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Potential new Kentucky Lake Crappie Regulations

Crappie start spawning at around 9 inches or so.When you lose truck loads of 10 inchers out of the lake every day during the spawn it's killing the population.Id much rather clean 20 12 inch crappie than 30 10 inch fish any day.Bass were in trouble several years ago and they bumped the size limit to 15 inch.This made the less than 15 inch bass the spawn work horses and it worked.Do the same to the Crappie!!
 
Limits should stay the same, but the twra needs to enforce them better. You know how many 9.5" crappie are kept? I'm sure it's a ton. Been fishing since I was 3yrs old and never once been checked by a warden, and during college I fished 6 days a week

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Polar Kraft":2hjo4eq4 said:
Limits should stay the same, but the twra needs to enforce them better. You know how many 9.5" crappie are kept? I'm sure it's a ton. Been fishing since I was 3yrs old and never once been checked by a warden, and during college I fished 6 days a week

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I feel like many are keeping short fish as well. Probably several who catch a limit early, then go back that afternoon to catch more also. I've crappie fished for 30 years and have never been checked.
 
From what I gather from the people I know that crappie fish KY lake they need to do something.
Trend has been going down for several years.

I can see how.
I don't know what they call it but I call it "longlining" where they put out close to 100 yards of line and pull roadrunners and control their depth by the speed of their trolling motors.
You can fill as many limits as you want to pretty quickly with this method from what I have seen.

With the hundreds, if not thousands of people doing this, coupled with the numbers of people that fill their limits, go back to the house, then head right back out all day, day after day, yeah I see how it could impact the population.

My buddy that fishes KY lake alot quit keeping anything under 11" a few years ago.
He said he just likes them better a little bigger than 10".
 
AllOutdoors":12uxw7et said:
Polar Kraft":12uxw7et said:
Limits should stay the same, but the twra needs to enforce them better. You know how many 9.5" crappie are kept? I'm sure it's a ton. Been fishing since I was 3yrs old and never once been checked by a warden, and during college I fished 6 days a week

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I feel like many are keeping short fish as well. Probably several who catch a limit early, then go back that afternoon to catch more also. I've crappie fished for 30 years and have never been checked.
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While I definitely agree w you on the short fish kept, along w people catching over the limit.. In my opinion and most everyone ive talked to this spring, something more than better enforcement needs to be done on OHL.. People keep short ones and over the limit on priest as well and you don't see people struggling to catch a limit there, especially this year.. I know lakes have swings but they are normally from one year to the next or so, not continually decreasing over 3-4 years.. I work on OHL and I cant tell you the amount of people that are wondering what in the world happened to all the crappie.. People fishing the same marina/spots for 20 yrs all the sudden can maybe get 1 limit and have 1 or 2 "decent" days (this of course being during prespawn/spawn when it should be the easiest).. I think the creel limit lowered would be the best all around as it still provides a good opportunity at 10" to be able to take some fish home if you don't happen to be on a school of 11-13 inchers.. And I think it MAY help on the people that catch a limit, take them home, and go back for more.. At least if they would leave w 15 each time instead of 30(wishful thinking I know).. Of course in the end people are gonna do what they always do until they get caught, and then in most cases they'll be right back at it again.. But for the many honest fisherman it would save a lot of fish and be a step in the right direction I believe..

A game warden checked someone in the marina a wk or two ago, he's been fishing here for years and knows when and where to catch the crappie every year.. He had 24 in his basket and the game warden said that's the best bag he's seen all spring.. And they do check multiple people out here every day.. To me, when the game warden that's out here every day checking people and hasn't even seen 1 limit, something isn't right.. I know this is a small sample and of course people are catching limits, but to me the common sense angle is if people can barely catch a limit and that particular game warden hasn't even seen a limit, than the limit is too high.
 
Tennessee280":1r5osawp said:
AllOutdoors":1r5osawp said:
Polar Kraft":1r5osawp said:
Limits should stay the same, but the twra needs to enforce them better. You know how many 9.5" crappie are kept? I'm sure it's a ton. Been fishing since I was 3yrs old and never once been checked by a warden, and during college I fished 6 days a week

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I feel like many are keeping short fish as well. Probably several who catch a limit early, then go back that afternoon to catch more also. I've crappie fished for 30 years and have never been checked.
Click to expand...

