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Went to Grand Lake today in Eudora with my oldest son. He fished up front while I drove the TM, watched the graph, helped with the dip net, and gave moral support...... They were slow today and we only had eight by 1:30 this afternoon but they were all pretty good sized with the largest going 2 lbs, 11 oz. We had three that hit 16 inches. I am going to try and post a picture but don't know how it will turn out.
Nice catch
Very nice fish.
nice slabs
Good looking fish.
Thats what I call Silver Glory. Keep those pics coming and nail one for me. Crappie Pro
Those are some rite purdy fish....Thanks for the post & pics.
Some good looking crappie Steve, looks like the water is a little rough. Thanks for the report and pictures.
Nice catch!
nice catch must have been rough today
Monday wasn't too rough.....it was the day before on Sunday that was the rough one. The wind hit gusts to 25 mph that day and it was whitecapping real bad all over the lake. If you've never fished Grand in the wind you have to try it. That shallow lake gets rough pretty quick! We tried dragging an anchor in the middle of the lake where we were catching most of the fish and the swells kept coming over the transom. We had to fish closer to the East bank in the 9 ft water where the water was a little calmer but there were not as many fish on that side. We caught 11 on Sunday and missed about 15 more before the wind beat us.....but we had a heck of a good time. Look for Grand Lake to be hot in about two weeks!
Congrats on a great lookin' pair of slabs. Ahh, so much water to fish and so little time...:rolleyes:
Congrats. Those are some awesome looking fish.
The number caught is not what makes a great trip. You'll always have the memories. Congrats.
IMO, theres not a better lake in SEARK. I don't know what it is but Grand produces unreal numbers of Big Crappie. IF that lake had help from our AGFC. it could easily be the best lake anywhere around.
I totally agree. The AGFC needs to put a length limit on this lake!Quote:
Originally Posted by SEARKfisherman
They should also maintain the water depths. AGFC lets every farmer around pump water out of it. Grand wasn't always as shallow as it is now. they could also blow the beaver dams that stop everyone from getting into cornfield and myers. but all they want to do is trap crappie and move them to other lakes. Diana Andrews our Biologist should be fired! IMO
Good looking fish! I think that I'm going to go give them a try there tomorrow.
SEARKfisherman, you are correct. Both Grand Lake and it's Mississippi counterpart straight across the river (Lake Washington) are two of the best crappie lakes in the world - that's a fact. They both produce some monster white crappie in significant numbers; 3+ lb crappie are not uncommon on either lake. We are lucky to be within driving distance of either one of them!
Luvpt,
Congrats on those fish!! It looks like the large year class of crappie is finally dominating the population at Grand. We expected it to happen this year and there is some proof. I believe I have interviewed you at Lake Monticello for the creel study going on there.
SEARKfisherman,
I don’t want to sound harsh but please refrain from comments like that until you really know the person. Diana works hard and is a great person. Grand Lake is owned by the State of Ark and is managed by the AGFC. This means that the AGFC doesn't have the rights to say who can and can’t pump from the lake. The NRCS has control over that. You should contact them about that problem. As for getting shallow, I could write a book about reservoir limnology on here but to save time, I will keep it short. Reservoirs are sediment traps and over time they are going to fill-in. All reservoirs will go through this process and eventually become swamps and then dry land (Not in our life time). With the amount of agricultural occurring around the lake, Grand Lake receives a lot of sediments causing it to be come shallow. The beaver dams, we are working on. We dynamited the corn field chute and now looking at how to take care of the Myers chute one. As for trapnetting crappie and moving other places, YES, we did trap-net 1000 crappie from Grand Lake in Dec 2006. Did we want to do that, NO. But sometimes you have to do what you are told to. These fish were broad stock fish for the hatchery and did not go to Lake Chicot. The broadstock fish for the Lake Chicot Nursery Pond are collected out of Connerly Bayou. We did stock crappie back into Grand the following year. There is no length limit on the lake because of the unusually high density of crappie in the lake. If we did put a 10 in. length limit on the lake, there could be a chance for stunting and you would actually have smaller fish due to the high productivity of the lake (Another area that I could go on and on about).
