Just a though....

[riverrat56]

I got to thinking today during church....What if when the whole URL crappie boom happened and people came in droves to the lake, there was a 5 fish limit put on the crappies, would there be 2 times more crappies than there are now, or would old age of the fish still be leading to a decline in numbers regardless of catch/fishing mortality?

[slimy]

Here is one theory but its anyones guess if it could be true or not and I hate to be the one to get anyones hopes up buuuut here goes. We are only allowed to fish about 18% of the entire Red Lake basin so with 82% of the lake hardly being tampered with does this mean that we can still have nearly +/-100% of the fish still waiting to fill in the gaps from that 82% reservation reservoir. One other thought, I have been told by several sources that the 18% of the lake that we fish is the shallow end where some or most of the spawning takes place, could it be that the fish we are catching are just the mature migrating spawners and a few 10"ers mixed in getting ready for their first try at spawning. The little immature ones maybe sitting in the deeper unfished pools West of the line. Try fishing salmon in an Alakan River when Mother Nature is'nt telling those fish "it's time to breed". The next time your up on Red look West young man, there is alot of swmmin area out there and if you get a chance take a drive over on County Road 15 along the East shore of Lower Red and take a look at that little body. I do agree that Red Lake is a natural walleye lake and is transitioning back to its natural state and by haulting the harvest of fish for nine years in any natural reproducing fishery will have positive affects on that population. "It's all just theory".

[kelly-p]

Well put slimy. Also we are only fishing at best 40 % of what we could be fishing. That is one huge area out in the middle on this side of the "line" with very few if any fishermen. Now we are only fishing about 10% of the crappie areas. There is a lot of room out there for them to drift in from.

[slimy]

Oh, and by-the-way Riverrat you must follow my Great Uncle Bob's logic "Would God rather have you sitting in church thinking about fishin/huntin or would he rather have you in the fish house or deer stand thinking of him?

[Mjen]

Slimy, I think your on the right theory. After hearing a lot of them about Red, your's makes the most sense to me.

[hawkeye43]

Is that not the fun of it, to find them. Anyone can follow somebody and caught fish, but not alot of people want to put the time in to find the motherload. Just think if everyone on the lake would make a straight line, 50' apart drilled holes every 50',and move every 1/2 hour, how long would it take to find them.

[Random guy]

Look how hard it can be to find the crappies on a 1500 acre clear water lake. Throw in stained water, little or no structure and only allow yourself to fish within 50 yards from the landing on that 1500 acre lake. Kinda puts the big pond in perspective.

[riverrat56]

Ya slimy thats kind of the theory I go by, I'd rather be out in the outdoors seeing a sunrise and thinking about god than being at church thinking about the sunrise.

Anyways, I think you could be right on with your theory, and yes moving is the way to find them, but there isn't anything to relate to, but that hasn't ever bothered me before on 50 + hole days, catching is just a bonus to me, I like being out in the middle of no where and trying to get back to a simpler time......with 600 bucks of electronic and 1000 bucks of other essentials..

[BLACKJACK]

riverrat, back to your original post. It would have been fun to find out what happened with a five fish limit 5-6 years ago. There would be more of the monster crappies left to possibly grow to that fabled 15-16 inch size! Wouldn't that be swell! People keep saying that crappies die after 10 years but does anybody really know? No where in MN are they allowed to grow for 15-20 years before a hot bite develops and they get (over) harvested by hordes of fisherman. Catfish grow for 30 years, why not crappies? Face it, the DNR was handed a world-class crappie fishery, partly by there own negligence, and all they could think of was to restore it to walleyes. What if 40 million crappie fry had been dumped into the lake instead of walleye fry??! The crappie boom would continue, the locals would still be making money off the fisherman, and the best part is that the crappies would have bounced off the nets!@! Its almost like the DNR left the crappie limit high so they would be depleted, so they didn't eat small walleyes and slow down their walleye recovery.

There I feel better, I'll get off my soapbox.

[jlm]

Here are my thoughts about the issue. The DNR is trying to re-establish a world class walleye fishery, one of the best in the state when in its prime. There are only a few lakes in the state that can be considered good habitat for walleyes (relatively speaking of course). On the other hand, crappies flourish in most lakes (relatively speaking). It would make more sense to get Red back into the walleyes because this lake is so perfect for natural reproduction. However, now that the DNR has committed to returning Red to a walleye fishery, I would like to see them commit to establishing some lakes around the state specifically for crappies. There is no reason that several lakes in MN can not become boom lakes for crappies. That would be the best of both worlds in my mind! Anyway, just my 2 cents!

