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Great idea! Try and get as many local sponsors as possible as they will stand to benefit from the exposure. Being there is no panfish circuit in Wyoming maybe some of the big boys would chip in to help get a tournament circuit started for us. I don't know how the other panfish tourneys are run,but it may simplify weigh in by having each team bring in there best 5 and designate one as big fish weighed and the 5 as total weigh for the day. Fish could have no snow or ice attached to them. Just my .02.
This is why I ask the questions, I want as much input as possible before writing the rules. As for the crappie population I think they're doing fine, they're on another food source right now. IMO
I would drop it to even less say 13. people are all ready taking to many small perch. I was asked by someone the other day what happen to all the Crappie my response was they have gone home in live wells and buckets same place theses perch will go if people keep taking the small fish.
Here are some crappie my wife and I caught in an hour of fishing last spring. Looking back, we feel like we shouldn't have kept so many since they were spawning. They were all 12" and fat. We would definitely enter a crappie tourney. I think a five fish limit would be good. I don't think it would be prudent to have a weigh-in limit of more than five. (Image removed from quote.)
I've been told by a couple biologists I have spoken to that drought and low water conditions affect crappie populations much more than fisherman do. I grew up fishing a lake that had grundles of nice crappies nobody really fished for them at all, it was a good secret. Nailed em for years and years and talked to some older guys that also caught them there for some time too. We hit drought for 2-3 years and the lake was low, early in the year too... they had no brush / structure and the crappies disappeared - literally. Never heard of another crappie caught from there, never thought that could happen but talked to a biologist who told me it does. I think it was just last year though that appleye posted a video of thousands of crappies swimming through keyhole. I was told perch are the same way anglers don't play a big role in populations they go through cycles and anglers don't play a very big impact? I think that is why the game and fish established the 50 perch limit. Utah has that regulation as well - 50 perch. I think they have liberal limits so that anglers can take advantage of the resource when the perch are in a good cycle... I do think anglers can impact small bodies of water more easily though. Just my thoughts Cargo, respect your view too.
It's all lake dependent. In SD, we are down to a 15 fish limit. There have been lots of cases of overfishing essentially ruining lakes, even larger ones. Ask ND guys about some of their perch sloughs and their unlimited panfish limit of 10 years or so ago. Fisherman can and do have a serious impact on fish populations. Obviously size of each lake and the pressure it receives is a big part of that. But, even big lakes can be affected by overfishing, if the pressure is high enough. Water levels and submerged vegetation play key roles in recruitment of panfish. Having cover for spawning as well as a place to hide and grow up is huge. It is interesting of the KH crappies and perch seem to have gone from nearly stunted to having some decent fish around, espescially crappies, in the last 2-3 years.My guess is those crappies are out there feeding heavily on zooplankton in open water.
