I am used to catching good crappie on the river also. Once the water gets right I'll be heading up that way. I have the BRWDA permit, $20, but it used to be 15 a few years ago right? When I fish the state park lakes near my house I usually don't catch large numbers of fish, but I catch more quality fish. We catch alot of 14 inch + fish there. I don't really like keeping them under about 8-9 inches too. I prefer to fillet all my fish, so as long as I can get a decent fillet, I'll keep em!!!