Douglas Lake - Trap Netting 2009
Crappie were sampled with 89 trap nets set from just above Nina Creek down to Flat Creek. The TWRA collected 309 crappie including 305 black crappie, one white crappie, and three blacknose black crappie.
More than 70% of the crappie were between 6 and 10-inches indicating there was some natural reproduction and good survival of stocked fish in 2008. This is encouraging considering the TWRA has not seen much natural reproduction in Douglas for the past several years. Many of these young crappie will grow into harvestable fish by the spring of 2010 and should help improve fishing success.
Approximately 24% of the fish collected were over 10-inches indicating good numbers of harvestable crappie in the population. The overall number of crappie collected was below average for Douglas. Although fishing in 2010 may be better than during the past few years, it will likely be below average.
The TWRA has not collected many young-of-the-year crappie for the past several years including 2009 indicating poor reproduction. Small crappie can be difficult to locate and the 2009 spawning success should be determined more accurately via our 2010 trap netting efforts.
The TWRA has stocked a significant number of crappie into Douglas during the past several years in response to the declining population. Cycles of good and bad spawns are common with crappie and hopefully the population will begin to recover as a result of the improved number of sub-legal fish observed in 2009 combined with stocking.
Trap Netting Demonstration Video
Black crappie length frequency in 2009
Catch rate of young-of-the-year crappie from 1989 to 2009
Black crappie relative weights in 2009
