Reg changes!

[X-Tennessean]

Regulations Set at October TFWC Meeting
Friday, October 28, 2016 | 11:46am
Sport Fish Regulations Set at October TFWC Meeting

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission established the state's 2017-18 sport fish regulations at its October meeting which concluded Friday (Oct. 28) at the Holiday Inn Fair Park.

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Fisheries Division presented its original proposals for 2017-18 at its September meeting. The TFWC had requested the TWRA consider lowering the creel limit for crappie from 30 to 20 fish per day on Kentucky Lake. After the amendment to the proclamation passed in the fisheries committee on Thursday, the full commission passed the regulation Friday.

Among the other changes include harvest regulations to a 15-fish creel limit, in combination, for striped bass, hybrid striped bass, and white bass on Douglas Reservoir.
The boundary for wild trout on Laurel Creek in Carter County has been defined. The new boundary will now be from the cable crossing located one-half mile upstream of the USFS Dennis Cove Recreation Area extending upstream to the USFS boundary.
A change in the reciprocal agreement on Calderwood Reservoir will allow North Carolina bank anglers to have the same privileges as boat anglers. Similar changes are being considered by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission for Tennesseans.
Boat and bank anglers on Dale Hollow Lake can use four fishing rods at one time. This is a change from the current regulation of three fishing rods for boat anglers and a change from six for bank anglers. The 4-rod limit also applies to the seasonal walleye run restrictions.
Changes to the live bait proclamation keeps existing creel limits for Class A and Class B baitfish, and established a possession limit of twice the daily creel limit for these classes. The change established a 50 fish per day limit for Class C bait fish, all species combined, with a possession limit of 100 fish. The new proclamation regulates possession of both live and dead baitfish.
Gerry Dinkins, of the University of Tennessee, made a presentation which focused on Tennessee's freshwater mussel fauna. There are 137 freshwater mussel species in Tennessee, about half of the continent's approximately 300 species.
The commission also heard a presentation from Brandt Information Services, on the TWRA's new licensing systems. The new license system will begin next week, replacing the current system which has been in place since 1999.
Other presentations included an annual review of the Tennessee Scholastic Clay Target Program, the "Recovering America's Wildlife Act" resolution, an update on Appalachian Bear Rescue, and an update on the recently-completed elk hunting season, and a computer aided dispatch system for TWRA wildlife officers.
TWRA presented three annual statewide divisional awards. Perry Massengill was named Fisheries Technician of the Year and John Hammonds is the Fisheries Biologist of the Year. David Whitehead was named the Wildlife Biologist of the Year while Tony Duncan received the Wildlife Technician of the Year award. Melvin McLerran was named the part-time Boating Officer of the Year and Brad Bagwell was named the Boating Officer of the Year.
In addition, the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative "Firebird" awards were presented to Wes Winton, TWRA AEDC/Bark Camp Barrens WMA Manager, and Brittney Viers-Scott, Quail Forever Farm Bill Biologist.
The TFWC has one more scheduled meeting this calendar year. It will be held in Nashville on Friday, Dec. 9 at the TWRA Region II Ray Bell Building.
---TWRA---

 

[RUGER]

So in regards to the crappie creel limit the commission went against the recommendation if twra, correct?

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[X-Tennessean]

So in regards to the crappie creel limit the commission went against the recommendation if twra, correct?

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That is the way I read it. Interesting I must say.
It doesn't bother me either way, I hope it helps but don't see it making a big impact.

 

[RUGER]

Yeah don't bother me as I am not a crappie seiner but the commission doing whatever suits them is growing old.
I would actually lean towards being in favor of the change but it is looking like it dont really matter what makes sense or not just what the great almighty wants.

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[TheLBLman]

I would actually lean towards being in favor of the change . . . . . .

Apparently, many avid crappie fishermen were demanding "something" be changed or done to improve the crappie fishing. It seems very few people have much issue with the actual change vs. no change, not even me or you.

Yeah don't bother me as I am not a crappie seiner but the commission doing whatever suits them is growing old.

Or, was it more about doing what suits the fishermen, who were demanding something be done?

Most everyone will agree that the crappie fishing on KY Lake isn't what it used to be.
I'm not one to disagree with the head TWRA fish biologist, but just because he didn't "recommend" any limit changes, doesn't necessarily mean he thought a reduction would cause harm either? Meanwhile, many crappie fishermen are complaining that "something" needs to be done.