While I definitely agree w you on the short fish kept, along w people catching over the limit.. In my opinion and most everyone ive talked to this spring, something more than better enforcement needs to be done on OHL.. People keep short ones and over the limit on priest as well and you don't see people struggling to catch a limit there, especially this year.. I know lakes have swings but they are normally from one year to the next or so, not continually decreasing over 3-4 years.. I work on OHL and I cant tell you the amount of people that are wondering what in the world happened to all the crappie.. People fishing the same marina/spots for 20 yrs all the sudden can maybe get 1 limit and have 1 or 2 "decent" days (this of course being during prespawn/spawn when it should be the easiest).. I think the creel limit lowered would be the best all around as it still provides a good opportunity at 10" to be able to take some fish home if you don't happen to be on a school of 11-13 inchers.. And I think it MAY help on the people that catch a limit, take them home, and go back for more.. At least if they would leave w 15 each time instead of 30(wishful thinking I know).. Of course in the end people are gonna do what they always do until they get caught, and then in most cases they'll be right back at it again.. But for the many honest fisherman it would save a lot of fish and be a step in the right direction I believe..

A game warden checked someone in the marina a wk or two ago, he's been fishing here for years and knows when and where to catch the crappie every year.. He had 24 in his basket and the game warden said that's the best bag he's seen all spring.. And they do check multiple people out here every day.. To me, when the game warden that's out here every day checking people and hasn't even seen 1 limit, something isn't right.. I know this is a small sample and of course people are catching limits, but to me the common sense angle is if people can barely catch a limit and that particular game warden hasn't even seen a limit, than the limit is too high.
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Something needs to be done. I'm used to catching my limit on KY lake. Last year my best day was 12. This year has been 16.
 
I have crappie fished the lake since the late 70's and it's the worst I've seen it.Ive been in on 100 plus fish over 12 inch with no limits back then.Its bad now and the biologist won't listen unless we speak up!!
 
ClubHead":2latnxp5 said:
I have crappie fished the lake since the late 70's and it's the worst I've seen it.Ive been in on 100 plus fish over 12 inch with no limits back then.Its bad now and the biologist won't listen unless we speak up!!
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I remember days back 20 plus years ago catching over 50 crappie per day with many over 10 inches. And that was possible anywhere on the lake it seemed. Today you never know what to expect, you may catch 0 or you may have a decent day, but it's not nearly as consistent as it used to be that's for sure.

In my opinion too many people keep too many crappie each year. That is just not sustainable especially if you have a year or two of bad spawns. Plus the fishing pressure today is probably worse than ever before, and the lake now has a large population of Asian Carp.

Another thing to consider is sonar. Today a huge amount of people have side scan/down scan units in their boats, so they are able to find any ledge, or any structure on the lake easily. This was not the case years ago. Years ago there were ledges, schools of bass and crappie, and areas of structure out on the lake that got little fishing pressure. Today it seems like every ledge on the lake gets fished by someone.

Another big change is today modern bass boats with big outboard motors. Today tons of people have a 200 to 250 hp outboard motor, so they can run 65 mph or faster. This has changed how a lot of people fish. Back in the day, most people had smaller outboard motors, so they didn't want to take off on long boat rides to get to fishing spots. Today it's common for fisherman, especially bass fisherman in tournaments to run 25 plus miles per day fishing one spot after another looking to catch a limit. This causes more spots to get fished each day in my opinion.

I also have noticed a big decline in smallmouth bass and spotted bass over the years on KY Lake. I remember back in the 1980's and early 1990's KY Lake seemed to have way more smallmouth and spotted bass than it does now.
 
Too much fishing pressure for sure but like I said earlier let the smaller fish spawn and raise the size limit to 12.Yeah it will suck next year but the year after it will be so worth it.
 
I think the trolling rig guys need to be regulated, meaning 2 or 3 rods per angler. I see some with 12 rods on a boat and 1 guy in it.
 
Headhunter":39owk16e said:
I see some with 12 rods on a boat and 1 guy in it.
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That is pretty much normal now days.
I remember YEARS ago seeing a reg that limited rods to like 3 or 4 per person.
That has been an awful long time ago though.
 
Headhunter":1buygmos said:
I think the trolling rig guys need to be regulated, meaning 2 or 3 rods per angler. I see some with 12 rods on a boat and 1 guy in it.
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If the goal is to have people keep less why not just drop the limit of how many fish can be kept...? Trolling will catch more fish one day and single pole fishing will catch more another day. Kentucky Lake (alot like Weiss Lake, AL) has been advertised for years as a great crappie lake. That is what has killed it more than anything, advertise and people will come and fish will leave with them. Weiss Lake had the same problem as it was advertised as the "The Crappie Capital of the World". It used to be until it got fished to death... 12" limit and drop the daily bag limit sounds like a good plan to me.
 
I don't fish any lakes mentioned but agree with a 12" min or a lower limit whichever works best. 10 incher is too little on the lakes i fish.
 
bad spawn years ,thats the problem at the moment.Small fish everywhere,next few years should be awsome.
 

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