High Rock

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
If there ever was a lake that needs the size limit lifted for a while to get some of the millions of undersize crappie out that one is it. I have fished it for years and don't keep small ones and have no desire to. But it is chocked full of them, there is an influx of bank fisherpeople that would thin them out and it would help the fishery in that lake.

They may have to monitor it fairly closely and reinstate it at some point and time but it would be a good thing for a while.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I agree. A lot of shorts at HR. I'm glad they are taking an active approach to fixing it because it's been that way for awhile.

Nice haul, 11 pointer. I'm not sure if yesterday was just a good day ahead of this front, or if they've turned on in the shallows.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
It is absolutely loaded with nutrients and forage fish, why wouldn't it be? There are plenty of 1-2# ones. But you have to wade through thousands of 7-8" ones in the process to get them.
 

GSOHunter

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
If there ever was a lake that needs the size limit lifted for a while to get some of the millions of undersize crappie out that one is it. I have fished it for years and don't keep small ones and have no desire to. But it is chocked full of them, there is an influx of bank fisherpeople that would thin them out and it would help the fishery in that lake.

They may have to monitor it fairly closely and reinstate it at some point and time but it would be a good thing for a while.

Crappie
F30. Remove the 8-inch minimum size limit and the 20-fish daily creel limit for
crappie on the South Yadkin River downstream of Cooleemee Dam, Yadkin River
downstream from Idols Dam, High Rock Lake, and Tuckertown Lake.
Justification: High Rock Lake and Tuckertown Lake contain crappie populations
that are dominated by fish less than eight inches in total length. Recent
surveys in both reservoirs indicate that only 10% of the crappie is available to
harvest by anglers. The removal of the minimum size and daily creel limits
will allow anglers to harvest these smaller fish which should reduce competition
for food resources for the remaining fish and ultimately improve average
size of crappie in both reservoirs.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
It is absolutely loaded with nutrients and forage fish, why wouldn't it be? There are plenty of 1-2# ones. But you have to wade through thousands of 7-8" ones in the process to get them.

well let me answer that. It's bass have never been bruisers, big enough but not trophy sized. Some lakes have alot of fish and some produce big specimens.

I have never known high rock to be a trophy lake for crappie but could well have missed that. I just know their bass. It appears their crappie are the same.

maynard- If you see this chime in you know better than any of us.
 
Last edited:

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Same thing with my pond when I built it I stocked it. Well due to work etc it wasn't fished. After I retired I started on it, you could catch bream all day long about 3-4" long and occasionally the size of you hand. I caught them out by the 5 gallon buckets and fed them to the hogs, fed to coons, herons etc. If I caught someone throwing one back they didn't fish anymore. I took almost a little over 5 years but the results were as plain as day. Now when you catch bream they are big as your hand, many over a pound and there has been some 1.5 pound ones caught.
 
Last edited:

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
Same thing with my pond when I built it I stocked it. Well due to work etc it wasn't fished. After I retired I started on it, you could catch bream all day long about 3-4" long and occasionally the size of you hand. I caught them out by the 5 gallon buckets and fed them to the hogs, fed to coons, herons etc. If I caught someone throwing one back they didn't fish anymore. I took almost a little over 5 years but the results were as plain as day. Now when you catch bream they are big as your hand, many over a pound and there has been some 1.5 pound ones caught.

well high rock may be a tad more complicated than your pond.

i have fished it for several decades and it has never been a trophy lake for much besides maybe cats. and it had unrestricted take out of panfish during most of that time.
 

firedawg60

Twelve Pointer
Wishful thinking, but it would be good to take a few billion of those little ones out and transplant them in Hickory, Rhodhiss, etc.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
well high rock may be a tad more complicated than your pond.

i have fished it for several decades and it has never been a trophy lake for much besides maybe cats. and it had unrestricted take out of panfish during most of that time.
You ever caught any stripers out of it? You won't catch many in an outing but when you do it will make two or three of what you catch out of Norman or most any other lake around here for that matter. You recon the nutrient rich water and abundant forage doesn't come into play with them also?

Early fall, if you know how to catch them you can catch some absolute pigs. They become nuisances for us at times when we are on fall pattern flatheads.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I have caught some stripers but they were a mistake. i do not target them.

it looks like that limit is coming off so we'll see how big a change it makes in average crappie size. i am guessing none.

while they may take out the small ones , they will also kill the bigger ones that have to be released now.
 

LDG

Twelve Pointer
I have caught some stripers but they were a mistake. i do not target them.

it looks like that limit is coming off so we'll see how big a change it makes in average crappie size. i am guessing none.

while they may take out the small ones , they will also kill the bigger ones that have to be released now.

