Crappie no!! Big ones. Maybe?

There is a couple spots on a lake I like that most of the years seems to have 1000s. There are probably 20 people that know them that I can think of. 5 or so of us have combined to pull probably couple 1000 crappie off them in the last couple years and u think there were more and bigger this year than before. I don't know how fast they breed but it seems endless

White crappie are so prolific that TPWD no longer stocks them. They say if a lake has even a remnant population they will repopulate the lake entirely when. Conditions improve.

Not from me this year!

I suck as a crappie fisherman. I have only ever caught one limit of crappie in my life. Fortunately, there was a picture taken of it. If you check the date, you'll see it was over 10 years ago. Sorry folks, but if you need to control the population, don't take me fishing with you.

The populations can change from year to year, but one thing that caused them to be bigger was the 10" minimum and 25 fish limit. I am 100% convinced that caused more people to catch bigger fish than any other factor. Of course, that was probably nothing compared to the impact of modern electronics.

Bigger fish would probably result from higher harvest limits and shorter length limits. But the amount of people who would ever limit would be low. Very few fisherman ever sniff a limit.

Water fluctuations can cause issues with the crappie spawn. Males watch the nest for some time after the female crappie lays the eggs.

If the water goes down the male and the fry fail because the water is to shallow. The male can't stay and the cormorants, gulls, and Herons get the fry. If the water goes up the male has to much water to defend and the perch, catfish etc feast on them. Stable water levels produce crappie. The male defending the nest is the key. Fluctuations in water levels cause crappie spawns to fail.

Hit some dock lights this time of year and approach quietly. You will be amazed at the amount of fry from all types of fish you will see.

Crappie are like hogs. You can't control them with a gun or a rod and reel. Traps and nets yes.

As long as there is enclosed docks with overhead doors in the front there will be crappie. Next time you go to the lake take your live scope and look under enclosed docks with overhead doors in the front of the slip. Plenty of uncatchable crappie under there.

FIRST OF ALL, I HAVE A LIVESCOPE . I ONCE SAID I WOULD NEVER OWN ONE (NEVER SAY NEVER) I HAVE LIVED ON A LAKE SINCE 1990. IN THIS LAKE I HAVE ESTABLISHED OVER A HUNDRED BRUSH PILES. I STOPPED THIS PRACTICE 3YRS AGO SINCE THE LOCATIONS BECAME SO OVER FISHED DUE TO SO MANY PEOPLE WHO ONCE COULD NOT CATCH A FISH IN A BARREL .MAGICALLY SINCE SPOTLIGHTING.CAME ON THE SCENE.THEY ARE ACCOMPLISHED ANGLER. IM SURE MOST OF THESE PEOPLE HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING TO ENHANCE THE HABITAT FOR FISH (OF COURSE THAT WOULD REQUIRE AN EFFORT AND WORK) IT AMAZES ME THAT YOUNG FOLKS JUST DON'T SEEM TO HAVE A GREAT DEAL OF COMMON SENSE.. IT SEEMS TO ME IT WOULDN'T TAKE A GENIUS TO UNDERSTAND THAT IF YOU ARE TAKING A 100% MORE OF SOMETHING AWAY THAN WHAT WAS ONCE THE NORM THAT IT WOULD HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT, NOT TO MENTION THE CULLING THAT IS TAKING PLACE. NOW TO MY POINT! SINCE THE ADVANCED POPULARITY OF "SPOTLIGHTING" THE QUALITY OF CRAPPIE HAS DECLINED EVER SO SLOWLY. ONLY THOSE WHO COULD CATCH FISH PRE "SPOTLIGHTING" WOULD BE ASTUTE TO THE CHANGE. UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE DEALING WITH THE GENERATION THAT IS FROM THE "PARTICIPATION TROPHY GENERATION". YEP, I'M AN OLD MAN (75), I'VE LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO EXPERIENCE THE POSITIVE EFFECTS AND THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS THAT TECHNOL0GY CAN HAVE ON FISHING AND HUNTING. THAT'S CALLED WISDOM. MOST ON THESE SITES WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT OLD ENOUGH TO EXPERIENCE THE PAST 75 YRS. EVEN THE PRO BASS FISHERMEN ARE BEGINNING TO QUESTION THE USE OF LIVE SCOPE .MOST OF THEM MAKE MONEY OFF OF SPONSORING THE COMPANIES WHO MANUFACTURE THE UNITS..OBVIOUSLY, THOSE WHO ARE MAKING MONEY WITH THESE PRODUCTS AND THOSE THAT CANT CATCH FISH WITHOUT THE TECHNOLOGY WILL ATTACK THIS POST. BE VERY CAREFUL TO NOT DESTROY THE SPORT THAT YOU CLAIM TO LOVE. LETS NOT DESTROY WHAT WE WISH FOR OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. ONE LASTSTORY. A COUPLE YRS AGO WHILE FISHING ON MY PIER WITH MY DOWN SYNDROME GRANDSON , I NOTICED THAT I BEGAN TO SEE CRAPPIE FLOATING UNDER MY PIER. I LOOKED A COUPLE PIERS DOWN WIND AND NOTICE 2 MEN CULLING FISH FROM AN ICE CHEST. AFTER A WHILE THEY CAME BACK TO MY PIER AND AFTER TALKING TO THEM I DISCOVERED THAT THEY WEREN'T CULLING BECAUSE OF LIMIT. (50 LIMIT IN LA) THEY WERE CULLING FOR SIZE. MOST PEOPLE DON'T WANT OT CLEAN 50 CRAPPIE. THINK ABOUT THAT

Why are you yelling

Livescope can’t make a bad fisherman into a crappie killing machine overnight. I don’t need livescope to stack the boat. Most of the time once you catch the first 10-15 fish off a brush pile they stop biting anyway. I can down scan a pile that looks like a Christmas tree on the graph with fish and once you catch the active fish they quit. Simple as that. I’ve caught limits from the boat and the bank. Even with livescope, 90% of fisherman won’t even come close to a limit. Even then I’m not sure how much difference it really makes. You still have to know the pattern and presentation that’s going to work. I don’t think people should be wasting fish, but I still don’t think fisherman are gonna put fish at risk because most people just simply don’t have the knowledge and the type of attention to detail it takes to catch a limit every single time.

This has got to be one of the most uneducated post I have ever seen anyone make and completely wrong.

Livescope has turned many a fisherman into a crappie killer that couldn’t catch but a few fish before it now can limit almost ever trip, I know several of them, guides also.

I have been fishing for crappie for 45 years, waded with a fly rod and caught them on jigs in the 70’sand rarely ever saw anyone jigging for crappie. Now they make jig poles just for that, they did not back in the day, used to have the lakes to ourselves back then, Wally Marshall and few other guys changed that later on.

Then when Livescope came around people started slaying crappie that never could triangulate brush or used 2d sonar then later gps waypoints to locate brush. Now all they have to do is put Livescope in the water and view out 100 feet and can find every piece of brush around, your delusional if you think Livescope did not change crappie fishing.

My information comes from experience, not what someone told me…

My ears hurt. . .

He's used to yelling at the clouds

This has been a very entertaining thread.