Small Crappies

[Bob/Mn]

I fished Red for the first time last year. Now I am not complaining but you never catch a crappie under 3/4 LB.

Normally on a crappie lake you catch some younger year class fish along with the older fish.

Has anyone caught any smaller crappies on Red in the past few years??

[ozzie]

last year we started to see a few that where under the 13 inch norm but not that many!!!! and Red is nothing like your typical crappie lake

[eyepatrol]

I would think the crappies that are in the system are reproducing, wouldn't they be? Should their reproduction not help sustain the crappie population or are the walleyes and pike getting to be so numerous that they're foraging on the young-of-the-year crappies?

I would think fisherman would be seeing smaller, younger year class crappies if the big slabs are reproducing. Will the opening of walleye fishing help the crappie population, or is the limit not set high enough to keep the walleye numbers in check such that a substantial crappie population can survive?

Just a few thoughts/questions that are running through my head. Perhaps the goal is to have a world-class walleye fishery? I don't know that much about the lake. My opinion is that we have enough lakes in the state to provide excellent walleye fishing, even a few world-class walleye lakes. It would be nice to see Upper Red remain a world-class crappie lake. Maybe it will remain that way, but some discussions do not lend themselves to those conclusions.

Any thoughts or expert information? Not trying to start a heated discussion here, just wondering about these things and if anyone has some insight.

bc

[ozzie]

That subject has been brought up a few times before generating alot of thoughts and opinions. Check the forums back log to about a year ago and there are alot of interesting thoughts..... they (dnr) want it to be a "world class walleye fishery" like it was back in the day. When i said we caught some under 13 inches the fish were 9-11 inches. The last 4-6 years of reproducing for the slabs probably didn't have great success rates with the predators in the lake!!! I also agree it should have been managed for the crappies but what do I know other than this has been the only lake i can go to and catch a limit of cookie cutter slabs in the 13-14 inch range that come out of the hole and have shoulders looking like a linebacker!!!!!! God I am going to hate to have to tell my kids or grandkids some day that I use to catch those slabs years ago when the lake was fished out the first time!!!!! The DNR needs to keep stocking the lake for it to remain a good walleye lake, otherwise we are going to have the same problem when the take is greater than the reproduction. Ban all netting and I believe we will be OK allow netting and we are going to get the same results!!! but this is just my opinion on the issue!!!

[galaxyman]

I too would like to see a trophy panfish lake. URL would be and is now a great start as a world class crappie lake. How about some trophy bluegill lakes like Valentine in Nebraska?

We do have many great Walleye lakes now. Lets try to keep URL for crappies. I would think that the financial rewards as the only trophy crappie lake would outweight those of simply another walleye lake

But as said by others, " what do I know?"

[loadster33]

Here in SD we have many lake that produce large Crappie not as big as up there but those lakes are also loaded with pike and eyes. Are DNR make man made reefs for them to spawn and get cover so that they get alittle bit of a fighting chance. They pile old christmas trees out on the ice and also make reefs out of old car tires. The good thing is that if you ice fish you can see the the new reefs before it falls into the lake and when spring roles around you can catch a limit or two. But there worst enemy is the avg. fishermen that keeps everything they catch. There is a reason why the DNR closes down the fishing season. I have been teaching my kids that ice fishing and spring fishing is more for fun than it is to keep everything you catch. Think about it perch, crappies and most every other fish spawn in the early mouths right after ice off. So we are taking alot of the hatch before the game fish even gets a chance. So if we all use alittle more cominsence and turn the females back ( generally the ones with the big fat belly full of eggs) and keep some of the males for frying pan it would give the fish a fighting chance.

[Borch]

There are smaller fish out there like zzie said. Last winter I caught one 9" and quite a few of the 10.5-12.5" fish.

[kelly-p]

Interesting thought told to me today. Where do the 9-10 inch crappies come from? Nobody ever catches a 4 or 5 inch crappies. Do they live somewhere until they get big enough to return and spawn? I didn't know how to answer him.

[tylerflom89]

lol, maybe they live in Lower Red? I'm coming up next weekend, so I hope I'm not the one to finally catch em!

[Bobb-o]

I have a question, does anyone ever get much for bluegills up there? I saw one that came out of one of Roger's houses last year that had to have been an easy 9" cuz it held its own next to those crappies

[Random guy]

I have often wondered if the reason we see only bigger fish on Red is simply pre spawn movement or in a lake that size I guess I would call it a “migration”. As we close in on spring the bite gets better and better. Look at a normal crappie lake you will find your larger crappies in closer to shore or on the break lines and the those little guys seem to hang out in the middle or deep basin of the lake.

Bobb-o, I have never seen a bluegill come out of the lake, I have often wondered why that was. I guess I just wrote it off as not the correct type of habitat for them. Never know I guess, Red lake wasn’t supposed to have crappies either.

[snipe]

If you fished Red in the early days of this crappie boom, you will recall that almost all of the crappie caught were between 7 and 9 inches. The reason people are catching few, if any, small crappie now is due to the fact that there are very few out there. Period.

Enjoy it while it lasts boys (and girls), because when it’s over, it’s over. There has been a lot of “Bar Talk” about what is going on and why, but the basic fact remains that almost all the crappie we have been catching lo these past few years are from a hatch that happened when there were almost no walleye left in the lake. When the 1995 hatch is gone the best crappie fishing in Minnesota history will become fishing lore, much like the muskie rampage on Leech Lake.

[oil painter]

I think that it will happen in red that the next record crappie will come out of there. as to fished out possible, fished way down absolutely!! however it is such a big body of water you would think the res. side has to have fish left. but ut sure was fun while it lasted!! ther are still plenty of lakes in the state that have good populations of 12-15+crappies hope they dont get the same treatment!

[fishface5]

[ ther are still plenty of lakes in the state that have good populations of 12-15+crappies

---

There is and probably never will be another like Red. Somebody should write a book now. It will be interesting to see how the story changes in ten, twenty years. Will sportsman be accused of doing to the crappies, what the Indians did to the walleyes? I wouldn't be supprized to see it get twisted that way.

[tearin' lips]

the crappies that I have caught so far this year have only been 11-12.5" granted I have not limited or slaughtered them yet, but I have a feeling that everyone is going to find some of these smaller silver dollars out on the pond this year. It was bound to happen with the spawning of the 1995 year class, though we will probably never see the numbers like the 95 year class again due to predators and spawning conditions. Just my two cents worth.