Where do you see that the bigger ones have to be released?
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
Where do you see that the bigger ones have to be released?

there is a minimum size limit now. those will no longer be protected.

they are" bigger ones" than those that need to be targeted and taken out but they will not be released.

they will eat a seven inch one just like they will a smaller one.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
there is a minimum size limit now. those will no longer be protected.

they are" bigger ones" than those that need to be targeted and taken out but they will not be released.

they will eat a seven inch one just like they will a smaller one.
I call a 7" one a small one.
 

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
Stripers think they're badasses. I'd fish 8-10" crappies for flatheads only to have a 21" striper TRY to eat it, not sure how they got enough in their mouth for a hook but they did.

Even stopped buying the regular 6" redfins. The big version got ate just the same, and produced more wake when there was a little chop at night.
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
That is why they are a PITA. If at all possible I fish with bream or white perch. Later in the year if I am in a hurry I may have to use shad and they can swallow them. They will be gut hooked just about every time we catch them. But on the other hand I don't keep flatheads as good as they are to eat. But I'll keep those stripers in a skinny minute. LOL
 

Justin

Old Mossy Horns
That is why they are a PITA. If at all possible I fish with bream or white perch. Later in the year if I am in a hurry I may have to use shad and they can swallow them. They will be gut hooked just about every time we catch them. But on the other hand I don't keep flatheads as good as they are to eat. But I'll keep those stripers in a skinny minute. LOL


There's nothing that swims that they won't eat lol.


I haven't caught them on LMB, but that's only because I detest them so bad that I won't even give them the glory of being flatty bait. I've caught them on herring, threadfins, gizzard shad, gizzards from gizzards shad, cut bait of various types, shiners, trout, crappie, bream, white perch, yellow perch and a buddy gave me some black salties to try. If it swims, they'll eat it lol.


And yes, I'll take a striper over any fish in freshwater in NC when it comes plate time. Easy to clean and delicious.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
I call a 7" one a small one.

well you are right but they would bigger sooner than the smaller ones.

so they get killed instead of protected so you are right back where you started from:

and where high rock is and shall be

filled with small crappie.

i almost made a poem there didn't i? :)

nccat you have good thoughts but it aint happening at the rock on big crappie.
 
Last edited:

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Well it hasn't happened in the past 30 years of 8" minimum and the people with big degrees and I think it is worth a try also. Guess if they and I are wrong we will bow to your vast knowledge if we are wrong.
 

spoonriver

Floyd the Barber
I just about always caught good crappie on it when I lived down there. My brother still lives near it and can catch em almost anytime as long as its not muddy.
 
Last edited:

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I catch most of mine in the lower river in the dead of winter and then you don't have to worry about the size limit, if you find them they will be decent.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I think the biggest concern for the time being is just to remove numbers of crappie. Any crappie. IF it works, once they have been thinned out considerably, then they can reinstate the size/creel min. and allow the size to rebound. If it stays overpopulated though, it will be hard for them to grow out of that size class bottleneck.

I agree that more solid crappie will be removed as well, but with a short-lived species like this, that can be remedied in a couple of years.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
Well it hasn't happened in the past 30 years of 8" minimum and the people with big degrees and I think it is worth a try also. Guess if they and I are wrong we will bow to your vast knowledge if we are wrong.

yeah i am almost as knowledgeable on this stuff as you are on squirrel dogs. It's just what i know.

usually i can keep my mouth shut, but not always.

call me when you start catching slabs at the rock. :)
 

nccatfisher

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
yeah i am almost as knowledgeable on this stuff as you are on squirrel dogs. It's just what i know.

usually i can keep my mouth shut, but not always.

call me when you start catching slabs at the rock. :)
Give me your # then because I am already doing it, it is just aggravating having to wade through dozens and dozens of small ones in the process. Don't expect GPS coordinates though.

While we are on the subject of you keeping your mouth shut I recon the lower deer harvest is attributed to lower deer numbers from poaching, due the recent laws allowing night 'yote and hog hunting......................................right? :rolleyes:
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
Give me your # then because I am already doing it, it is just aggravating having to wade through dozens and dozens of small ones in the process. Don't expect GPS coordinates though.

While we are on the subject of you keeping your mouth shut I recon the lower deer harvest is attributed to lower deer numbers from poaching, due the recent laws allowing night 'yote and hog hunting......................................right? :rolleyes:

I said i usually keep it shut- sometimes i just have a blinding glimpse of the obvious and can't refrain.

yeah we did enjoy that and that is still a negative on the herd- no way it cant be-

i guarantee there are far more deer killed at night by "coyote hunters" than there are coyotes.

but i doubt it trumps ehd.

and oh yeah ncacatfisher - i think i know alot about good squirrel dogs as well. :)
 
Top