Good News for Tennessee Crappie Anglers 

12/13/03 - Nashville, TN:   The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency reports that it looks as though 2003 was a banner year for crappie reproduction in several East Tennessee reservoirs. This is great news considering poor spawning success was observed during the past four years and crappie populations were in desperate need of a boost.

Trap netting samples are taken in the fall of each year by the Region IV reservoir data collection unit in Cherokee, Norris, and Douglas Reservoirs. The catch of YOY (young-of-the-year) crappie gives biologists the best indication of the success or failure of crappie spawning for any given year. The 2003 samples included an average number of YOY crappie in Norris, but an excellent and above average catch in Douglas and Cherokee, respectively.

"The catch rate of YOY white and black crappie was the greatest ever observed in Douglas in 12 years of sampling with trap nets", said Doug Peterson, Region IV fisheries biologist. "We had a good idea there was an excellent year class produced by the impressive number of newly hatched crappie observed in our summer seining efforts, and trap netting has proven it."

The TWRA has long believed abundant late winter rainfall and consistently high spring water levels are important to successful crappie reproduction in area reservoirs. "We had predicted that the abundant rainfall last spring would result in good crappie reproduction and the results of this year's sampling add support to our theory," says Peterson.

Detailed summaries of the 2003 trap netting surveys along with a host of other information gathered by the Region IV reservoir data collection unit can be found at the following web site: http://twrareg4res.homestead.com/reg4res.html .

Source:  Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency