie - Fair - High numbers of fish in the 7- to 9-inch range, and fair numbers of fish over 9 inches.Anglers need to search out cover and utilize department-placed brush piles.

Those small crappie make great cut bait for catfish . :twocents

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Originally Posted by Eagle 1

Those small crappie make great cut bait for catfish . :twocents

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In KY a Crappie is considered a "Sport Fish" -

This is directly from the Kentucky Fishing and Boating Guide on page 11 "Regardless of size or how obtained, it is illegal to use any sport fish for bait (except redear sunfish less than 6 inches long).

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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

In KY a Crappie is considered a "Sport Fish" -

This is directly from the Kentucky Fishing and Boating Guide on page 11 "Regardless of size or how obtained, it is illegal to use any sport fish for bait (except redear sunfish less than 6 inches long).

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I had thought about that before but didn’t want to tempt it.
“i guess It’s ok to take them home and bury them in the garden or throw them up on the back for something else to eat, but don’t use them to catch other fish” lol


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Cave Run lake has the same problem. I was told the same exact thing by the biologist there.
I take my small fish home use them for fertilizer, and also just take them back on the farm for varmints to eat.
A different scenario that’s a totally different situation is Taylorsville Lake.
I’ve been there twice this year. Yesterday three of us caught 50-60 fish. I brought home 7 keepers .I was using the new Lowrance Active Target trying to Target larger fish.
But the problem there I think is over harvest the last two years. Yesterday a Monday the parking lot at Chowning was almost full. Everyone boat I talked to was having the same problem.
So just remember these biologist know their lake. They shock fish to determine how to set lake limits etc. even with Muskie in Cave Run lake it is still over populated. Take those little fish home. Give them to someone that loves to eat crappie or just fertilizer.
Let’s get these lakes in good shape. If that’s what it takes I’m all in.


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Small crappie eat great. I own a lot at Trailwood Lake, which is a private lake around 100 acres. Tons of 8 to 10 inch skinny crappie. I catch and eat them all year. I know I'm probably never gonna catch my 3 pounder out of there and probably note many if any 2 pounders but thats ok.

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Originally Posted by Jigboy

Small crappie eat great. I own a lot at Trailwood Lake, which is a private lake around 100 acres. Tons of 8 to 10 inch skinny crappie. I catch and eat them all year. I know I'm probably never gonna catch my 3 pounder out of there and probably note many if any 2 pounders but thats ok.

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I agree, the do eat good and are fun to catch, but for this to be a decently sized public lake that is managed by the state, I would think they would be putting forth some effort to help the overall size of the fish get bigger. That was really the point I was trying to make. I love catching and eating fish of all sizes. Would just love for them to be a little bit bigger. I know Grayson will never be as good as kentucky lake or anything, but I do feel they can do something to help it become a little better than it currently is .


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A few years ago I had a pond with 8" crappie that barely made a bluegill size fillet. Solution: Added 20 channel cats 9" long. In 3 years I was catching bigger crappie and 5 lb. channel cats. Too many small fish? Just add fish eaters.

one solution is instead of fileting them cut off head and scale like you do a BG and you get more meat out of one and some folks I know that's all they keep as it tastes better.this way even a 7 incher is worthwhile if you have a bunch of them. plus like someone said there are always fools out there that go nuts over good conservation practices like tossing smaller fish out to be consumed by animals. No waste in the wild.

hdhndr and all, I agree that small fish are a pain to clean. I've even kept small panfish and filleted them(I cut the filletthrough the ribs, then 'pull' the ribs out with the fillet knife, hook the knife at the top of the rib, then saw and pull out the ribs leaving a thin piece of meat on the skin to then remove this meat from the skin with the knife. I see SO many people just cut out the entire rib cage, what a waist. But, I've cleaned small fish, getting only a 2 x3" fillet, but I boil these in 'Shrimp Boil' seasonings and chill them, then eat them with Cocktail Sauce. Kinda tastes like Shrimp. Not too bad. So, clean these small fish and have some 'Poor Man's Shrimp'

As already said! Eat em whole they taste great!