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MS Crappie Limit Reduced Due to Livescope

I just wished someone could show me how to catch them that "easy" with LS. Lol I still catch more sitting under a bridge at night drowning minnows under a green light in the water. Is that considered "cheating" with a green light at night 🤣. I honestly use mine the most for finding catfish laying on the bottom.
 
I have crappie fished on Ky Lake since the early 90's. It's seems to me that crappie have been harder and harder to catch each year and with each advancement in technology. In the early 90's we would find a creek channel adjacent to a flat and just drift with the wind only using the trolling motor to keep the boat straight. When our success started dwindling with that we invested in a handheld gps and started marking structure and trolling around from one to another. Most days we would boat 20-30 keepers in 5-6 hours of fishing. Seemed like each year our success rate would drop and it became tougher and tougher to catch fish. We invested in a Livescope last year and I have to admit it has not helped our success rate of catching keeper crappie. I have less than 100 hours on the Livescope, but I can drop down on a fish's nose and still can't get them to bite. I have swapped jigs multiple times, tried plastics, tried feather jigs, and also minnows. Also tried crappie nibbles. A couple weeks ago my dad and I were fishing. I was using jigs and he was using a double minnow rig with crappie nibbles. I caught 8 keepers and he only caught 1 as we were moving from one mat to another. All this to say either there are far less crappie in the lake than there use to be, the crappie are much smarter, or we have become much worse fishermen over the last 30 years.
 
It is affecting crappie numbers in lots of lakes around here in TN also. I don't have live scope it's not my kind of fishing. I fish to relax first and foremost and catch fish as a bonus. Eyes glued to a screen and watching fish eat your bait doesn't sound fun to me no matter what. Earlier in the spring all the boats with livescope were limiting out quickly. And then leaving coming back and doing it again. We talked to a bunch out there they all were doing it. And the rest of us didn't even have a 1 man limit with 2 men on most boats. I still had a blast. So I think things will change in the future no doubt in my mind. Not sure what that looks but I'd say we'll all be punished over livescope with limit reductions and size changes. Those changes will just make it harder for all that don't use livescope I'm afraid. No knocking those that do use it. Just my observations.
 
Here's the deal. I stated my opinion on it. Whether you didn't like or agree with my opinion or not...your opinion don't get the final say in what I think, and isn't going to change my mind no matter how many times you post that you don't agree. Posting it more doesn't move your opinion don't the ladder either.
 
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redblood said:
I think that may br possible on renown crappie lakes that are a mecca for crappie fishermen. I doubt its true on Joe average lake in forgotten city Tennessee
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Won't be tjat long before everyone in forgotten city TN has one. When that happens will your fishing be affected?
 
I'll admit... libescoping does sound like FUN!

Back in the 90s when I was a hardcore crappie fisherman on Ross Barnett, I wore their a$$es out more days than not. Never had less than 50lbs of filets in the freezer at any given time... ate fried crappie every Sun eve. Just bottom bouncing KY lake rigs with live minnows on ledges with a $90 fish finder. Gave bags of filets away to friends, and even homeless beggars. Almost always left the lake feeling like I was a 'winner'.

It was that easy back in the 90s. So easy that I lost interest. I didn't have time to fish from 2001 till 2024 with kids growing up.. Bought a boat last year, and needed a challenge.... 1.5h back to Ross Barnett, or 1.5h to the coast for saltwater fishing...

I find saltwater fishing much more of a challenge than bottom bouncing minnows on ledges for crappie. I'd probably be served a large slice of humble pie going back to Barnett using the same techniques that filled my cooler in 1995 compared.to today.
 
I live on and have crappie fished Old Hickory for over 50 years.Ive personally caught tens of thousands of crappie .Today was the first day Ive been involved in a 2 man limit of crappie in 90 degree weather. We started at 7 am and ended near 6 pm. Many of these fish were caught on pallet brushpiles that I built with tobacco sticks. Old Hickory can keep 30 keepers per person and that needs to be changed due to livescope as well as there needs to be a 12" size limit if your boat has livescope.Thats my opinion and I have a scope on 2 different boats. If you think its easy you come try it.Fishing is definately not what it was even 10 years ago.I have livescope because I can afford one and I want the advantage. It truly is an advantage once you invest the time and money to learn how to use it.I dont give a squirt of piss who doesnt like technology and using it to your advantage. Lower the limits and raise the size limit if you have a livescope on your boat.Thats whats fair.
 
poorhunter said:
This is a pretty good comparison.

