Crappie Population Vs. Neighborhood Association

[Bassfisherman94]

In my neighborhood we have a nice pond that has a good amount of very large crappie. 12+ inch fish are always caught each time I go. Lately we have been having a problem with guests invited to fish and keep all they catch. One of the residents in the neighborhood, acts as if she manages the lake and has told her guests to catch and keep every single crappie they catch. She says that the crappie will over populate and ruine the bass population. This lady never even fishes. My problem with this is that I have lived in this neighborhood my whole life and I enjoy catching these large crappie, and I always release the fish to be caught again. Fishing is all I have to do. Any ideas of how I can solve this problem??? Please help.

[Bluebasser86]

If you have a neighborhood association you might be able to get them to make a rule to protect the lake. Otherwise check with you state regs, they might have to follow state regulations on length/size limits and that could at least curb the numbers they could keep. Good news is, crappie grow pretty quickly and they can overpopulate very quickly so taking some out is probably a good thing. However, I don't think they're going to hurt the bass population. I'm sure they eat a lot of bass fry but they'll eat a lot of their own fry and so will the bass. If there are other people in the neighborhood that fish you might try to get them to sign a petition to get a rule in place, could only help your cause.

[Grey Wolf]

Harvesting is a good idea , why are you so upset ? I f you have nothing else to do then make a concerted effort to rectify the situation by voicing your concerns to your neighborhood association.

[webertime]

Just be aware of the fact that the neighborhood association may just say this is a waste of time/annoyance and ban fishing all together.  I'd be on your side, but associations can be a huge P.I.T.A...