Lake Charles in northeast Arkansas saw the removal of the daily crappie creel beginning in 2017, and after four years of increased harvest of crappie, the lake is seeing positive changes in the population, AGFC biologists report. Last fall’s sampling by the staff indicated that some of the crappie there are reaching longer lengths and have healthier weights than they had prior to the removal of the daily limit. By removing the limit and allowing anglers to harvest as many crappie as they want, this has led to a decrease in overall population and has increased prey availability for the crappie.
Biologists are hoping this plan shows the same success in a couple of other lakes in the region. Lake Hogue and Lake Frierson saw changes in daily creel limit in 2020, and biologists look for improvement in crappie over the next several years. Currently, an angler can harvest as many fish as he or she can catch, regardless of size, in lakes Charles, Frierson and Hogue. Anglers can do their part in resource conservation and boosting the overall health of these lakes’ crappie by fishing these lakes and harvesting all the crappie they catch.
