Notebook: Crappie's age depends on length, weight
Ever wonder just how old that crappie you've caught really is⢠Well, you can estimate the fish's age based on its length and weight.
According to some information recently compiled by officials with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, a six-inch black crappie that weighs 0.1 pounds will be, on average, 2.1 years old. A white crappie (distinguishable because it has five or six dorsal spines, compared to the black's seven or eight) of the same length and weight will be 1.9 years old.
A nine-inch black crappie that weighs 0.4 pounds will be 4.2 years old. A white crappie of that length will probably weigh 0.3 pounds and be 3.8 years old.
At fourteen inches, the typical black crappie weighs 1.7 pounds and will be 14.3 years old. A 14-inch white crappie will be 1.4 pounds and 9.1 years old.
And a 19-inch black crappie, like the one that stands as the state record fish⢠It will have been swimming around for about 19 years.
Under current regulations, anglers are limited to keeping 20 perch per day. They must be at least seven inches long from Dec. 31 to March 31 and eight inches long from April 1 to Nov. 30.
None of the other states or Canadian provinces on the lake have a minimum size limit for perch. Their creel limits, meanwhile, vary from 30 to 50 fish per day.
As a result, staff in the commission's bureau of fisheries are proposing that Pennsylvania keep its perch season open year-round, with a 30-fish creel limit and no minimum size.
Commercial fishermen using trap nets would still be limited to keeping fish at last 8 1/2 inches long and would still be limited to a total allowable catch.
The Elk County structure takes mine discharge water and cleans it. It will, in the near future, use that water to raise adult-sized trout.
The Fish and Boat Commission had originally agreed to reimburse the Toby Creek Watershed Association -- which is building the facility -- a portion of its costs and ultimately take over and operate the hatchery.
That's not going to happen, though. Citing the projected costs of operating the facility over the long term, commissioners are expected to officially back away from taking over the Blue Valley project. Instead, on Tuesday they plan to give the watershed association a $100,000 grant to construct the hatchery as a cooperative nursery.
The Gov. Ed Rendell administration, led by people like Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Michael DiBerardinis, has been pushing for increased deer harvests. DiBerardinis has argued that reducing the size of the deer herd is critical to maintaining the health of the state's forests.
State Rep. Ed Staback, the Lackawanna County Democrat who is minority chairman of the House game and Fisheries Committee, has been pushing another agenda, however. Staback recently told Game Commissioners that he will not support a hunting license fee increase unless they cut the doe allocation in half, eliminate the October doe season for juniors and seniors and make the first week of the rifle deer season bucks only, at least in his area of northeastern Pennsylvania.
Article by Bob Frye,
Everybody Adventures,
http://www.everybodyadventures.com
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