Page 39 - 2023 Barnett Fall Issue

Magnolia Crappie Club Adventures Magazine
Magnol ia Cr appie Club Adv entur es Magazine

Our tournament on October 15 drew only 33 teams. That's the lowest

participation we've had at Washington in the last 20 years. Our anglers realize
that the crappie population is suffering low catch rates. We had two teams that

caught the 7-fish limit. With 66 anglers fishing, we only weighed 65 total fish. We
had 15 teams that didn't catch a weighable fish. We're providing our summarized

data and statistics for the past seven years. If you are interested, we can provide

our complete weigh-in results.

Please believe us when we tell you we appreciate your biologist's excellent job for
the entire State of Mississippi. We think we could be your eyes and ears on some

of the crappie lakes in MS. We see firsthand when a lake starts to decline.

Crappie are resilient fish; they can correct their decline quickly if given the time.

In the meantime, we think several things can be done to shorten the comeback
time.

• Eliminate the yo-yos forever

• Increase the minimum size limit to over 12-inches

• Make the lake off-limits for crappie fishing from February to May for two
years

• Decrease the crappie creel limit to 15 fish

• Decrease the transport possession limit to 45 crappie per person
• Prohibit Crappie Tournaments for at least two years

Sincerely,

Scott Ryals,
Magnolia Crappie Club, President

39 - Adventures Magazine - MCC 2023 Lake Washington Issue