By PAUL DAVIS
Outdoors Editor
WAPPAPELLO, Mo. -- The results of the Missouri Department of Conservation's annual crappie trapnetting survey at Wappapello Lake last week showed no dramatic turnaround in the number of large crappies in the lake, but the fish were fat and healthy, unlike two years ago, when they were skinny and underfed.
"Their condition looks good," said MDC Fisheries Management Biologists Dave Knuth. "Unfortunately, there's still a lot of short fish."
Knuth's sample numbers were low again this year, primarily, he said, because the water remained "warm for so long. They're just now starting to move to fall patterns."
Even over the course of last week's survey, however, the situation improved each day.
"We usually catch mostly black crappies shallow until the water cools down, then it's mostly whites," he said.
For the survey, Knuth and fellow biologist Jason Crites set out 20 nets in water ranging from 4 to 6 feet deep, from the Lost Creek area to points south.
"The black crappie did well this spring," said Knuth, "and the white crappie did OK."
Knuth said there are "plenty of year classes of crappies in the lake," and it has a "lot of 8-1/2-inch fish that look good."
White crappies in Wappapello should reach 9 inches in their third year, Knuth said, though many years that can vary. Black crappies, on the other hand, grow much slower. They're also becoming increasingly more numerous in Wappapello, meaning they compete with small white crappies for food, yet rarely reach keeping size.
"Only 1 percent of the black crappies we've seen reached 9 inches," Knuth said.
There could be a positive in the crappie population, even if it's short-lived: Last spring's flood, Knuth said, could prove to be a boon for the lake's crappies because they have tended to show a temporary growth spurt after similar events, likely because of strong shad spawns.
"We generally see good growth patterns for at least a year after a major flood," he said. "The smaller fish responded well to the flood, and judging by the condition of the fish, I'd say there's plenty of food for them. There are plenty of shad, and they're just the right size."
The potential flood-related growth is "probably just going to be temporary relief," Knuth said, but at this point, any positive is welcome.
What is needed, he said, is a regulation change to improve the crappie fishery because the current 9-inch minimum length limit just isn't working in a lake which fluctuates so wildly and has seen a boon in small black crappie numbers.
"I made a presentation to department administration in September," Knuth said.
Currently, several proposals Knuth offered are being considered, and once MDC administration decides on the best ones, the next step of the regulation-change process is public input. How that will be done or when it will happen has yet to be determined.
While not offering specifics, Knuth said, with his proposal, based on science and public comments he's heard the last few years, the department is "moving in the right direction."
Essentially, Knuth said, Wappapello's crappies "went from too high a harvest (before the 9-inch regulation) to not enough harvest. We're currently not taking any black crappies out or harvesting enough fish because we've become too restrictive based on their current growth rates."
As always, Knuth invites concerned anglers to contact him at MDC's Southeast Regional Office in Cape Girardeau, Mo., at 573-290-5730. He also can be reached by email at dave.knuth@mdc.mo.gov.