Crappie or Walleye lake

[pmcrawler]

I am not a regular on this forum so I hope I am not repeating any earlier posts.

My question is "Why can't the DNR manage Upper Red Lake as a trophy crappie fisherie?"I hear that the walleyes are coming back and soon the "Class of 95" crappies will be gone. Whats the matter with having 1 lake with monster crappies? Is this a DNR decision or a native american decision? Is it possible that this lake cannot support a regular large crappie population and this current crop of giant crappies is a fluke?

I went up there last winter and could not beleive how huge the crappies were. Everybody on the lake was so excited for the chance to catch a huge crappie especially between the hours of 4-7 pm. It is like the world could end today but please wait until the bite ends around 7pm. Just my humble opinion.

[united jigsticker]

From my understanding, Upper Red has always has giant Crappies.

They get more attention now due to the fact that it is the only gameable specie that can be targeted on this particular body of water.

Rainy Lake houses many slab sized Crappies, as does LOW, but you don't hear of countless stories from people who went there seeking them out. True enough, there are groups that go there for that purpose, but the ratio is small verses those that target the bigger game fish.

Perhaps the population boom is greater then before. I would suspect that anglers fishing the lake in the winter during pre-restriction times would have ran into a plenty share of monster Crappies back then if the population was as strong as it is today.

However, the lakes ability to grow these fish has always, and always will, be the same.

In my own opinion, the 95 year class can die, or be fished out, but these fish have had many years to spawn. Habitat may not be so prime every year, but in all those years, something had to take at some point.

For what ever be the reason, Crappies in this body of water don't make themselves very eminent until they reach large size.

However, I know the year classes are a little more diverse then the popularity believes.

The smallest Crappie I have caught from URL was about 10". I believe the fish in URL run by the size group.

I have had trips where everything was that 14"-15" range, and other trips where I caught alot of 11-12" fish, believe it or not. This was all in the same season of one year, so I know there is some diversity, but to what degree or extent I do not know.

But the facts stay the same. The lake has proven to grow huge Crappies as well as Northern Pike. The Walleye population is coming back very strong very quickly. What remains to be a mystery to me in some capacity is that the Perch never seem to get to be above what most consider a small size. But I suppose with the amount of predator fish in the lake, the opportunity isn't that great for these fish.

So with all this said, I hope Red Lake continues to be a Slab Crappie Factory, and once the restricive Walleye ban is opened up, it should take some pressure off them.

However, as we all see, in one outing a person will catch both a mess of Crappies and Walleyes. So it would stand to reason that folks would still take their limit of Crappies home, as the harvest limit on Walleyes will be very low the first years that ban is lifted.

So, who knows.

I know that I have typed alot of jarble here, and most of it is just my opinions.

Ahhh well. It was something to do on my Saturday Night.

Yay for UJ!

[Keith_MN]

I agree that Upper Red Lake will always continue to produce large crappies for a number of reasons (ie genetics, forage, lake structure, etc.), but I doubt that we will ever see a year class like 1995 again in our lifetimes.

The lack of walleyes in the lake at that time which reduced the amount of predidation pressure on the young crappies had to have played a significant (albeit not the only) part in the proliferation of crappies that year.

I also have often questioned why the DNR has not been more agressive in managing URL as a "trophy crappie fishery". The limit reduction from 15 to 10 was a step in the right direction, but this was a state-wide change not specific to URL.

It would be nice to have the best of both worlds - "trophy" crappies and "prolific" walleyes. And we probably will beginning in 2006. But it would be unrealistic to expect "prolific trophy" crappies and "prolific trophy" walleyes.

We should enjoy what we have while we can. And we should continue to encourage the DNR to manage more lakes for "trophy" fish in general be it walleyes, pike, bluegills or crappies.

[weathermaker]

Well said keith, My thought on the DNR trying or not trying to maintain the lake as a trophy crappie lake may have to do with the amount of walleye fry that has been and continues to be placed in the lake, those large crappie eat alot of fry.I do know that when the crappie boom started the DNR did their best to get the word outthat the lake was full of trophy crappie so people would come, (and boy did they come)and reduce the numbers so the new classes of walleyes had a chance to make it. There has always been large crappie in the lake, and Im sure there always will but not the millions that were present as of late. If you come to red to fish crappie and are willing to move around you will find em. Cant wait for the big lake to freeze:):) weathermaker