Trolling May Intensify Exploitation in Crappie Fisheries
K. O. Meals, A. W. Dunna & L. E. Miranda
North American Journal of Fisheries Management
Volume 32, Issue 2, 2012. pages 325-332
If you're a crappie angler, chances are you're either a poler, a guy that fishes with a single outfit at a time like in bass fishing, or a troller, someone who has multiple lines out, often with multiple baits on each line. One thing that hasn't been taken into great consideration is the ratio of polers to trollers on a given body of water, and whether there are any adverse affects depending on the ratios.
Researchers studied the catch statistics of anglers fishing while trolling with multiple poles (trollers) and those fishing with single poles (polers) in Mississippi reservoirs. They wanted to find out which method caught more fish, if there was a correlation between number of poles used and fish caught, and whether if everybody trolled, could exploitation rates become a detriment to the fishery.
It turned out that on average, the fishery was "equally split between polers and trollers. In spring, 90% of crappie anglers were polers; in summer, 85% of crappie anglers were trollers". As such, the two tended to offset each other over the course of the year. "The size of harvested crappies was similar for the two angler groups, but the catch per hour was almost three times higher for trollers than for polers. Catch rates by trollers were directly correlated to the number of poles fished", although there was a limit to how many. The catch curve flattened out at a certain point, suggesting inefficiency as to how many trolling poles a single angler can handle.
One thing I found very interesting was that "the average harvest rate for one troller fishing with three poles was similar to the harvest rate obtained by one poler". This becomes the breakeven point between the two methods, and just happens to be exactly where Indiana fishery biologists have set the limit as to number of poles allowed to be fished by a single angler at once - good call on their part.
Modeling suggested that a 50/50 mix of polers and trollers (unlimited number of poles) in a fishery works out to be about a 1.3X increase in overall harvest versus a 100% poler fishery. If a fishery becomes a 100% trolling fishery, that exploitation rate increases to 1.7X a polers only fishery. Since most crappie anglers are 'catch-and-keep" anglers, biologists would be wise to take local popularity of crappie methods into account when assessing crappie fisheries and regulations.
Breaking the Rules - Tag Ends
Here's another in a series of fun, meaningless, on-the-water tests to see just what you can and can't get away with when fishing for bass. Here we intentionally try and break "the rules" for bass, 'rules' being those established and accepted ways of doing things. Let's face it, some people go way overboard on details and specifics, and a lot of what you read only confuses the issue more as to what you have to do to catch bass. But they're really just dumb sunfish when you get down to it :)
The first post in this series a couple weeks back focused on shallow crankbaits, and whether things like color or vibration really mattered to the fish, or at least whether those things might stop you from catching some bass on any given trip. In this installment, we'll take on the issue of line - in particular, tag lines. You know how line sensitive bass are supposed to be. We're told to use clear line or green line to blend in, or better yet, fluorocarbon since it's "invisible" to fish. Then once you have your bait tied on, cut off the tag end to within an 1/8-inch or so of the knot. Really?
So the challenge was simple; catch a bass on a variety of baits using monofilament line and leaving a tag end of at least 20 inches. You heard me right. All baits were tied on using a clinch knot that allowed for a long tag line, which wasn't trimmed in the least and had to be at least 20" in length or more. As usual, my "control" in this case is the friend in the front of the boat getting first crack at all the spots using traditional baits and traditional tactics. If I catch about as many and similar sized fish, then the ruling is the rule break "didn't matter". Such was the case on a tough bite this past week.
To make it even more of a challenge, I had to catch 3 bass on each bait with that long tag line before officially claiming "rule busted" and getting to move on to a different bait. Anything can happen once, but happening twice is less likely, and happening three times means it wasn't a random fluke. So here are the outcomes:
Bait #1 was a shallow runnning crankbait. The fish weren't overly active, so it took a while to get the bites necessary, but I did accomplish 3 bass on the bait, in many cases with the line all balled up around the front of the bait due to repetetive casting. At times, even the hooks were all entangled in the excess tag line, and I'd have to untangle the mess at some point just so the bait would run straight. Still, mission accomplished.
Bait #2 was a shaky head. This one actually turned out to be pretty easy, as it took about 20 minuytes or so to net 3 bass on the little worm rig. The tag line tended to stay much straighter and just flowed out behind the bait in most instances, especially considering it was about 4-5 times longer than the worm itself. I thought maybe the crankbait with its faster retrieve was triggering a reaction bite, so the slower worm bite might be a good opposite test. No contest - in fact, I wish I could have just kept throwing that rig since the fish were biting it so well. Yet, I must progress on.
Bait #3 was a topwater, a Splash-It to be specific. Again, it was pretty easy to keep the tag line just streaming behind the bait, and as the evening came winding to a close, I was able to garner three good strikes on the bait. The fish in the pic is hanging onto the bait after landing, with one of my hands holding the main line, and the other holding the end of the tag line.
So there you have it. Nine bass on three different baits, all tied with a tag line of 20" or more. Don't know how I ever managed to catch them smart basses, and I don't recommend you try this at home, lest your catches suffer. Maybe your bass aren't as dumb as mine ;-)
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