There was once a theory at the Game Department that crappie populations and sizes were cyclical. One year, there would be a pond or lake with huge crappie, then gradually, the sizes would lessen and the numbers would increase as the fish became stunted. Then, the stunted fish would die out, and with fewer crappie, the sizes once again increased. If memory serves, it was about a 7-year cycle.
I don’t know if that theory still holds true, but I do know that the more crappie you catch, the better it is for the lake. Crappie are quite prolific, and it would be hard if not impossible to overfish crappie in any given body of water.
The huge stringer of crappie shown above will only increase the quality of fishing at Lake Orange – plus that stringer will deliver some powerful fish fries in the future.
Around the state, crappie are on the move to mid-depths on brush, and bridges. The rivers – the Chick and Rapp in particular – have been fishing better than many of the lakes.