As for the water level, we finally got it back to normal and hope it stay there but realize there is some seepage of water to the Mississippi River. We also have a water level meter on the bridge that collects daily reading so we can monitor the water level.
Finally, feel free to come to the Public meeting on Thursday Feb 26 at 7pm at the Lake Village Fire department and we can talk about Grand Lake after we talk about Lake Chicot. Also feel free to contact me at the Monticello Regional Office.
All,
Please feel free to contact your local biologists. A lot of us are very avid fishermen and are willing to answers people questions.
Sorry for a long post. Please don’t take this post the wrong way, I like coming on crappie.com to see fishing report for SEArk and around the state and see the opinions of the anglers in the state. We need more outreach on why we do some of the things we do and this is one way, we can do it by reaching out to you the angler.
Thanks
Jeremy
Thanks for taking the time to post Jeremy. I would like for you to post more often. I am sure you could add a lot of valuable input to all of us.
Could you please give me the name and a contact number for the biologist for the central part of the state?
Thanks,
Jeff
Hey Mojorig, Do you have any current information on the condition of the crappie fishery in Lake Nimrod? Who would be the best biologist to contact and talk to about this?
Thanks,
Dave
crappietyme,
For the central area of the state contact Tom Bly or Matt Schroeder in the Mayflower office 1-877-470-3309
slabbandit,
For Nimrod contact Bob Limbird or Frank Leone in the Russellville office 1-877-967-7577
Jeremy,
Yes, that was me you interviewed a while back on Lake Monticello. Thanks very very much for the clarification on what's happening at Grand Lake. So many fishermen have the wrong idea about the management of the lake and I have heard all the false rumors myself. Hopefully you have set the record straight. I have actually heard people say that the crappie population in Grand was very minimal at best and not worth fishing. They just either haven't been there on a good day or weren't using the correct technique. As I said before, it is truly one of the best crappie lakes in the world and has been for a long time. I worked in Eudora this afternoon and just had to swing by the lake for a little scouting report.....saw a lot of large-size crappie coming out of there......needless to say I will be there at daylight in the morning. If the water is rough I plan to power-troll crankbaits.....otherwise I will spider-rig with jigs.
Thanks for the information on Grand lake Jeremy, some good info. Please feel free to post and give us info regarding other lakes and your opinions on the fishing in SeArk. And posts your fishing trips and reports also. Welcome to the site, from Monticello.
Thanks all, I will check in from time to time, so feel free to ask questions that you might have related to crappie or AGFC and if I can't answer them I will get you the answer from someone who knows.
L.A. stumpjumper,
I ran into you one day at Morgan Point but didn't get to say hello because the guy I was with was ready to go fishing.
As for fishing pics, I am one of those anglers that some of you guys might not like. I am a bass tournament fisherman but I enjoy hearing from all type of anglers in the area so that is why I came on here. Also, I would like to talk to you sometime about Cane Creek Lake. It is very difficult for us to sample that lake so we have to rely on angler input for that lake.
Jeremy
Man we would love to have a wildlife agent willing to work with local fisherman and share info.with us.Keep up the good work.....Tknight
Hey Jeremy, I used to be one of those bass tournament fisherman. But with age the crappie have come more appealing to me, much more relaxing fishing, and some mighty fine eating too. Anytime you see me out just holler at me, I'll tell you what I can about Cane Creek. It is my favorite fall fishing hole, to me it is a special lake with some special crappie in it. Look forward to meeting you on the water.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mojorig
Steve,
Your killing Me with those pics.. I swear every time I get in my truck it seems to pull towards the Southeast:) and when my dogs bark, It sure sounds like "Ark.. Ark... Ark.:D
You guys are lucky to have biologists that care down there.
Cane Creek is a special place, Of the six 3# / 3# + crappie that I have caught to date, The two from CaneCreek are by far my Favorites.
Daniel