Crappie Population _Kawarthas

[EC1]

Okay, so basically the question i've wondered for quite a while is whether the crappie population in the kawarthas are going up or down.

From my knowledge, crappie spawn a lot, but then im guessing there are just as many people fishing for them at the same time.

 

Is anyone on this board familiar with the crappie population in that direction?

 

Thanks for reading

[Sinker]

I"d say its still going up.....

[Jer]

Having lived (and fished) on the Tri-Lakes for over 12 years now, I'd say the crappie population is still increasing.

 

Every year, we get more and more incidental catches of crappie while targetting other species throughout the summer. Every spring, we find more and more spots holding crappie at the opener.

 

When I moved here, I didn't even know what a crappie was, hardly ever saw one the first few years.

[Reef Runner]

With the increase in incidental catches I've had over the past couple years, I would concour with the others and say the crappie population in the Kawartha's are increasing.

[Pachone]

Is that good thing or a bad thing? (the increase) Does it effect the ecosystem and balance the lakes have? does it lower the count of other important fish species?

[Stoty]

I would say its a good thing because you can never have enough panfish in the lake that bass/walleye/pike/musky feed on!

[Reef Runner]

I would think Stoty's right on that one. The only concern I would have, but am unsure about the Crappie's forage, is if they eat the spawn of any of the above-mentioned game fish.

[capt bruce]

Dont think a large population of crappies is good if you like walleyes and bass, Im no biologist but I have fished the tri lakes for 50 years and I see as pickerel and bass numbers declined crappie numbers grew . Zebra muscles and the clearing of the water might have helped in the crappies favor but I think all those pickerel fry in the crappies bellies had alot to do with it . 25 years ago you never even heard of crappie unless you were from down south or maybe the georgiann bay area and the pickerel fishing in rice lake was great , jumbo pearch were in fact JUMBO not 7-8 inches, another invasive species probably brought into the lakes in a fishermens bait bucket , just a better tasteing gobie to me or a cormorant with fins .

[Sinker]

Dont think a large population of crappies is good if you like walleyes and bass, Im no biologist but I have fished the tri lakes for 50 years and I see as pickerel and bass numbers declined crappie numbers grew . Zebra muscles and the clearing of the water might have helped in the crappies favor but I think all those pickerel fry in the crappies bellies had alot to do with it . 25 years ago you never even heard of crappie unless you were from down south or maybe the georgiann bay area and the pickerel fishing in rice lake was great , jumbo pearch were in fact JUMBO not 7-8 inches, another invasive species probably brought into the lakes in a fishermens bait bucket , just a better tasteing gobie to me or a cormorant with fins .

 

I've fished the kawartha's for the last 20 years, and I gotta say, the last few have been the best walleye fishing I've seen in a long time. The crappie fishing is pretty sweet too......I don't think the slabs have a negative effect on the eyes.......show me some proof.

 

Sinker

[ehg]

Caught my first crappie on Pigeon in 1998, it was actually the largest i caught in Pigeon as well at 13.75 inches.

Seems like the population is stable if not slightly increasing, but mostly 11-12 inch fish.

[Terry]

any body of water can only support so much bio-mass , if numbers of one fish goes up another fish population must go down.

so the more crappies you have, one of the other fishes will hurt from it .....

[Blue_Axela]

I would say its a good thing because you can never have enough panfish in the lake that bass/walleye/pike/musky feed on!

 

 

Wrong.

 

Watch this video that was released by the OFAH.

 

http://www.invadingspecies.com/Video.cfm?A...Vid&VidID=6

Edited June 5, 2008 by Blue_Axela

[Stoty]

I still say its beneficial.

Like it was said, the Walleye fishing recently has been the best in a few years...

If anything, hopefully the Rock Bass population will suffer from Crappie.

[capt bruce]

Sinker has the fishing got better or just the CATCHING as the small numbers left have had their habitant shrunk and now their easy to catch as they stack up in the few places left that suit them and the lack of food makes them more likely to bite anything???? used to sit on my dock in the 70's and catch 10- 15 eyes in an hour or so havent caught one there in three years but crappies on the otherhand we catch almost every cast some days as I said im not a biolagist but watching the film that was posted there was one there and he seamed to say the same as terry as one pop grows others MUST shrink.

[EC1]

interesting video. i always thought smallmouth was like all over the place. I guess only the big walleye are left now and the small walleye are starting to die off.

[Slayingm]

I have been fishing Crappie on the Kawatha's for over 20 years and can tell you they are diffentately cyclical. I have caught them on every kawartha lake and some years they have exploded on certain lakes then stabilized (usually with lower numbers). That said Riceand Tri-lakes have consitantly produced both good numbers and large fish year after year.... sometimes you just have to move around a bit or fish deeper......especially if a cood front moves in.

 

.....Good Fish'n .... Greg.

[muskylund1]

I've been fishing Lower Buckhorn for over 25 years and have never caught a Crappie in that lake. I've heard that others have caught them, but I've not seen one yet. It still amazes me that some people think that Crappies are eating all the Walleyes. I personally think that is nothing short of insane. Sure Crappies are exotics in the Kawarthas, but so are Walleyes. I never heard of a single instance in any lake or river in all of North America where Crappies have hurt the Walleye or Bass populations. I don't fish for Crappies. Actually I don't fish for walleyes either. I mainly target Bass and Muskies. One thing that I have noticed over the past 15 years is that the water on Lower Buckhorn Lake is much clearer than it used to be. I suppose that is mainly due to the Zebra Mussels. What has also ocurred is an explosion in weed growth. Along with that has come an explosion in the Largemouth Bass population. I have seen a number of studies that show that Largemouth Bass are a major predator on young walleyes. Walleyes typcially do better on lakes more suited to smallmouth and muskies and less well on lakes suited to Largemouth and Northern Pike. I was really glad to see that the MNR finally has decided to put some more restrictive regs on walleye fishing in the Kawarthas. I'm not sure they got it exactly right, but it is an improvement. I would have preferred to see a slot limit. I'm sure that Crappies will find their niche and the population will level off. There are thousands of examples of lakes across North America that have excellent Crappie and Walleye populations. These fish tend to coexist quite well.

 

Tom