[cookie129]

I think that what we see now will be the same patteren year after year. There will always be some crappie but the hay days may be going quick. We caught them 20 years ago. Theres no reason we won't catch them for another 20.

[Random guy]

Quote:

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We caught them 20 years ago. Theres no reason we won't catch them for another 20.

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Good point Cookie. The crappies have always been in the lake. When I was younger I went on a trolling joy ride from structure out in the middle towards the north shore and stumbled into crappies, and that was 18-20 years ago. (wow twenty years ago... ) We never fished crappies before the boom, like lemmings we all went out to 6-9 feet of water and fished big jigs on the bottom for walleye. You only seen a couple of boats out deep in the eighties, one was KellyP running around mapping/scouting the lake and the others was normaly somebody brokedown drifting towards the line. You did not catch walleyes out deep so why go out past 9 feet? I bet we will always see shacks and boats out out deep from now on.

[Woody Erickson]

Here is my spin:

It sounds like 85% of the Crappies sampled by the DNR (in 2004) are from the spring of 1995 hatch (DNR Website). The conditions that spring were ideal for the Crappie spawn -> water temps / water levels / lack of predators (ie walleyes) / etc. There has not been such a hatch since 1995. URL does not regularly get the conditions for a good Crappie hatch. This 1995 hatch has been a blessing for resorts and guides in the area, since walleye fishing has been banned.

That being said, according to the U of M, the Black Crappie lives 7-9 years on average in MN. I have read that Crappies do live longer in the northern part of the state (vs southern part). Crappies from the southern part grow faster, but do not live as long. So I would guess that the URL Crappies would have a life expectancy of 10-12 years. This spring would make 85% of them 11 years old.

This is kind of a nice coincidence, being that walleye fishing opens again this spring. BUT, there will be a protective slot limit (17 - 26 inches), in the 2006-2007 season.

My questions are:

When a Crappie dies of old age, do they wash to shore or sink and become the lake bottom? If they do rise and wash to shore, I would think there should be alot of them showing up in the next year or two. Unless they become fish food??

Are there Crappies in Lower Red Lake, like the numbers in URL?

Has anyone caught a walleye on URL that would be legal to take home? I have not. All of the walleyes I caught late last winter were in the 18 - 20 inch range.

later,

[Sutty]

I was up in December and most of the walleye we caught were in the 14-16 inch range.

[SCONASOTAN]

I have been up there the last couple of memorial day weekends and have caught walleyes rangeing from 13-21 inches. Last year fish were averaging larger around 15-21 inches. I am going again this memorial day and if I catch 250 walleyes between 17-26 inches I will gittier than a little school girl. If i don't get to have walleye dinner every night than that is the way it goes. I can't catch fish like that anywhere around my home. Why does it have to be about how many you get to bring home????? SWEET JESUS THE FRUSTRATION WITH READING THOSE KIND OF POSTS!!!!!

[SCONASOTAN]

world class fishery and all people go there for is to have a couple of fish dinners?????? BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP, BLEEP!!!!!

[Woody Erickson]

Quote:

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Why does it have to be about how many you get to bring home?????

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SCONASOTAN,

Where was that coming from and directed to??

I can only assume it was directed toward my post, since I mentioned the protective slot. If so, I never mentioned the how many fish represent a limit (which is two). Only the protective slot.

As far as bringing fish home, I rarely do. I would guess-timate that I release better than 95% of the fish I catch.

It is nice to here there are plenty of fish outside this slot, though. When I was there, it was late ice and I assume the larger walleyes moved in.

later,

[SCONASOTAN]

Sorry about that Mr. Erickson, I just assumed that from your wording that you were concerned that you would not be able to take any fish home because all the fish would fall in the slot.

I really hate those people who argue that point. I love fish as much as the next guy but those that complain about the bag limits and slots because they don't get their "fair share" really bug me. Then they condone their "innocent poaching" because its not going to change anything or "its better then the indians getting 'em"

sorry about going off about your post. I know you and probably everyone on the FM forums are not the problem. I just want there to be some good fishing to experience when my baby grows up, he'll eat just fine if no fish come home any time.