Whether or not this is absolutely the best way or not, I don't know. But, the commission has always been in charge of setting these regs. They simply seek input from both the fisheries biologists as well as the fishermen, and attempt to come up with the best balance of a solution. Sometimes they're wrong, sometimes they're right, but they nearly always catch hell from some faction who disagrees, sometimes even from different individual opposing biologists within the TWRA who don't always agree with the "official" position put forth by the lead one.

Like you, and like many other fisherman, I was personally leaning more towards the change making more sense than not. It's sure not going to do any harm? Kinda like most everything else, it's not that "cut & dry", and there is controversy.

 

[RUGER]

I ain't a crappie fisherman but from what i see if they wanted to make the fishing better they would put the limit back on the number of poles per person and raise the length limit to 12"
Creel limit reduction was probably a good thing too.
But..... Again my problem lies with the commission and honestly after what i have seen the last couple of years I am not the fan of the agency I once was either.

Oh well it really don't concern me anyway I am just a stupid license holder.


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[WTM]

the 20 fish reduction was a "feel good" suggestion by Connie King, as she said in the video that fishermen in her district would feel good with a 20 fish limit change. this will amount to a hill of beans. an increase to a 12" length limit would drastically impact the crappie fishery on KY lake as the director suggested and is documented in many crappie studies at Tenn Tech. with a high mortality rate on Ky lake Tech found a 10" limit to be best on average and a 9" limit would be better in some impoundments.

here is the research on that matter: https://www.tn.gov/twra/article/fisheries-research. as also stated by Tim Broadbent and the director, during drought the crappie spawn is affected. there is also a nice article on lake hydrology and how it affects crappie spawn.

here is where i part ways with Tim Broadbent and the director. crappie mortality is high in KY lake and other lakes but not in all lakes as the director suggested. take Reelfoot for example. there was a large crappie population on that lake so they decided to open it up to commercial crappie fishing a few years back. But here recently because of the quadrupling of anglers on that lake and the 10" largemouth slot they had to discontinue it due to declining populations.

the other thing i disagree with the director is his evaluation of multi pole fishing(spider rigging). he claims that spider riggers have to adhere to the limit and if they get their limit early in the day then so be it. but here is what he didnt say is, that there was a study done a few years back on several lakes on the affects of multi pole fishing. they found that any poles used above 3 poles per person may be detrimental to crappie populations. also spider riggers will hit prespawn crappie hard from december up until march. this is when you will catch the bigger crappie in the impoundments. when the spring spawn rolls around, you wont see many of them on the lake and thats when the single polers come out and with a lot of the bigger crappie already caught, that may be part of the reason of less keepers in the spring spawn.

here is a link to the study:
http://afs.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10. ... 012.678563

i remember back when spider rigging first became popular in the 90's. my brother used to come up with 3 of his buddies and absolutely hammer white crappie on the big sandy. same for my ex-brother in law. these guys used to brag about catching a couple of thousand crappie a season out of the Big Sandy. I'm seeing the trend with white crappie on Birdsong. 30 boats trolling in the winter and early spring and less keepers during the spawn, and its not just me as just about everyone that i see, when loading the boat, are saying the same thing. you know its bad when a pro guide says that years ago, KY lake used to be a 2lb crappie lake. he says it isn't anymore. one other thing to consider is the amount of retirees, who are fisherman, are moving to KY lake and if you look at the fishing liscense sales since the 1980's you will see a like increase in that number. id say we havent heard the last of this debate.

 

[Land Between the Lakes]

The Crappie fishing is NOT as good as it used to be. Too much fishing pressure for Crappie year round now days is a big issue. Also a lot of the stumps have disappeared from parts of the lake over the last 40 years.

 

[blueball]

I ain't a crappie fisherman but from what i see if they wanted to make the fishing better they would put the limit back on the number of poles per person and raise the length limit to 12"
Creel limit reduction was probably a good thing too.
But..... Again my problem lies with the commission and honestly after what i have seen the last couple of years I am not the fan of the agency I once was either.

Oh well it really don't concern me anyway I am just a stupid license holder.


