Crappie Class Size ?

[MNHuntress]

Maybe an FM'er can shed some light on this...I've heard about a crappie class size but don't know much about it. Let's say a lake has a bunch of 9-12' crappies, how long will the hot bite for crappies last given moderate pressure? Or is this all myth?

Also anybody have any idea how long it takes a crappie to grow to the 9" size? I know sunfish have a slow growth rate, according to some I've talked to at the DNR.

[Craigums]

Depends on several factors such as Forage and Larger Predators in the lake

[Bigslugger]

someone on here had the growth rates of a crappie posted.

Id search it on here and Im sure you could find it

[Scott M]

Crappies can fall into these "pulse" fisheries where you get a really successful year class followed by some tough years. The anglers get on top of the fish at a certain size and then its over until the next big hatch gets off and grows to harvestable sizes.

In other lakes, there are more consistency in those spawns, although angling pressure can vary too. Overall, it's hard to predict how long a bite will last. I think the root of your question is getting at year class strengths. If you ever take a look at Mille Lacs lake's detailed fisheries reports, they talk about year class strengths and year class indices. They can compare how strong the hatch is from year to year. If you could do this sort of thing with a crappie, and estimate forage (which is more tricky since they aren't a top predator), you could in a roundabout way estimate how good the bite will be. That's in a nutshell what happens with Mille Lacs walleyes. Biologists know it will be a good year when 3-4 years earlier a class that ranked highly in the year class indices has grown to harvestable sizes and if forage is down...Then you can have fishing seasons like Mille Lacs walleyes in open water 06 and 07...Just dynamite.

Lots of variables to try to predict, but when things align just right it can be done. The other "X" factors are the amount of angling pressure and the vulnerability of the crappies...a couple things that can at times be tough to measure.

To get at your growth question, it really depends on what the ecology of the lake is. (i.e. where is it located, how deep, what is the water chemistry, what is the fish community, etc.)

There is another post in this forum with crappie lengths at ages as a general average.

Hope this helps.

[Spearing Machine]

I have done quite a bit of ageing of crappies by looking at rings on their scales. To give you an idea the average 13 inch crappie was about 6-8 years old. SO that what say that the growth rate is "about" two inches a year.

[MNHuntress]

Spearing Machine...I hate to ask a stupid question but how does one count the rings on a crappie. I'd like to do this but what should I be looking for in order to count?

[Scott M]

You would need a microscope or microfiche reader for scales. You can also use otoliths (ear stones), vertebrae, spines, or fin rays. Pull off a scale and check out the the circles, called annuli. Where you see closely spaced annuli, you are looking at periods of slow growth, or winter seasons. When you see annuli that are spaced further apart, you are looking at faster growth and summer conditions. In calcified structures, you can identify summer and winter growth seasons by color. Opaque marks identify winters when fish are laying down mostly calcium carbonate. Translucent marks identify summers when fish lay down calcium carbonate and a protein matrix. Those marks are distinguishing the growing season when they are literally getting in most of their growth and the winter season when they are just getting enough metabolically to run the machinery. Google otolith images and check them out. Or try "reading fish scales."

Age determination is a very important part of fisheries management. Without knowing how old a fish is, one cannot tell how quickly a fish grows, what year class the fish is from, if the fish is sexually mature, etc. From there you can branch further into other questions that need answering...How big is the 200X year class? What is the spawning stock looking like heading into the spring? Is growth being suppressed in lake XY?

Every lake is going to be a little bit different for growth. Imagine the cold unproductive lakes of the north. While there are some big crappies and they don't receive nearly the fishing pressure of other lakes, it does take a lot longer for fish to reach those sizes, versus say an extreme southern Minnesota lake fish. The type of lake they live in is that different in terms of growing season and nutrition.

[spotchecker]

Holy Chrice Dechise I should have finished high school 33 years ago.50 years old with 2 years of internet exp.& I feel like I am in preschool.

[BuckKiller]

Spearing Machine...I hate to ask a stupid question but how does one count the rings on a crappie. I'd like to do this but what should I be looking for in order to count?

they are hard to see but if you pull off one of the scales and hold it in some good light you will be able to see small bumps on the tail side of the scale. each bump = one year.