I say make keeping fish illegal with a live scope on board, catch and release only. I mean, we don't use live decoys for ducks anymore, nor 4 gauge shotguns mounted on the front of a kayak poled into a resting raft of birds. We can't use electric shocks to stun fish to the surface and collect them, or dynamite. Or live time drone cameras to follow deer while hunting.

I'm all for using the resources God has given us, but (as several have pointed out) limits need to be put on human greed. When hunters and fishermen abuse the resource for their own benefit at the expense of the resource AND at the expense of their neighbor, they ought to be called to task for it. Livescope, fanning/strutter decoys, cell cameras, spot lighting deer etc need to be taken out of the toolbox of responsible outdoorsmen. It shouldn't take a law or regulation to do that, but unfortunately it seems that is the only thing some will listen to because they are "legalists"…if it's legal, do it.
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there are limits on human greed but freezer stockers gonna do what they gonna do just like the baiters:

70-4-204. Cold storage of wildlife — Penalty for violations.

(a)
(1) No person, firm or corporation shall place in cold storage at any one (1) time more than two days' bag or creel limit of any wild animals, wild birds, wild fowl, or game fish.
(2) No person shall place in commercial cold storage any wild animals, wild birds, wild fowl, or game fish without first filling out and filing with the storage company an affidavit stating that the same has been lawfully killed or caught and is stored for the affiant's own use and benefit and not for sale. No person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of cold storage shall receive any wild animals, wild birds, wild fowl or game fish, unless such affidavit has been made by the person storing and delivering to the storage concern. The storage concern shall post the affidavit upon a book kept for this purpose, which book shall be open at all times to the executive director or officers of the wildlife resources agency.
(b) A violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor. Each wild bird, wild animal, or wild fowl or game fish stored in violation of this section is a separate offense.
 
Cane poles to livescope.....it don't matter what I think but look at the leap from the green box in 1970 to this livescope..... what will it be like 50 years from now(assuming "it" is still here) when livescope is seen as a primitive outdated tool?
 
WTM said:
there are limits on human greed but freezer stockers gonna do what they gonna do just like the baiters:

70-4-204. Cold storage of wildlife — Penalty for violations.

(a)
(1) No person, firm or corporation shall place in cold storage at any one (1) time more than two days' bag or creel limit of any wild animals, wild birds, wild fowl, or game fish.
(2) No person shall place in commercial cold storage any wild animals, wild birds, wild fowl, or game fish without first filling out and filing with the storage company an affidavit stating that the same has been lawfully killed or caught and is stored for the affiant's own use and benefit and not for sale. No person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of cold storage shall receive any wild animals, wild birds, wild fowl or game fish, unless such affidavit has been made by the person storing and delivering to the storage concern. The storage concern shall post the affidavit upon a book kept for this purpose, which book shall be open at all times to the executive director or officers of the wildlife resources agency.
(b) A violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor. Each wild bird, wild animal, or wild fowl or game fish stored in violation of this section is a separate offense.
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Is this TN or Mississippi law? If its TN, half of the states deer hunters are in violation.
 
redblood said:
Is this TN or Mississippi law? If its TN, half of the states deer hunters are in violation.
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tn law. id say half the states deer hunters are in violation of game laws other than possession limits. seems like a lot cant kill a deer without a bait pile, 12 dozen game cameras, 338 super dooper drt cartridge, etc etc.
 
