Personal preference,..

[WalleyeSlayer21]

Personal preference when putting Crappies in the pail for supper? Mines usually 10-14 inches anything under or over goes back.

[live4chrome]

Anything over 12 is getting too big to keep it generally takes a long time for them to get big. They are the ones with the genetics to keep a lake healthy. I will keep them 9.5-11.5 up north. And in the metro I won't keep them over 11. It takes a long time and the right conditions and a little luck for a crappie to get big. to kill the big ones is just greedy and very detrimental to most systems. There are some systems like the big reservoirs down south and some of the big border lakes that can handle it but 99% of minnesotas lakes can't. Especially if they get fishing pressure. With today's technology like flashers, lake chips and modern portables it makes it too easy to kill lakes and we need to be more conservative with what we kill. The days of taking buckets of big pannies is over. I would full support a protective slot on crappies with exceptions to somelakes. Say, 12-15 C&R only. I know the bucket brigade will be up In arms about this statement but luckily more and more people are starting to let the big ones go.

[WalleyeSlayer21]

Look at my other Thread in Walleye-perch people keeping 20+ eyes.. Nothing wrong with keeping a few fish but everyone has there own preference.. I normally keep 9 inchers crappies but then people ask questions like why i kept them.. There too small.. So thats why i keep 10 now.

[live4chrome]

Tens are perfect eating crappies. People who say you are keeping them too small have no idea about how the biology of a lake works. It is WAY better to be keeping those smaller medium sized fish than the big ones when it comes to any species. With pannies if you want to take a bucket full of small crappies home it's actually good for alot of lakes with high populations of small fish. Next time someone tells you a 9" crappie is too small just tell them it's better for the lake than keeping the big ones.

To me it's not a preference thing but a what is best for the lake thing.

I grew up on a small metro lake with pretty much private access except in the winter when people can walk the 1/2 mile trail into the lake and get on to ice fish. The lake used I be an excellent pannie lake but could not sustain the pressure of people selectively keeping just the bigger panfish. Now you might go out and catch 20 or 30 crappies in an evening and get lucky if you see one over 8"

[monstermoose78]

9-11 inch crappies find my bucket if I am keeping fish which is not often. Anything bigger than 11 goes back in the lake.

[mn86]

with blue gills i release big bull males. with all other species i release big females.

[ozzie]

my preference is to keep 9.5-12.5 anything over gets put back in the lake 90% of the time...sometimes the lake is big and you find some that may get to 13 that find the bucket but anything over just doesn't taste as good and if the lake is smaller the bigger than 12 get put back.

[gunner55]

Mostly C&R for me,if I want some(crappies) to eat it will be the smaller ones.Which on the lake I fish most is about 12 right now.I usually won't fish for them any deeper than 20-25 fow unless I plan on keeping them.For Gills it 9 or less,if I want to keep some, but most of time they go back.

[popriveter]

I keep a lot of 8-10" crappies. But it doesn't take a lot of self-control to not keep the larger ones when you don't catch any larger ones.

I believe, if they've grown too big for a muskie to eat them, I should probably respect that and leave them to breed.

[Tom7227]

http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/publications/fisheries/investigational_reports/552.pdf