Originally Posted by
kyfishman
I fished Reelfoot Lake a lot of years before moving away from the lake two years ago. I have always loved and appreciated the unique beauty and fishability of the lake. In a recent conversation with a Tennessee Wildlife Fisheries Biologist, I asked about the ability of the lake to stand up to the tremendous fishing pressure being placed on the lake in especially the last few years. (I put the question particularly in regards to the crappie fishing.) He answered that Reelfoot Lake is a virtual incubator for crappie. No other lake in this part of the country can match the key things needed for reproducing crappie: natural spawning habitat, water quality, and abundance of forage. He noted that weather patterns can and do affect the crappie spawn, with some years having more favorable conditions than others, and that every lake goes through cycles of spawning, but creel surveys and netting sampling has shown that fishing pressure has little to do with the crappie population on the lake. The truth is: most fisherman do not catch that many fish (on average). Now back several years ago, when the commercial harvesting of crappie was allowed on the lake, so many quality fish were being removed by nets it did have a negative affect on crapping fishing, but in the years since the netting stopped, the size average and overall population of the crappie increased dramatically. He went on to say that there is no way, even given the high fishing pressure on the lake these days, that the crappie fishermen can even begin to compete with the number of crappie that were being taken by commercial netting. Each year a certain "poundage" of fish was set to be taken by commercial netters, but a lot of fish were taken and sold illegally. So much so that it really hurt the lake. I've shared all this simply to say, I wouldn't count Reelfoot Lake out. It is still one of the finest crappie lakes in the country with a good future ahead of it.