Chiflyguy said:
Possession limits need to be enforced.
Wondering what walleye fishing is gonna be like here next year.
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walleye are stocked a lot. what worries me are fish that once disappeared have finally made a comeback the last few years because of good turbid water during the flood years and low fishing pressure during those years. but now with drought and clearer water folks are targeting and taking a large amount of the female brood stock.

when a so called "guide" sends me pics of 400 large female jacks they caught, in order to brag or in need some kind of confirmation of skill, he becomes silent when i ask him "do you think taking all of those large breeder females is a good idea to protect future generations?" i dont think it even dawned on him but then again he doesnt think too much about game laws anyway.

whats worse they put some of those pics on faceytweets and told exactly where they caught them.

for the ones that think FFS is only good for certain species or "you might see them but you cant make them bite", i say its great for just about any specie and somebody on the lake is good enough to make them bite, it just might not be them.
 
Spurhunter said:
I have a place at Sardis, keep my boat there, and do 99% of my fishing there or at Enid. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of this situation. These two lakes are experiencing the perfect storm. That storm has four components:

1) Guides. These lakes are now covered up with guides and they are dang good at what they do. A guide will take out two clients in the morning, haul out thirty crappie over twelve inches, drop those clients off, pick up two more clients, and haul out thirty more crappie that afternoon. Multiply that by dozens of guides on the lake, seven days a week, year round, and the fish are being decimated.

2) Livescope. Anglers are more efficient using livescope. They can target the big fish and skip over the small ones. The anglers that have mastered both livescope and boat control can put fish in the boat at a rapid pace.

3) No Arkabutla. It just makes sense that the anglers that fished Arkabutla regularly had to go somewhere once it was drained. It's a fair assumption that most of them ended up at Sardis or Enid. Losing one of the "Big 4" naturally shifted more pressure to the other three and Grenada is a much longer drive from Arkabutla.

4) Pure old fashioned greed. Most crappie anglers I know will not, under any circumstance, throw back a legal crappie if they don't have their limit. It doesn't matter if their freezer is so full of crappie that they can't get the door shut. They are keeping that fish. If you tell them you were fun fishing, didn't bring a cooler, and released all your fish they think you need to be rushed to the nervous hospital.

I fully support the new regulations. Let's face it, a limit of ten crappie over twelve inches will feed most families. That is a good mess of fish. We have to protect the fishery.

We are already seeing some interesting things at Sardis. Fishing pressure has dwindled over the last few months as keepers have been harder and harder to come by. Where you once could sit in one place and scan around and see multiple big fish, now you have to constantly be on the move hunting them. The lake is full of small crappie, but the 12+ inchers are few and far between. It seems the pressure has shifted to Enid. There aren't nearly as many guides at Sardis now. The majority have moved to Enid. What happens when the keepers become scarce there as well? Eventually you run out of places to go.

These new regulations will help a lot, however, they have to be enforced. Unfortunately, there just aren't enough game wardens to cover all the different boat ramps. I use a popular boat ramp at Sardis and the closest ramp to I-55 at Enid and I am almost never checked. Interestingly, I got checked at Arkabutla regularly before it was drained.

Yes, livescope has made it possible for anglers to catch more crappie than ever before, but the real problem is human greed. If everyone would just take what they need and release the rest we would be swimming in big crappie. No pun intended.
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It is the same on some of the East TN lakes. Way too many guides that are good at what they do and a large amount of fisherman that have a freezer full of crappie but yet they go 4-5 days a week all year long and keep everything over the 10Inch limit size, including big pregnant females that are 14inch+. 7-8 years ago you could go just about anywhere on these lakes and catch a limit of 12-15Inch fish on just about any given day, but now its like you got to go where hardly anyone else fishes and you might catch a limit of 10-12Inch fish if you are lucky and these places are getting harder and harder to find. Livescope doesn't help, but I completely agree the greed is the biggest factor. Need to lower our limits and make a slot limit too. I would do 5-10 fish limit with 4-9 fish in the 10-12inch range and then 1 over 12inches atleast for a year or two and see what happens.
 
