Is Tillery a Sleeper Crappie Lake?
I just read an interesting article regarding High Rock, Tuckertown, Badin, Blewett Falls and Lake Tillery by Brian McRae, who is the Piedmont Fisheries Research Coordinators for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Division of Inland Fisheries. Mr. McRae manages the research and survey program for all freshwater species in the region. To paraphrase Mr. McRae the last survey for High Rock showed good densities of crappie and great body condition. The survey showed a good number of 2-year old fish over the 8-inch mark and their latest trap net results showed 10% of the crappie over 10 inches. He said High Rock is a good lake now and one to watch in the near future. He said Tuckertown and Badin have recovered to full pond from the droughts of 2005 and 2007 and will allow crappie to reach their normal shoreline spawning grounds. Both lakes have good density of basically 50-50 black and white crappie and the 8 inch minimum size limit and 20 fish creel limit will help these lakes grown bigger fish in the future. Blewett Falls continue to have consistent crappie population and their recent survey showed 70% of the fish sampled would be over the 8 inch limit and receives very little fishing pressure.
I was surprised that McRae ranked Tillery second behind Jordan Lake and in front of the 3rd place lake Falls of Neuse, after taking Buggs Island out of the picture since it is jointly managed by Virginia. McRae said Lake Tillery is a sleeper crappie lake ranking second on his list of trophy lakes for the size of crappie. He compares Tillery’s crappie growth rate to Jordan and his recent trap net surveys shows 95 percent of the (predominantly) black crappie was over 9 inches and a whopping 75% were over 10 inches. He further said, the fishery at Tillery is on the rise with good lengths, but these are fat fish with great body weights. That’s 60% higher rate of 10 inch fish than High Rock during the last net survey….very impressive. McRae went on to say the biggest concerns for crappie fishing is the infiltration of non-native species, specifally white perch and blueback herring, both of which can severly affect established crappie fish habitats.