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Creel limit won't change anything,pole limit won't do much either,and you defiantly don't want a 12 in size limit.The twra biologist laughs when someone mentions increasing the size limit.It takes 3 yrs for a crappie in tn to be 10in,same 3yr old crappie will be 12 in in miss.I you had a bad spawn with a 12 in length limit you wouldn't catch hardly any fish some years . Biologist said creel limit wouldn't do any good either.People think spiderriggers catch all the fish lol,all I can say is a good singlepoler will catch more than a spiderrigger day in and day out.I pull jigs,pull crankbaits,spiderrig and just started singlepoleing.Theres a reason I'm starting to single pole,not gonna mention any numbers here cause people wouldn't believe how many an experienced single poler can catch.Also with one pole your not wasting time putting up 8 poles to go to your next spot,JMHO[emoji2]

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[blueball]

Also I had a talk with the biologist after the twra meeting and told him what I thought.Shortage of fish 10-11.5in range and he said that's exactly what I should be seeing.Told him also tons of short fish,he said exactly.He said we've had some really good spawns and the future looks good.

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[WTM]

I ain't a crappie fisherman but from what i see if they wanted to make the fishing better they would put the limit back on the number of poles per person and raise the length limit to 12"
Creel limit reduction was probably a good thing too.
But..... Again my problem lies with the commission and honestly after what i have seen the last couple of years I am not the fan of the agency I once was either.

Oh well it really don't concern me anyway I am just a stupid license holder.


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Creel limit won't change anything,pole limit won't do much either,and you defiantly don't want a 12 in size limit.The twra biologist laughs when someone mentions increasing the size limit.It takes 3 yrs for a crappie in tn to be 10in,same 3yr old crappie will be 12 in in miss.I you had a bad spawn with a 12 in length limit you wouldn't catch hardly any fish some years . Biologist said creel limit wouldn't do any good either.People think spiderriggers catch all the fish lol,all I can say is a good singlepoler will catch more than a spiderrigger day in and day out.I pull jigs,pull crankbaits,spiderrig and just started singlepoleing.Theres a reason I'm starting to single pole,not gonna mention any numbers here cause people wouldn't believe how many an experienced single poler can catch.Also with one pole your not wasting time putting up 8 poles to go to your next spot,JMHO[emoji2] .

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ive caught my share of white crappie. in the winter ive always had better luck rigging. riggers dont catch all of the fish, Jamey, but i will guarantee you from jan to march they are the only ones catching the bigger prespawn fish in numbers. i dont have the patience for it anymore. ive started to fish for black crappie anyways and thats a whole different technique in itself, at least for me

 

[blueball]

I ain't a crappie fisherman but from what i see if they wanted to make the fishing better they would put the limit back on the number of poles per person and raise the length limit to 12"
Creel limit reduction was probably a good thing too.
But..... Again my problem lies with the commission and honestly after what i have seen the last couple of years I am not the fan of the agency I once was either.

Oh well it really don't concern me anyway I am just a stupid license holder.


Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk

Creel limit won't change anything,pole limit won't do much either,and you defiantly don't want a 12 in size limit.The twra biologist laughs when someone mentions increasing the size limit.It takes 3 yrs for a crappie in tn to be 10in,same 3yr old crappie will be 12 in in miss.I you had a bad spawn with a 12 in length limit you wouldn't catch hardly any fish some years . Biologist said creel limit wouldn't do any good either.People think spiderriggers catch all the fish lol,all I can say is a good singlepoler will catch more than a spiderrigger day in and day out.I pull jigs,pull crankbaits,spiderrig and just started singlepoleing.Theres a reason I'm starting to single pole,not gonna mention any numbers here cause people wouldn't believe how many an experienced single poler can catch.Also with one pole your not wasting time putting up 8 poles to go to your next spot,JMHO[emoji2] .

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ive caught my share of white crappie. in the winter ive always had better luck rigging. riggers dont catch all of the fish, Jamey, but i will guarantee you from jan to march they are the only ones catching the bigger prespawn fish in numbers. i dont have the patience for it anymore. ive started to fish for black crappie anyways and thats a whole different technique in itself, at least for me

Black crappie,always like when I catch a black,cause there's us ally more.Seem to group up more.Also I think they stay shallower all year long than the whites do,what's your opinion

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[WTM]

yep they stay shallower for sure and go to the banks a month earlier than whites. they seem to be a bit more cover oriented than whites(if thats possible), and like clearer water, and can hear a trolling motor or sonar a mile away. the refuge south of jville has some pretty good numbers as well as big sandy. you cant sit on top of them like you can whites either because the first sound they detect theyre off to deeper water. i find myself casting jigs to them more than anything.

 

[catman529]

Dang, I never knew Dale Hollow allowed 6 lines from the bank. All this time I was using 2 or 3 for carp fishing. Now it's 4 lines total... Guess I can still use 1 more than I thought. Lol


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