[riverrat56]

Anywho.....I think everyone has a valid point, and I've always said that they should have managed the lake for crappies, a world class crappie fishery was handed to the state, managing the lake for crappies would have only made sense, but I think there was a deal with the indians??? No matter what people say the lake is a great resource no matter what you are catching, all I go out fishing for is to get away and catch something, if its 20 walleyes I can't keep so be it. Were not fishing for substanance anymore, if we were then we wouldn't drive hours to a lake and have a chance at catching some fish. I think that if the lake would have been managed for crappies that there would still be a fishery going strong, but it wasn't, and the crappies are all going to be kicking the bucket in a few years. There will still be some there, no doubt, but a good spawn is doubtful in the future, due to the high numbers of walleyes that will be eating the frys. I guess these were the Good 'ol days on URL for the crappies.....

[fievel9922]

I definately will not drive over four hours to fish for walleyes when i can catch just as many and just as good of a size much closer to home and i think others feel the same.

[LABS4ME]

That's too bad... I'll still be driving 5 hours just so I can see my friends! If I get fish, fantastic... if not, see you in a couple weeks... I like fresh fish so I always keep 4 or so, but I release way more crappies than I keep, and in the future if I get 2 walleyes on a given weekend to bring home, perfect meal for us! Just got done making and eating a big kettle of crappie chowder from the crappies I brought home this weekend! MMM MMM! But what really made the trip was meeting up with all my old buddies and making a couple new ones... bringing my 24 year old son up fishing and getting harrassed and plain ol' the adventures of pulling the house on the lake and the trucks out of drifts!!! Fishing unfortunatley has taken a backseat to all the other things up there... don't get me wrong we fish hard when we fish, but when we put the poles down, it's time to hang out with friends and have a good time!

Good Luck!

Ken

[fievel9922]

My post wasnt meant to complain, My point is I dont think as many people will go to red just to fish eyes with its location wich in turn could hurt resorts and and other thigs that go along with fishing in the economy. People have been going to red for the past years because of the crappie fishing. There are other big resort lakes similar to red that do not produce the crappie fishing that red does but produce the walleye that red would, or do. To me the best thing about red is catching monster crappie that many lakes do not offer especially with the permanent ice shacks and places you can stay. My favorite part about red is that it offers something different. Don't get me wrong i love to catch walleyes but red is tuley a lake unlike any other in the state. Hope i explain myself better.

[W.W.BarTender]

Just picture this, I come up to Red for a weekend of fishing durning the summer or even the winter. Yeah I can only keep two Walleyes, but i probably catch on average of about 50 of them for the weekend. So Sunday morning I head home, I got my 2 Walleyes(one of them has a good chance to be 8-10 pounds), I also have 15-20 10 inch perch, Oh yeah Im also bringing home a 24 pound Northern for the wall and last but not least I even got a half dozen 14 inch Crappies. And like Labs said you even get to see some old buddies and have a few beers and make more memories.

Man that sounds like a pretty good fishing trip to me.!! Show me another lake with the quality fish that Red produces.

[kelly-p]

You have friends?????

[The Donk]

Agreed with Fievel... if the crappie fishing continues to diminish over the years, I would eventually choose not to make the trip up. Five hours is a long way to catch and release. Don't get me wrong, the people up there have been (for the most part) great, but I can catch walleyes within a half hour of my house that are exactly like Red, and big ones an hour from home as well. (Mille Lacs) I am along the lines of thinking that the fishery should have been managed differently, but that is a moot point now. Hopefully for the resorts up there, the business stays good, but I think that in 5-10 years more people will pick up this train of thought. Two cents and more

[slimy]

To all the meathunters and cpr.ers and everone in between what if you fish Lake of the Wood and get 4 walleye limit and 4 sauger then you head down to Red Lake (40min away) and get 2 walleyes that makes 10 then add some world class northern fishing, 20 jumbo perch and then if there are any of those crappies that left add 10 of those. Heck you may have to bring a trailer just for the fish. With that you have fished two world class fisheries and enjoyed the great outdoors and where else but Red Lake would it be better to introduce kids to walleye fishing. Ya I guess yer right no one is gonna drive that far for that.

[fievel9922]

Slimy never said no one will come. I said the big boom on red the past 10 years or so has come from the carappie fishing. you guys keep saying you can catch all these eyes some decent pearch, nothing to write home about and big northers, all of which is like many other lakes in the state. and if you can put me on another lake that i can rent a shck to stay in all weekend and catch 30-40 carappies well over a pound let me know where that is. My point was we had soemthing different at red which is why it made it so fun. I agree the whole friends thing and and getting away is fun, but i have to believe that the reason I and many go to red is to see some of the nicest crappies in the state. i have fun hanging with my buddies and having some cold ones but when you can talk about slabs you caught that day it is priceless. With red now they will have to compete more with other lakes and resort places that have similar species and results.