East TN Bowhunter said:
It is the same on some of the East TN lakes. Way too many guides that are good at what they do and a large amount of fisherman that have a freezer full of crappie but yet they go 4-5 days a week all year long and keep everything over the 10Inch limit size, including big pregnant females that are 14inch+. 7-8 years ago you could go just about anywhere on these lakes and catch a limit of 12-15Inch fish on just about any given day, but now its like you got to go where hardly anyone else fishes and you might catch a limit of 10-12Inch fish if you are lucky and these places are getting harder and harder to find. Livescope doesn't help, but I completely agree the greed is the biggest factor. Need to lower our limits and make a slot limit too. I would do 5-10 fish limit with 4-9 fish in the 10-12inch range and then 1 over 12inches atleast for a year or two and see what happens.
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Agree. We have always had a self imposed limit. At the big lakes that have big fish, my son combined limit was always 15 combined and anything over 15 inches (and we catch a lot over 15 at one lake in particular) are released. But the lakes we fish are not crappie destinations like sardis, reelfoot, grenada etc.

We have been keeping quite a few from a TWRA which is lightly fished and over populated with black crappie.

Crappie populate at an alarming rate can can take over a well suited body of water quickly. Each circumstance is different. But lakes that get heavy pressure can surely benefit from a regulation tweek
 
I had a place at Sardis for over 20 years and the over fishing started waaaay before Livescope. I haven't fished there since 2012 because we were seeing decreasing fish back then. When the spider rigging trend for crappie really caught on back in the early 2000's us tight liners were struggling to catch a limit of 30 and the trollers with 20 poles out front and dragging 10 or 15 crankbaits behind the boat were wearing out the crappie.

They were loading up pontoons with mamma and the kids plus the neighbors and pulling limits for 10 people a day. There was no boat limit back then and we argued for pole restrictions as well but Mississippi G&F said it wasn't hurting the fish. We saw multiple boats coming in with 250 to 300 crappie a day. It was crazy. I remember my Dad asking one guy that had 8 or 10 people on his boat how big his freezer was. He said he didn't keep any, he just liked catching them and gave them away to people. Then asked if we wanted some fish. LMAO. Seemed a little counterproductive if you just like "catching" them.

We saw it coming.

And this year with the water at record lows, fish concentrated near the dam and Arkabutla drained, my friends that still fish there said it was like shooting fish in a barrel. Yea, they got hammered. Not really surprised and changes should have gone in place 20 years ago.
 
WTM said:
there are limits on human greed but freezer stockers gonna do what they gonna do just like the baiters:

70-4-204. Cold storage of wildlife — Penalty for violations.

(a)
(1) No person, firm or corporation shall place in cold storage at any one (1) time more than two days' bag or creel limit of any wild animals, wild birds, wild fowl, or game fish.
(2) No person shall place in commercial cold storage any wild animals, wild birds, wild fowl, or game fish without first filling out and filing with the storage company an affidavit stating that the same has been lawfully killed or caught and is stored for the affiant's own use and benefit and not for sale. No person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of cold storage shall receive any wild animals, wild birds, wild fowl or game fish, unless such affidavit has been made by the person storing and delivering to the storage concern. The storage concern shall post the affidavit upon a book kept for this purpose, which book shall be open at all times to the executive director or officers of the wildlife resources agency.
(b) A violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor. Each wild bird, wild animal, or wild fowl or game fish stored in violation of this section is a separate offense.
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Myself and all fishermen (who ate fish they caught) I have ever known broke that law and I would say most did not know about it and even if they did they would have ignored it.

Not anymore for me, I don't really keep fish anymore, but back in the nineties I would have a pile of crappie. In the late 80's, early 90's, I had gallons of bass fillets. Ate a bunch and gave a bunch away. For me, when I eat fish anymore, I want it fresh, so I rarely freeze any.
 
Headhunter said:
Myself and all fishermen (who ate fish they caught) I have ever known broke that law and I would say most did not know about it and even if they did they would have ignored it.

Not anymore for me, I don't really keep fish anymore, but back in the nineties I would have a pile of crappie. In the late 80's, early 90's, I had gallons of bass fillets. Ate a bunch and gave a bunch away. For me, when I eat fish anymore, I want it fresh, so I rarely freeze any.
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My take on it (which has not value): The law reads "...to place in storage at any one time...". Seems that I am good as long as I don't take more than the daily limit on a given day or bring in more than two daily limits after a multi-day trip. "Place" does not mean "possess". The way I read the law, it does not restrict me from having multiple limits stored in my freezer. I'm also reading "at any one time" as on any specific day but it is not defined.
 

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