Implementation of a 23 Cm Crappie Minimum Length Limit at Two Indiana Impoundments

Dogwood (1,414 acres) and Hardy Lake (741 acres) are two Indiana impoundments which support highly utilized Crappie fisheries. In both impoundments Black Crappie are more abundant than White Crappie and are all under a 25 bag limit regulation. From 1997 to 2015 Indiana’s Department of Natural resources (IDNR) have surveyed Crappie in both lakes on numerous occasions. All surveys used standard trap nets and Smaller Lake Michigan trap nets to sample Crappie in either the spring or fall.  Every fish collected was measured to the nearest millimeter and weighed to the nearest gram. A subsample of Black Crappie were sacrificed each survey for otolith ageing for establishment of an age-length key. The Fisheries Analysis and Modeling Simulator was used to model the yield (in kilograms) under various length limits ranging from no length limit to a 254 mm length limit using a Beverton-Holt, yield per recruit model. Results suggested under a 228.6 mm minimum length limit number harvested would decrease, but yield harvested (in kilograms) would increase by approximately 37.7%. Therefore, IDNR implemented a 228.6 mm length limit at the beginning of 2016 for both impoundments.